During Budget Crisis, University of California Adds to Ranks of Highly Paid Senior Officials. The San Francisco Chronicle reports: "It has been a period of austerity at the University of California, with layoffs, across-the-board pay cuts and fee hikes. Yet some UC employees earned significantly more money in 2009 than in 2008, with two more million-dollar earners added to the payroll, new salary data show. The number of UC employees classified as 'senior officials' – earning more than $214,000 in total compensation – rose 6.3 percent, to 3,184 from 2,996 people. Lucrative overtime pay also rose sharply. Employees earning more than $10,000 in OT climbed 79 percent, to 2,733 from 1,531 employees."
The paper noted that UC's top overtime earner, an operating room nurse at UC San Francisco Medical Center, took in nearly $97,000, boosting her total compensation to more than $320,000. The figures come from payroll data for 250,249 people paid by UC in calendar year 2009, and from UC's new report on executive compensation. (Source: San Francisco Chronicle, June 3.)
Cal-Tax recommendation: Clearly, operating room nurses are crucial employees who deserve fair compensation, but massive overtime spending raises red flags about possible management problems. State lawmakers should review the UC's pay and management policies as they craft the new state budget.
Cal-TaxReports, June 7, 2010
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