This is how politicians get elected. They allow the public unions to bankrupt the cities, counties, and states so they will endorse them for votes.
This forces companies to leave the state over high operating costs and drives the private sector into fiefdom with taxes on everything in the state.
This is a poor write up that glosses over this special deal to amass HALF A MILLION DOLLARS prior to retirement as a kiss good by for public employees.
City lawyers are asking a Superior Court judge to revoke a former police sergeant’s early-retirement deal because he applied to collect unemployment benefits after retiring with a $107,000 annual pension and a $572,000 special retirement account.
In a six-page complaint, the San Diego City Attorney’s Office said recent retiree Jorge Leon should be de-enrolled from the Deferred Retirement Option Program, or DROP, and his retirement benefits should be returned to the city.
“Only persons who are involuntarily terminated from employment qualify for unemployment benefits,” states the lawsuit, dated Tuesday.
The complaint follows a pledge that City Attorney Jan Goldsmith made earlier this month, when he learned that Leon and at least five other former participants in the city DROP program sought taxpayer-funded unemployment benefits after leaving their jobs.
“The fact that an employee would apply for unemployment benefits after voluntarily retiring and while receiving a substantial pension is unconscionable and won’t be tolerated,” said Assistant City Attorney Paul Cooper.
In the DROP program, workers are allowed to stay on the payroll while they also collect retirement payments into a special account — so long as they agree to leave employment within five years.
At the end of his five years, Leon argued his departure was no longer voluntary because the city had reduced some benefits, making retirement less attractive for him.
In addition to the suit, the city is appealing the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board decision upholding Leon’s unemployment benefits, which he valued at $17,000 to $20,000 over six months.
“The remedies are independent of each other,” Assistant City Attorney Paul Cooper said.
Leon said Wednesday that he paid into the unemployment fund and deserves the benefits.
“It’s not an entitlement,” he said. “I got it because I was working. I didn’t get it for nothing.”
Leon enrolled in DROP in 2008 after 29 years with the police department and agreed to retire by 2013. In the interim, the 8 percent guaranteed interest payment in his special retirement account was lowered.
Leon said he would gladly forfeit his $572,000 special account balance if the city would in turn restore to him the balance he would have enjoyed with the original guaranteed interest rate — which he estimated at $700,000.
“I would be happy to give it back to them, every single penny,” Leon said.
Leon previously told U-T Watchdog that he would donate his unemployment benefits to wounded warrior charities, but said on Wednesday that he will keep it while the lawsuit unfolds in court.
He noted that others pursued a similar course to his and are not being sued.
“I wasn’t the first through the door,” Leon said. “I was told I could file for unemployment by the woman in our HR department. Why am I the guy who’s being singled out?”
In the complaint, the city said it would credit Leon with the five additional service years toward his final pension benefit, as if he had never enrolled in the DROP program. City lawyers also want Leon to pay the cost of their suit.
Early this month, the City Attorney’s Office disclosed that Leon and five other former DROP participants had applied for unemployment benefits after leaving City Hall.
The four applicants who did not receive benefits were not identified. The fifth was former officer Jethro Hudgins, who collected unemployment benefits after he left the city and before he was hired as an investigator for the District Attorney’s Office in January.
The City Attorney’s Office said it has not decided whether to go after Hudgins.
“We are investigating the circumstances surrounding Mr. Hudgins,” Cooper said. “No decision has been made yet on whether the city will sue Mr. Hudgins.”
Cooper said he knows of no others beyond the six.
The disclosure that Leon was collecting unemployment after retiring with more than $572,000 in his DROP account prompted outrage — and support — in segments of the community.
Both the Mayor’s Office and police union officials condemned the Leon application.
“While I don’t always agree with Jan Goldsmith regarding litigation, in this matter I wholeheartedly support his decision and council’s action to pursue litigation to end this disgusting abuse of unemployment benefits,” said Jeff Jordon, the police union vice president. “But for Leon’s voluntary actions to leave city employment, he would still be employed as a police officer with SDPD.”
Others said Leon was merely seeking what he is due under state rules.
“If he’s eligible for it and he contributed to it, why penalize him just because he worked for the city?” asked Mike Elerding, a retired San Diego employee. “He might actually be trying to get another job.”
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