Attorney General Cuomo Says Pension Padding is Widespread

By Peter Iglinski

Pittsford, NY – New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has released a preliminary report into the problem of pension padding.

The report finds numerous cases of public employees boosting overtime pay in the final years of their careers in order to drastically increase their pensions.

The attorney general's office found two patterns of abuse. In one case, employees start getting overtime in their final years. In the other case, the amount of overtime greatly increases in the worker's final years of service.

In one case, a shovel operator who had averaged 144 overtime hours a year, accrued more than 800 hours a year in the final two years.

Cuomo says New York pays the highest costs of pensions of any state in the US. He says one reason property taxes are so high in New York is because pension costs are so high.

Cuomo made his remarks during a press conference at Nazareth College Thursday.

The preliminary report recommends a number of measures to help prevent overtime abuses. They include overtime caps, moving away from seniority-based assignment systems, and centralizing overtime practices.

The attorney general is asking for information from 27 upstate public employers. They include the towns of Brighton and Gates.

Cuomo says the final report will be completed in several months.

Assemblyman David Koon is drafting legislation to prevent overtime pay from inflating a public employee's pension.