Audit Report on Pedagogical Pensioners of the New York City Teachers’ Retirement SystemWorking for the City after Retirement

AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

The Comptroller’s Office performed an audit to identify New York City Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) pedagogical pensioners who may be illegally re-employed ("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), § 210 through § 216, or New York City Charter § 1117 during calendar year 2002.

The audit found that 40 individuals who received $346,825 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 City wages exceeding the limitations without having a waiver on file at TRS, or were in violation of § 1117 of the New York City Charter because they were collecting disability pensions while earning more than $1,800 a year at a New York City agency.

To address these issues the report recommended that TRS should:

• Investigate those individuals identified as concurrently receiving pensions while being re-employed in public service. TRS 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 those individuals found to be illegally collecting pensions.
• Ascertain whether previous pension overpayments have been recouped and whether current pensions have been suspended for those individuals who have been cited in previous audits as "double-dippers" or "disability violators."
• Send special reminders to service retirees under the age of 65, and to all disability retirees, that clearly state their responsibilities regarding public service re-employment.