90-Year-Old Post Office Workers Still Getting Workers Comp?

(Warner Todd Huston/The Union Label) – Years after most Americans retire, in fact years after the federal retirement age of 68, more than 100 U.S. Postal Workers in their 90s are still getting 75 percent of their salaries (tax free, yet) of federal workers compensation payments instead of having been graduated to the cheaper retirement payments at 60 percent of their salaries.

This is classic government waste.

Jim McElhatton of the Washington Times gives us this tale of government foolishness and waste as Senator Susan Collins (R, Maine) scolds the Post Office for its failed administration of the issue.

Collins notes that over 80 percent of the Post Office budget goes to pay the work force. Not being a titan of business I cannot say for sure, but that seems a high percentage to me. In any case, Collins relates some alarming wasteful spending where it concerns workers comp and retirement benefits for the Postal Service.

“At the Postal Service, more than 1,000 employees currently receiving workers compensation benefits are 80 years or older,” she said. “Incredibly, 132 of these individuals are 90 years of age and older and there are three who are 98.”

The Washington Times has more information that you should check out, but the reason that these people are still getting such high payments into the 80s and 90s is because… they chose to get paid more.

You heard that right. Due to federal rules as forced upon them by unions a federal worker is allowed to choose whether he keeps getting paid the higher amount under workers comp or go into the retirement benefits at lower compensation. No wonder these guys stay at the higher rate of pay. Who would consciously choose to cut his own salary?

It’s hard to blame the worker, at this point. No what the real problem is happens to be the stupidity of the system.

It’s all pretty obscene. There is no reason whatsoever that any federal worker should still be getting workers comp once they’ve aged beyond the retirement age. It shouldn’t matter at all why they were on workers comp in the first place, once they reach retirement age they should be immediately placed into the retirement phase of their benefits. Period.

This is just another example of the waste of our government.