Gov. Scott Walker announced Friday his support for an Assembly bill which would curb “double dipping,” a practice that allows employees to collect both pensions and paychecks.

Current law allows a participant in the Wisconsin Retirement System to receive both annuity and wages after he or she has terminated her participation in the WRS and thus, losing his or her eligibility to receive group insurance benefits.

However, under the double dipping bill, a WRS participant who has received a position in the covered employment is not eligible to collect a pension until the participant terminates his or her covered employment.

Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin, said he does not share the governor’s enthusiasm for the double dipping bill.

“To call the practice ‘double dipping’ suggests that an employee is getting away with something illegal or unethical. In fact, many workplaces re-hire recent retirees as contract or temporary employees,” Burden said. “As [Vice Chancellor for Administration] Darrell Bazzell pointed out, the practice often saves money in the short-term because the university is not paying fringe benefits on those employees. The pros and cons of ‘double dipping’ are thus more complicated than it initially seems.”

Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, fears the bill might affect the overall employment of the state.

“When someone retires from state service, they are entitled to a pension,” Heck said. “But does that mean that their usefulness is over? You know, there may be the case that it might be more prudent to rehire these people because they have experience in working in the state, rather than hiring someone brand new and have to train them again.”

Heck said workers should not be prohibited to work
because of collecting a pension; rather, they should be allowed to enter
the work field so their experience and expertise can be used for the
state, he said.

Julie Laundrie, spokesperson for Sen. John Erpenbach, D-Madison, said she could not personally speak to the senator’s views on whether or not the bill could have negative implications.

While Heck acknowledged that from the outside the practice of “double dipping” appears unethical or wasteful, he said the practice has more to do with an employer being rehired by a company after they have received benefits, not receiving a paycheck and a pension simultaneously.

“I certainly understand the concern that some citizens might have in regards to this practice. They may feel like they are paying two salaries instead of one,” Heck said. “But the fact of the matter is that what we are talking about here is [collecting] a pension, after you’ve retired, and being rehired for your skills and expertise. I think the determining factor ought to be who is best suited for the job, not whether or not that person is collecting a pension and a salary. I think common sense should prevail here rather than some strict law.”

In the original article, it was stated that Gov. Scott Walker said workers should not be prohibited to work because they are collecting a pension. In actuality this claim was suppose to be attributed to Common Cause in Wisconsin Director Jay Heck. Also, Sen. John Erpenbach’s spokesperson Julie Laundrie was quoted saying the senator did not have an opinion on the bill. It should have said she could not personally speak to the senator’s views. The changes have been made to the online addition of this article. We apologize for the errors.