SALINAS, Calif.- The Center For Investigation Action followed up on the California Public Employee Retirement System's "double dipping" practice, after Lindsey Brown of Soquel asked, "why are you only focused on those who made six figure salaries?"
Lindsey, here is the answer.
More than 1.6 million members make up the California Public Employee Retirement System.
The majority don't get the six figure pensions you often hear about in the news.
Some retired workers, who are getting a pension, are double dipping by going back to work. A public employee retires and collects a pension on their highest salary earned, then goes back to work.
Pensions are based on your salary at the time of retirement. If a retiree returns to work for a public employer not contracted with CALPERS or in the private sector, they can continue to collect their pension while working at the new job.
But, if someone returns to work for a CALPERS employer, they must suspend their pension.
And CALPERS has a handout explaining where each dollar paid to a pension comes from:
64 cents comes from investments, 21 cents from employers. Members contribute the least at 15 cents per dollar.
CALPERS said on average a retiree gets $2,220 per month and 74% of all retirees bring in less than $36,000 a year.
Last year, CALPERS paid out $12.9 billion. CALPERS also saw the highest total number of retirees join the system in the last 10 years.
