Audit Report on New York City Pensioners Working as Consultants for the City after Retirement
Audit Report In Brief
The Comptroller’s Office performed an audit to identify New York City pensioners who may have illegally returned to public service as consultants (double-dippers or disability violators), and to quantify the amounts of any improper payments to individuals who appear to be violators of New York State Retirement and Social Security Law (RSSL) §211 and §212, or New York City Charter §1117 during calendar year 2002.
The audit identified 11 individuals who received $117,282 in pension payments during 2002 that appear to violate applicable sections of State and City laws. These individuals were in apparent violation of RSSL §211 or §212 because they were under age 65 and received payments from the City for professional services that exceeded the limitations without having a waiver on file at their retirement system, or were in violation of §1117 of the New York City Charter because they were collecting disability pensions while earning more than $1,800 (including pension payments) a year at a New York City agency and had surpassed their applicable employment anniversary dates.
To address these issues the report recommended that officials of each of the five New York City retirement systems:
- Investigate those individuals identified as concurrently receiving pensions while receiving payments from the City for providing professional services as consultants. City retirement systems officials should also commence prompt recoupment action against those individuals found to be illegally collecting pensions.
- Forward to the Department of Investigation, if the circumstances warrant such action, the names of individuals found to be illegally collecting pensions.
- Send special reminders to all retirees that clearly state their responsibilities when returning to public service after retirement.