Employee Benefits

Pan American World Airways' flights were grounded Wednesday, but for many of the company's customers and employees, some issues were still up in the air. Disappointed Pan Am ticket holders learned that Delta, Continental and a few other airlines would accept their tickets on a limited basis, but those who could not find seating had to pursue other options.

Worried about the prospects of a new round of budget cuts during his last two years in office, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has grown increasingly bold - some say too aggressive - in his attempts to influence panels that guide the city's huge retirement funds. Two weeks ago, Villaraigosa warned a seven-member board overseeing pensions for civilian employees that a new round of layoffs would "almost certainly" occur if the panel scales back income projections for its $11-billion portfolio.

The campus residence for the UCLA chancellor bespeaks the power, culture and resources of a great American university. The elegant Florentine-style house, nearly 11,000 square feet, is surrounded by seven acres of lush landscaping. Inside, walls are lined with valuable paintings, including a Picasso and an Utrillo. The wood-paneled library is stocked with books and sculptures, and there are beautiful Oriental rugs throughout. One thing, however, is missing: No chancellor lives there.

American workers are more downbeat than ever about their prospects for retirement, a new study has found. But that also means they are starting to realize how bad their financial condition is. Confirming the findings of other recent research, a survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found workers growing increasingly doubtful about their ability to finance comfortable retirements. The results were released Tuesday. The percentage of workers describing themselves as "not at all comfortable" about their retirement outlook jumped to 27% from 22% a year ago. Only 13% are "very confident.

At a time when county government is slashing programs for the mentally ill and homeless, social service agencies are fuming over recent disclosures that Orange County is spending $750,000 in car allowances for 88 top officials--some of whom are leasing Lincoln Continentals and Town Cars at taxpayer expense.

The year was 1980, and Bonnie Busby, who had put in 17 years on a Continental Can assembly line in St. Louis, was just months away from vesting in a union-negotiated pension plan. Busby, 50, says that when the company laid her off in November that year, she was assured that the layoff was temporary. She said company officials for the next five years repeatedly told her that she was likely to be rehired soon.

Although their union is demanding a hefty pension increase, Ventura County sheriff's deputies already enjoy significantly greater benefits than civilian employees in county government, a Times survey has found. And if the deputies' latest request is granted, that gap would only widen, critics say. The deputies' demands come as civilian employees also lobby for cost-of-living increases on retirement benefits.

Jack M. Stewart's Sept. 2 commentary, "Davis Must Rein In Antibusiness Efforts," sounded more like Chicken Little's cry that the sky is falling. What Stewart failed to point out in his antiworkers' compensation benefit increase diatribe was that workers' compensation benefits have not been raised in over 17 years for over half of the permanently partially disabled workers in this state. Since 1993, members of the employer community, including members of Stewart's California Manufacturers' Assn.

Lawrence W. Halpin has joined Employee Benefits America in Fountain Valley as president and chief operating officer. He had previously been executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Holden Group, a Los Angeles firm specializing in retirement-income programs. Earlier, he was in charge of Transamerica/Occidental's group life and health insurance operations. Employee Benefits is a subsidiary of Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Corp.

A bankruptcy judge today authorized Federated Department Stores Inc. and Allied Stores Corp. to pay employees millions of dollars in benefits earned before the retailers sought protection from their creditors. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge J. Vincent Aug Jr. approved payments for health and disability insurance, for drug and alcohol abuse counseling, employee educational programs and for a company savings plan.

Just since Christmas, we've learned that San Francisco's retiree health plan is $4.4 billion in the red, that Santa Clara County's fire chief will collect a hefty government paycheck on top of his $200,000 annual government pension, and that UC's latest tuition increase will go mostly to pension debt even as UC's highest-paid executives are threatening to sue for more benefits. Retirement scandals are as common as weather reports, and voters are fed up. Gov. Jerry Brown's commitment to make the tough decisions required for the long-term health of California presents the perfect opportunity to reform the state's public pension systems, but his proposed budget solutions do not include any significant changes in this crucial area.

Los Angeles County auditors released a report Thursday that sought to ease fears that the Probation Department had significant numbers of workers on the payroll who did not show up for work. "In summary, our review did not disclose any 'ghost employees' within Probation," Auditor-Controller Wendy Watanabe wrote. Officials expressed concern earlier this year that such a problem might exist among active workers after finding extensive problems with the management of workers out on leave for disabilities and other reasons.

Sure, the name's familiar, even if you can't spell it or pronounce it. Zev Yaroslavsky's been a big presence in this town since he was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1975, and then to the county Board of Supervisors in 1994. Before then, in his impetuous, impassioned youth, he and some fellow activists came alongside a Soviet ship in L.A. harbor, jammed a toilet plunger against it to steady their boat and hurriedly spray painted "Let Jews Go" on the hull. He reads history and politics for pleasure.

Aon Corp. has agreed to buy human resources consulting firm Hewitt Associates for $4.9 billion in cash and stock in a move to expand its offerings to global employers navigating the complexities of healthcare reform and employee financial benefits. Chicago-based Aon, an insurance brokerage and consulting giant, will play a large role in uninsured individuals' and small employers' ability to buy health insurance once federal government subsidies are available in the next four years.

A decade has passed since lawyer, philanthropist and business executive Richard Riordan held the title of mayor. Yet just days after he turned 80, the Brentwood resident has transformed himself into the No. 1 doomsayer of city government, telling politicians, business leaders and even the Wall Street Journal that the city he once led is on the verge of bankruptcy. That message has begun to grate on city leaders, who contend that some budget problems now being faced were created under Riordan's watch.

By day, Henry Graciani oversees a 54-bed treatment center for alcoholics and drug addicts who come to him broke and hopeless. After work, he makes a quick drive to the $1.3-million Santa Monica home he shares with his wife and three children. Graciani is not a high-paid executive returning to a beach retreat. He and his wife, Dina, are career Salvation Army officers who bring home $25,000 per year -- combined . They are among dozens of the charity's officers in Southern California who are paid modest salaries but given rent-free housing -- some in high-priced communities such as Rancho Palos Verdes, Seal Beach and Santa Monica.

Councilman David Sullivan charged last week that city employees have a "Rolls-Royce" benefit package and believes the City Council should review it before negotiations with employee unions start this spring. Sullivan said the city has "good employees," but, "I have a real problem when the employees' benefits so greatly exceed those of the taxpayers who have to pay for them." City employees pay nothing for their benefits.

A federal law intended to allow companies to create a uniform system of health benefits across the country may stand in the way of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's still-sketchy universal health plan. The 1974 law sought to help employers avoid a spate of conflicting state laws -- with different levels and types of worker benefits. Last week a federal appeals court cited the law when it invalidated a Maryland law aimed at making Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spend more on healthcare.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton won praise in June after pushing to extend many federal benefits traditionally provided to diplomats' spouses to gay and lesbian partners. Since then, unmarried heterosexual couples have been lining up to ask for benefits too. They have approached the State Department's personnel office and the diplomats' union, arguing that they are entitled to equal treatment. At least one couple has threatened to challenge the rules in court as discriminatory.