Sunday, November 30, 2014

Why is Lodi Paying for Gerry Woods' Dental Coverage as a Retiree?





Nobody knew Gerry Woods’ title when he was employed by Lodi.  Apparently, it was “Superintendent Public Works”.  His signature can be found on page 25 of the contract below:




Nowhere in his contract does it state that the Borough of Lodi will be paying for his dental coverage as a “retiree”.  The only mention of dental coverage is on page 23.


And the clause for post-retirement health benefits (between 55 and 65 years of age) requires at least 25 years of service with the Borough of Lodi.


Gerry Woods had maybe 13 years with the Borough.  And he is over 65 years of age.


If anyone has any answers to these posts, I would gladly put them up on this website.

May 17, 2010






March 22, 2010:

P.L. 2010 Chapter 2 was approved. 

This law required that public employees pay a minimum of 1.5% of their base salary for health insurance costs.

This law would take effect May 21, 2010.

Any new collective bargaining agreements approved after May 21, 2010 would have to comply with the new law.


May 17, 2010:

The Lodi Mayor and Council approved a whopping SEVEN different public employee contracts at their regular meeting:




They went into closed session during that meeting to discuss three of the contracts, hiding their questions from the public.

They needed all seven of those contracts approved that night.

None of the contracts approved that night required any employees to contribute anything towards their health insurance.




Why was it necessary to approve every contract that night?




Because the Lodi politicians didn’t want to pay 1.5% of their base salary towards health insurance.  They sought out another loophole in another poorly enforced law. 




But two questions still exist for Tony Luna and Marc Schrieks:



Tony Luna
  
Tony Luna was not part of any collective bargaining agreement.   

He should have been contributing to his health insurance costs effective May 21, 2010.

How can this Administration apply another collective bargaining agreement to Tony Luna  when his contract is so much different from the others?

For instance, three of the contracts approved that night were for White Collar, White Collar Department Heads and Supervisors, and Department of Public Works.

All three contracts are available online:




All three list the following:




From the PERC website:




Tony Luna’s contract has no 25 YEAR WORK REQUIREMENT, yet it would pay him up to $ 5000 for the rest of his life (two thousand more per year than the other retired employees).

Is this fair?  This Administration can’t have it both ways.


Marc Schrieks:


Marc Schrieks was never supposed to receive health benefits from Lodi in the first place:




Has he ever contributed anything towards his health benefits?

He refuses to answer any of these questions at public meetings.

Everything he has stated previously on this matter has turned out to be flat out lies.


Marc Schrieks and Tony Luna are out of touch and out of control.

It’s Time That Tony Luna Pays His Fair Share!




The below calculation was made after entering the information from Tony Luna’s current contract.  The calculator came from the following web page:







What is Luna contributing towards his health insurance?  What has he contributed since May 21, 2010?  Has he contributed too little?  Is he contributing anything? 


Luna’s last two contracts contain too many inconsistencies


Chapter 2, P.L. 2010


State Law required that Tony Luna contribute a MINIMUM of 1.5% of his base salary towards health insurance effective May 22, 2010.

However, on May 17, 2010 the Lodi Mayor and Council approved a new contract for him that states:

“The Borough shall pay for the full cost of the premiums for Manager that enroll in the Direct 10 Plan.”

Taken from page 15 of the May 17, 2010 contract:



Luna is a “nonaligned” employee.  He has an individual employee contract.  He is a not part of any collective negotiations agreement.  There is no language in his contract to make the case otherwise.

Please read #23, 24, 26, and 27 below. 




If Alan Spiniello was the legal counsel for this contract, then he used “discretion” to ignore the law. The only thing going for him was this was never challenged in the judicial process.


Luna’s Current Contract


Is Luna currently paying 1.5% of his base salary or nothing at all?  Neither is in compliance with the law.

On page 14 of his current contract, it states that Luna is required to pay 1.5% of his base pay.  At the time his contract was approved on February 18, 2014, he was required to pay a much higher percentage.  1.5% was not the present rate at the time.  Look at the calculation at the top of the page.

Look at page 14 of the current contract:




Page 18 of the current contract is a form that Tony Luna certified on October 28, 2008.  It states that Tony Luna was a retiree of the Borough and Lodi would be paying 100% of his premiums.  He listed himself with police officers that retired with 25 years or more of service or a disability pension.   He is the only current employee listed as a Retiree.  He is the only listed employee that is not a retired police officer.

If Tony Luna certified this form in 2008, why wasn’t it included it in his 2010 contract?  What is his intention now?



Limited and Prohibited by Law


A few years ago at a council meeting, I questioned the legality of Subsection B on Luna’s 2010 contract:

“Upon retirement or termination from employment or non-renewal of the Agreement between the Borough and the Manager, the Borough of Lodi shall reimburse the Manager for an amount not to exceed $5,000.00 annually for any supplemental health coverages he shall purchase upon retirement or termination of his employment from the Borough. Said reimbursement for supplemental health coverages shall be made to the Manager for the rest of his life. Said reimbursement shall be made payable to the Manager upon the Borough receiving a statement or invoice from the insurance company that provides the supplemental health insurance that was purchased.”

I asked how this council can hand out a lifetime benefit that wasn’t awarded through collective bargaining and doesn’t apply to every other employee. I questioned whether future administrations would be required to honor it.

As with everything else, this Administration could not defend it's actions.

So after my questioning, this sentence was added to the 2014 contract:  

“Provided however notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that State Law prohibits said reimbursement or limits said reimbursement, then in that event said reimbursement shall be limited to comply with New Jersey State Law as amended from time to time.”

The new sentence was only added because the Lodi Mayor and Council know that lifetime perks cannot be awarded by a handful of rogue and lawless politicians.