A hat-tip to the Buckeye Institute for pointing out this egregious payout. Basically, if you are a superintendent (or teacher, or fireman, or a number of other public sector employees, depending on the structure of their union contracts) you will receive financial restitution for any sick or vacation days you didn’t use. The former state superintendent of Ohio cashed out big time:
Heffner, who resigned Aug. 4 after a blistering inspector general’s report revealed he’d committed several ethics violations, left public employment with a $160,428.17 payout for unused vacation, sick and personal time, according to the Ohio Department of Education.
Like most public workers, Heffner was entitled to cash out the unused benefits, which were paid based on his current salary. For instance, Heffner had 2,155.25 hours of unused sick time – more than a year’s worth – which is paid at 55 percent of his hourly wage, or about $105,000.
His 586.25 hours of unused vacation, paid at 100 percent of his hourly wage, amounted to more than $52,000. And he was paid about $2,800 for 32 hours of unused personal time.
Heffner, who is apparently startlingly healthy to amass such a wealth of sick time, made more in cashing out than what the average Ohio household makes in 3 years. This is all taxpayer money being doled out simply because Heffner came to work instead of calling in sick or taking vacations. Paid vacations are one thing (and they’re common in the private sector) but these payouts are obscene. Congratulations Mr. Superintendent, you got a boatload of cash and you’re now a symbol of government waste.