Elmont Online

ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he may lay off state employees if union members fail to approve the contracts hammered out by labor leaders and the administration. Regardless of how that drama concludes, one thing is for sure: The governor is making it a bit easier for state workers to retire.

While Cuomo hasn't offered as retirement incentives extra payments or pension credits, the governor last week signed a bill put forward by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli that reduces from 30 to 15 the number of days after retirement before the first pension check arrives.

"In this day and age ... there's no reason anybody has to wait 30 days for anything," said Sen. Martin Golden, R-Brooklyn, who carried the bill for DiNapoli in the Senate. Assemblyman Peter Abbate, D-Brooklyn, was the lead sponsor in his house.

A memo from the Comptroller's office notes that teachers, who have their own retirement system, can start collecting their benefits the day they retire.

"This bill would help such members who are potentially no longer on the state payroll receive their pension in a more timely fashion," noted a Comptroller's memo on the bill.

The measure takes effect as a large number of state employees may be looking to retire in the next few weeks.

Another initiative from the Cuomo administration calls for changing the actuarial tables that are used to calculate retiree health insurance costs effective Oct.1. In light of longer life spans, the unused sick time credits that many retirees use toward health premiums will have to be stretched over a longer time period. That means some state employees who leave their jobs after Oct. 1 could end up paying a bit more for continuing health insurance.

The change also comes as members of the state workforce's two major unions, the Civil Service Employees Association and Public Employees Federation, have been presented with tentative five-year labor contracts.

The contracts call for three years without broad-based raises, two furlough periods and health care givebacks. The governor has threatened the layoffs of 9,800 employees as a last resort if the state fails to find $450 million in negotiated workforce savings during this fiscal year.

Part of those savings will come from a higher than usual rate of attrition, including retirements, among state employees.

Union leaders don't believe the shortened waiting period will create a rush to the exits even if the new law "gives you the ability to move on it more quickly," said CSEA spokesman Stephen Madarasz.

PEF spokeswoman Darcy Wells noted that retiring is a major life-changing decision -- so much so that a 15-day reduction shouldn't make a big difference.

So far, there hasn't been a noticeable increase in retirements. According to data from the Comptroller's office, 9,618 people put in for retirement between Jan. 1 and July 7. Those numbers were similar to the retirement rates for the same period of time in the previous two years.

Reach Rick Karlin at 454-5758 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .