Last weekend, we told you about how California state departments were allowing their employees to build up large amounts of unused time off, then cash it out when they left state service – at times flouting rules designed to limit how much time employees were allowed to accrue.
In the course of our reporting, state departments almost invariably told us that they covered the cost of the cash-outs within their own budgets, making sure to set money aside each year to cover typical retirement costs.
But we found at least one department that needed to ask the Legislature for more money not once, but at least twice since 2006.
In 2007, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection – which includes CalFire – requested an extra $6.5 million to cover "higher than normal" retirement costs, according to a bill analysis prepared for the state Senate's Appropriations Committee in 2006. The analysis also points out that CalFire requested a similar amount the year before.
The analysis notes that at the time, the average retiring CalFire employee had accumulated 847 hours of vacation or annual leave – 200 hours beyond most state departments' typical limit of 640. The excess hours apply to employees who are working an "alternative work schedule."
CalFire spokesman Daniel Berlant told us a few weeks ago that such requests have been used by the department to cover periods with an unusual number of retirements. He also said that fulfilling CalFire's emergency response mission often means requiring employees to work odd hours, which keeps them from being able to use their vacation.
Still, the Senate analysis admonished the department, reading: "The demographic of the department is known and CDFFP should be able to better estimate its retirement costs and submit funding requests through the normal budget process."
We have a request pending to see deficiency requests placed by other departments, so we can try to get a handle on how often this happens.
In the mean time, check out our searchable database to see how much time workers in a particular department cashed out.
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