BLOG: One Job, Two Checks: Double Dipping in Weho

On Dec. 31, 2010, Assistant City Manager Joan English retired from her job at West Hollywood City Hall and started collecting her pension as a retired government employee. On the very next workday – January 3, 2011 – West Hollywood's new assistant city manager reported to work. Her name:

Joan English.

The contract that English signed to work as the city's part-time assistant city manager defined her job as a temporary one. But it was also renewed, carrying her through June 30, 2012 as a temp. When that latter date passed, English signed a new contract for temporary employment. Her new temporary employer? You'll never guess. See for yourself: Here's her new employment contract. As this month began, English was no longer the assistant city manager, but now instead works only as the manager of the city's 25th Anniversary Capital Project.

What this means is that for the last year and a half, English collected a pension as West Hollywood's assistant city manager, and also simultaneously collected a paycheck as West Hollywood's assistant city manager. She got paid twice for the same job. She clearly planned to do so, and took her double dip with the agreement of City Manager Paul Arevalo, who had the same job waiting for her the very workday after she left it.

This doubling up on public funds by working while "retired" is common behavior all over California, and Jerry Brown – very much to his credit – wants the legislature to put an end to it. You might consider writing to your state legislators to urge them to stop the double-dipping.

English is a minor leaguer in comparison to some double-dippers, by the way. In April of 2008, the chief of the UC Berkeley Police Department retired, took $2.1 million in pension benefits as a lump sum payment, and went back to work the next day. Four years later, it's still possible to game the system like that.

Someone is sure to argue that post-retirement employment is a way for government administrators to jump back in and help the public, temporarily putting their skills to work now and then when they're in a position to make a difference for their old employers.

But note what didn't happen here. It's not that English retired, and then a while later her old employer realized that they had a task for which her skills would be well-suited. They didn't bring back an old hand for her unique expertise. Rather, they planned and approved a retire-on-Friday, go-back-to-work-on-Monday deal in which she kept on doing the same job with no break in employment. And now her "temporary" post-retirement employment is in its second year.

You'll notice, if you look at the contract I've linked to above, that English is paid $109.34 an hour. That means she can make up to $104,966.40 a year as a temporary employee with part-time duties, in addition to collecting her city-funded pension from CalPERS. And she's on her third contract as a temporary employee.

But earlier contracts required the city to pay English a higher hourly rate: $143.00 per hour, again for up to 960 hours a year. Here's one of those contracts. That's annual pay of up to $137,280.00, in addition to her pension.

I've asked Joan English, by email and voice mail, to discuss her double-dipping deal with me. She didn't respond, but has another chance to do so here. Paul Arevalo also didn't respond to several questions sent by email, but did respond to another email message this week to say that English is staying on as capital projects manager but no longer working as assistant city manager. The city will recruit for that position this summer, he said.

Also, I'm still waiting for public records from CalPERS. I hope to be able to show you English's pension benefits, with documents as evidence, in a few days. But her contracts with the city acknowledge that she has retired and is receiving a CalPERS pension, so only the amount is unknown.

Remember deals like this when the city raises fees and says they need more revenue.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Weho Patch contacted the city for a response. Below is the statement the city released.

At the request of the City of West Hollywood, after retiring from full-time employment, Joan English continued to work on a part-time basis as the Assistant City Manager. Her breadth of experience was desired to oversee the completion of Phase I of the West Hollywood Park Master Plan.

During the course of the year, the City saved more than $125,000 with Joan working in a part-time capacity. Prior to Joan’s initiating the part-time contract, the City consulted with our labor attorney to ensure compliance with both PERS and IRS regulations for temporary workers.

This agreement was effective through June 30, 2012. Ms. English no longer holds the position of Assistant City Manager. However, the City has three vacant positions on the executive management team. Joan will continue to work part-time for the City to help us during this transition period and assist with development agreements and large-scale development projects. The City will begin recruitment for the Assistant City Manager position this summer.

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