MOST PUBLIC employees receive less pension income when they retire before age 65 than they would were they to work to the normal retirement age. But some employees, such as those who work in corrections, find it almost impossible to continue to work until they are 65.

“Can you imagine a 65-year-old corrections officer wrestling with an inmate?” asks Pat Thompson, Council 2’s Director of Legislation/Political Action.

Now the recently appointed Select Committee on Pension Policy — on which Thompson serves — is hoping to change all that.
The retirement age will be one of the issues in the bills the committee plans to forward to legislators for consideration during the short legislative session, which starts in January.

The committee will consider the bills during its December meeting.

The current “one size fits all” age-65 system does not work for a lot of employees, particularly for those who are expected to perform physically demanding and dangerous jobs. “We want to create a better option for all employees,” Thompson says.
The good news about the state’s retirement system is that it is fiscally stable, Thompson adds. Many states, including Oregon and Montana, are running millions in the red in their pension plans, he says.

“Through our due diligence, Washington avoided the temptation for the state to rob the fund,” Thompson adds.