The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "employee retirement system" ...
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Good as gold: State pensions facing scrutiny
Public employees in Ohio have better wages and benefits than the taxpayers who support them. Taxpayer money funds the system which allows workers to retire a decade or more sooner than workers in the private sector. Also, more than one in four public school superindentents had received pension payments and salary simultaneously.
Tags: pension; private sector; public employee; pension funds; superintendents
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Betrayed
A former health inspector and environmental health specialist is now permanently disabled because of his exposure to toxic mold at his workplace, the Southern Nevada Health District's Environmental Health Wing, and he's not the only worker affected. Although his employer knew the problem existed (and was serious, as they are the agency that investigates and shuts down mold-infected sites) they fought correcting the situation, refused to re-locate infected workers, and contested their disability claims.
Tags: Mold; Air quality; Southern Nevada Health District; Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies at UNLV; rashes; Keck School of Medicine Environmental Sciences Laboratory at USC; Public Employees Retirement System of Nevada; U.S. Department of Labor Family and Medical Leave Act; Dan Pauluk; Apergillus; Stachybotrys; Yellow Rain; Aflatoxin; Saddam Hussein; Biological Weapons
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MPERS - Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System
Penny Roberts investigates the $1 billion retirement fund for the 9,300 full time police officers in 150 departments in Louisiana. The Louisiana Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System took a $200 million hit in the stock market, then spent $20 million on golf courses, then made a $6 million land deal with a non-existant company. Now the fund wants a bailout from taxpayer-funded local police departments, the Louisiana legislature, and the retirees it serves. In Baton Rouge alone, the department's pension costs have risen from $2.1 million to $5.2 million a year.
Tags: retirement funding; pension; police pension system; pension costs; Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System
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Old Hire
The Denver Post analysis of pension records reveals an outdated pension system that "funnels millions of tax dollars to retired city police officers and firefighters by linking their pensions to the salaries of current department employees, even decades after they've retired." As city and state budgets tighten, the strain of the pension system is becoming even greater.
Tags: pensions; budgets; Denver; Colorado; retirees; old-hire plans; retirement system; government pensions; police officers
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Retirement Wrinkle: Employers Win Big With a Pension Shift; Employees Often Lose
The Journal reports how employees lose pension money while companies profit from a new pension system. "The switch to cash-balance pension plans ... is the biggest development in the pension world for years, so big that some consultants call it revolutionary. Certainly, many call it lucrative; one says such a pension plan ought to be thought of as a profit center. Not since companies dipped into pension funds in the 1980s to finance leveraged buyouts have corporate treasurers been so abuzz over a pension technique."
Tags: finance; employment benefits; banking; Central & South West Corp. (CSW)
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Pension System Devours Public Money
The Oregonian found that the cost of Oregon's Public Employees Retirement System, once a model marriage of smart investment and generous benefits for government workers, has rocketed out of control. Growing pension costs could drain the budgets of local and state governments and force cuts in services.
Tags: Oregon; PERS; government workers; pension system; public money; pension payments; state government
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Disgraced officials rake in pensions, Retirement is sweet for top officials
A Star-Ledger investigation of New Jersey's public employee retirement system reveals that the state "pays nearly $1.8 million a year to 77 former government workers convicted of job-related crimes." In a related story, the publication discovered that "top-ranking local government officials in New Jersey profit from carefully crafted deals that provide them with inflated retirement checks."
Tags: retirement plan; employee retirement system; convicted criminals
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Retirement Pays Off In A Big Way For Some In Illinois
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch found severe problems within the Illinois pension system, including that some checks go to prisons and that the state's double-dippers get their pensions and their pay. Additionally, they found that an Illinois legislator and a state worker who each retire with a $40,000 annual salary and 20 years on the job get widely disparate pensions.
Tags: CAR local government officials state employees workers
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No title (id: 10919)
The Californian discovered that throughout California public employees are cashing in on $739 million per year in disability retirements-even though many people are working second jobs. Particularly police and firefighters are using and abusing the system. After reporters began to question the abuses within the system, county leaders proposed a reform package, Nov. 27 - 29, 1994.
Tags: CA Maurer Henry Public employees Stress claims 25 pages