Thursday, October 10, 2013

Pumped up pensions to become thing of the past

Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services, sits for a photograph in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. Lawsky, the first person to head New York's newly established Financial Services Department, will oversee the state's banks and insurance companies to help improve consumer protection and fraud. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Benjamin Lawsky

Jin Lee/Bloomberg



Financial Services Commissioner Benjamin Lawsky outlined his plan to audit the pension funds of city and state workers.




The state is coming after government workers who run up high overtime bills in their last days on the job to pump up their pensions, the Daily News has learned.


Financial Services Commissioner Benjamin Lawsky Wednesday outlined a plan to aggressively audit the multimillion-dollar pension funds of city and state workers.


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In letters sent to the city and state controllers, Lawksy said he planned to focus on “pension spiking” by city and state workers who work extra overtime just before retirement to take advantage of policies that base pension payments on a worker’s pay in his or or last year on the job.


“Spiking costs a lot of money,” Lawsky told The News. “We think it’s an area that hasn’t had sufficient focus and the Department of Financial Services is now going to ensure that our pension funds are doing everything they can to root out things like spiking.”


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Lawsky said his department also plans to look at the brokers and consultants hired by pension funds to identify possible conflicts of interest.





Yahoo Local News – New York Daily News




http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=15403

via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info

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