Senate OKs double dipping for teachers, medical professionals

The Senate has approved an initiative that would allow retired teachers and medical professionals, including nurses, to be re-employed without them losing their retirement benefits.

The Senate passed Senate Legislative Initiative 14-1, which aims to amend the Constitution “to explicitly state that qualified retirees may be reemployed as classroom teachers, doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals without loss of retirement benefits, regardless of the individual’s occupation prior to retirement.”

The measure would pave the way for “double-dipping” among qualified professionals and eliminate the time limitation on such re-employment.

Currently, qualified retirees are only allowed a maximum of two year re-employment.

The measure has to be passed by the House, then placed on the ballot during the next general election for people to vote on. Only when it gets the majority vote will it become effective.

A similar measure was introduced in the House of Representatives. House Education Committee chair Rep. Justo Quitugua introduced House Legislative Initiative 14-9, which provides that the government can re-employ classroom teachers and nurses for an unrestricted period of time.

Earlier, Quitugua said that the two-year double dipping deadline should be removed for certain professionals in view of the current shortage of personnel in their fields.

“We have to extend it [for] more than two years because we still can’t produce enough professionals such as teachers, nurses, doctors, etc.,” Quitugua said.

Without the constitutional amendment, many of these re-employed professionals would have to leave, creating a negative impact on the workforce, he said, adding that some of these individuals are employed as heads of certain programs.

To keep a balance and prevent abuse, Quitugua said the Legislature would pass an enabling law “to protect our young generations.”

Double dipping is prohibited in other professions because it drains the government’s retirement system funds.

Under this practice, the employer, which is the government, pays the member or a retiree twice in terms of pension benefits and salaries. This happens when a retired member who is already receiving his or her pension is re-employed and accumulates new pension benefits and salaries, while retaining the pension earned from his or her previous employment.