The prospect of losing payouts for unused sick days and vacation apparently caused a stampede to the door last year for employees at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.
The authority's executive director tells The Asbury Park Press that 372 people retired last year as lawmakers began examining ways to end or reduce the payouts by public agencies.
"Because so many long-tenured employees retired at one time, the authority was required to pay an unprecedented amount for accrued sick leave," Authority Executive Director Veronique Hakim told the Asbury Park Press.
Hakim says that's about nine times more employees than would retire in a normal year, and it represented 17 percent of the authority's workforce.
The payouts to the retirees amounted to about $15 million.
“Everyone was reading the papers about health care and pension reforms and collectively jumped at the same time,” Hakim told the APP. “Everyone here knows what we’re trying to accomplish (to end payouts), and the governor has been clear that we can’t sustain it (payouts) in this economy.”
Hakim says that even with the payouts, the authority was able to save $10 million compared to the previous year by renegotiating a two-year contract with toll collectors.
