Golden parachutes galore for departing UC prez
Phillip Matier & Andrew Ross, SFGate.comMonday, August 20, 2007
One thing departing University of California President Robert Dynes won't have to worry about is money. It turns out that Dynes - who was nudged out as UC's top dog after a string of embarrassing stories about the university's liberal pay and perk packages for top managers - is in for a few goodbye goodies himself.
Goodie No. 1: A year off with pay.
Dynes, 64, says he plans to return to teaching physics - presumably at UC San Diego, where he used to be a professor and chancellor and where his new wife works as a lawyer.
Under his contract, if Dynes does go back to the classroom, first he will be entitled to a full year's paid leave to brush up on his studies. UC spokesman Brad Hayward said Dynes plans to take the leave, during which he will be paid his $405,000 president's salary.
Goodie No. 2: Now that he has to vacate the UC-provided president's mansion in Kensington, Dynes - like all senior administrators - is eligible for a low-interest home loan to help him relocate. Hayward said it's uncertain whether Dynes will take advantage of the benefit.
Finally, there's the pension.
When Dynes chooses to retire completely from academic life, his pension will be based on a percentage of the average of his last highest-earning years. That would include his time as president.
Upshot: Calculations show that if he were to stop working next June, he could either cash out for $1.6 million or get $145,524 a year in retirement pay.
Taken all together, it makes for a pretty nice parachute.
Who says corruption doesn't pay?
ReplyDeleteOf course some the morons that post here are going to convince themselves that a UC skag like this one is worth every penny. Just so long as we don't badmouth UC or the Lab, no matter how deserving, this blog is great. Express outrage at the rip offs occuring at the Lab and UC, then it's time to shut down the damn thing. Is it any wonder people like Dynes and Nanos can stick it to us where the sun don't shine and walk away clean as a whistle as though they were pure as the driven snow? That's because they can always count on some dumb bonehead to clean their pole after they pull it out of the taxpayer.
ReplyDeleteSorry if I'm being a little too blunt, but damn it pisses me off just how stupid we are at the Lab. And yes, I DO work at the Lab and NO, I'd didn't just sign on a week ago. Unfortunately, I've been here too damn long to start over elsewhere even though I'm just fed up with the stupidity that seems run rampant around this place, not to mention the racism!
A little off topic - can someone post the memo that went out today regarding the new purchasing limits for all TSMs - that being, a mere $500 unless you are a DPR. WTF? With taxes around here every purchase is that much. Next nail in the coffin of research - TSMs can't buy anything, and if you can't buy anything, you can't do research. Thanks, Mike!
ReplyDeleteSo catch up to the 21st century and have your group assign a DPR, get them trained, and this person will/can procure items using a PR or credit card.
ReplyDelete10:48 PM - You MUST be a manager! Who pays for the full-time DPR?
ReplyDeleteYou can't mean $500.00 this would completely shut down research at LANL! There is absolutely no way that Terry Wallace would allow this to transpire. He grew up here and is committed to LANL and science at LANL. 10:12 PM, you must be mistaken and mean $5000.00.
ReplyDelete10:48 is an idiot. Have you been to DPR training? Of course not. I agree with 10:53 - you are clearly a clueless AD or PAD. This is a full time job numbnuts! It is like having a P-card. No way would anyone with half a brain want to become a DPR - it is a HUGE liability.
ReplyDeleteFor gosh sakes, he must be nearly the poorest paid executive of a world renowned institution with 100,000 employees... That the UC president is only paid $450k is a joke compared to what he is expected to do... Private sector equivalents make millions... Some Senior MIT faculty hold full-time faculty appointments and hold full time jobs leading collaborations and full-time jobs leading businesses at the same time....
ReplyDeleteAs for a paid sabatical, it is not uncommon in the Univesity system for professors with lots of years of service who need a recharge....
As for the deferred compensation klump sum, it is not untoward. He only now collects the compensation that he delayed when he became a member of UCRS(and can now collect as UCRS pension}. It is what is due anyone with a high HAPC, long years of service and old age...I expect more...
The only valid complaint is that he may not have been the best president and his neglect may have caused us a great deal of suffering. But others closer to the problems were more responsible than he.
he occupant of that office deserves the current compensation and more to be comparable to the market....
Just my opinion....
The $145K in retirement pay is not a problem, except that Parsky and his buddies screwed up the investments of UCRS and now employees are again going to have to contribute, if not this year, then soon. The much bigger problem is that, in general, top executives in U.S. corporations are overpaid, and consequently given the opportunity to think they provide value in proportion to their compensation.
ReplyDeleteYour wrong 9:16AM. It's more than Parsky and the retirement fund scam. It's.ALL of it...all the scams. From Nanos, to the shutdown, to the secret UC payoffs, to the wasteful litigation practices of UC and the Lab, to the arrogance of those placed in leadership, to the corruption of the DOE ans political establishment that places people like Dynes in power, to our own stupidity when it comes to facing up to the reality that our collective jobs and futures have been sacrafised by all of this and more. No dummy, it' a hell of a lot more than jusr Parsky and his take over of UCRS. The day this penetrates our thick skulls as a workforce, perhaps then we can begin to force meaningful change. Until then just "grin and bear it" will remain survival strategy of the day.
ReplyDelete"There is absolutely no way that Terry Wallace would allow this to transpire. He grew up here and is committed to LANL and science at LANL."
ReplyDeleteWallace is commited to his job, not to LANL or science.
The suggestion that corporate executives deserve the obscene pay packages they get is obscene in itself. These guys have the same number of hour each day as you or I. When they take a dump, they have wipe their a** the same way you or I do. They may have a water fountain in the toilet for clensing the poop shoot, but basically it's all the same...they have to clean. The only difference between them and the rest of the world however, is that they can screw up the lives of thousands with the scribble of their pencil. And for this they deserve millions in compensation? I don't think so! The notion that an incompetent like Dynes was underpaid is beyond mind-boggling, yet somehow so aprpo for the Los Alamos mindset we've all come to love (and hate).
ReplyDeleteTerry Wallace is an Associate Director because of his mommy (State Representative Jeanette Wallace). So blame only yourselves for re-electing her time and time again!
ReplyDeleteI think the state of California should be sued for discrimination. Isn't it equal pay for an equal job? So either those blowhards at the other schools are overpaid, or there was severe discrimination against Dynes by paying him almost half of what his peers received. I think every UC employee should calibrate what they are paid against those at equitable institutions and jump on the class action discrimination train.
ReplyDeleteChoo Choo
God Bless America
As previously requested, link to new purchasing limits memo. http://int.lanl.gov/memos/2007/08/MM2202_ADS2345.PDF
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 8/22/07 3:10 PM:
ReplyDeleteCan you please post the text of the memo?
So, if Dynes is underpaid, did somebody hold a gun to his head to make him take the job?
ReplyDeleteEmail Pinky a copy so the rest of us can see it please.
ReplyDeleteActually, 12;24PM sounds like someone that uses his/her brain for more than balast. Refreshing to see for a change.
ReplyDeleteWhy? It is an internal LANL memo that does not affect you unless you are a LANL employee.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's right. This is the beat-up-LANL-just-because-we-don't-like-it blog. Nevermind.