UConn is one of many state agencies attempting to save money by rehiring retired employees on a part-time basis, despite Gov. Rell's objections that it exploits the pension fund.
There is no official policy at the university to encourage the practice, known as "double-dipping," but since the school pays retirees at a part-time rate and is not responsible for benefits, department heads are generally able to hire more experienced staff at a lower rate. Meanwhile, the state still pays the employees their tax-supported pensions.
Gov. Rell has announced that she is trying to stop double dipping by barring retirees from more than two 120-day contracts in state agencies. The policy does not apply to UConn, as Rell does not have direct administrative control over Connecticut education systems. However, the governor has asked the trustees to impose similar policies and is seeking to expand her control through the legislature.
"Taxpayers have a right to wonder who really benefits when these 120-day contracts … become a matter of routine, especially for ex-employees who are already drawing sizable state pensions," said Rell in a recent press release, in which she criticized the practice as "[an abuse of] the system to collect both a pension and a paycheck."
According to University Spokeswoman Karen Grava, as many as 350 UConn employees are retired, about 3 percent of the workforce, and that the majority of the retirees work in clerical jobs for wages below $10,000. Those working as professors, however, make much more money, upwards of $30,000.
The highest paid retiree is education professor Joseph Renzulli, who receives a wage of $138,000 and a pension of $162,000. But according to Grava, the research grants that Renzulli brings to the university cover not only his, but also three other professor's salaries.
President Hogan said at a recent Board of Trustees meeting that through grants, auxiliary revenue and other non-state funding covering retiree salaries, taxpayers are not paying any more money than they would if the employees were not working.
In the same meeting, Hogan said that using an experienced professor, in the case of accounting professor Richard Kochanek, is $50,000 cheaper than hiring a new teacher with no experience or reputation.
Kochanek has taught 800 students each semester for the six years he has worked at UConn after retirement. He also works at the UConn Institute for Teaching and Learning, and has inspired an endowment in his name for accounting professors.
"On a cost per student basis, I am likely one of the most inexpensive faculty members UConn has," he said in an e-mail.
Rell said that she is sympathetic to the benefits of the practice, but wondered if employees who continually worked after retirement deserved a pension.
"Even where there is justification for using a retired employee on a short-term contract, using the same individual over and over again flouts the definition of 'retired'," she said.
Hugh Macgill, Dean Emeritus of the UConn School of Law, is one of the retirees currently teaching at the university. Macgill said in an e-mail that his retirement in 2005 - five years earlier than scheduled - was an attempt to relieve the school's strained budget by replacing his salary with money from the state-funded pension, so that the school could have more spending flexibility and he would still be able to contribute to UConn.
"I should note that I have been offered by another law school substantially more than twice what I am paid here, for less work," he said. "I found the price in disloyalty higher than I was willing to pay."
He criticized Rell's reaction, saying that she was not sympathetic enough to the needs of the agencies engaging in double-dipping.
"I would have thought it worth learning from the agencies who pay the salaries why they feel they are getting value for money and analyzing their reasons carefully, rather than leaping to the conclusion that all such contracts are sweetheart deals, borderline-corrupt," he said.
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