Utah law allows state employees to retire from one state job and take another and still collect government retirement checks.

The state's prison managers are using that statute to great advantage.

During the past 10 years, more than 40 corrections employees have retired from their first prison jobs to take other positions in the department and with the Board of Pardons. A Salt Lake Tribune sampling of records from three other state departments shows a similar trend of workers' retiring and being rehired: nine in Public Safety, five in the Department of Transportation and three in Human Services.

State managers insist their rehiring practice saves taxpayers in the long run, capitalizing on experience and knowledge and saving the public the expense of medical benefits.

But rank-and-file workers complain the state policy has created a morale-lowering environment of cronyism. And they dispute the managers' claims that it saves money, noting that some top administrators collect a hefty paycheck, a retirement check and a generous 401(k) contribution from the state.

"State employees are doing this in their own financial self-interest," said Utah Taxpayers Association Vice President Mike Jerman. "If the worker is coming out ahead in this arrangement, obviously it is going to cost the taxpayers more."

Corrections Director Scott Carver retired two years ago from his job as a division director when the former director, Mike Chabries, appointed Carver as his deputy. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. named Carver to the top spot in January. Carver still defends the rehirings, noting all the workers competed for their new jobs in different departments and most took pay cuts.

"There is no expense. You're going to hire the people one way or the other. You're going to pay them the same amount of money. In this case, we're just hiring retired employees," Carver says. "Open jobs are available to every employee. Anybody can apply."

Utah law allows state employees to retire and apply for state government jobs other than the ones they retired from. State workers can retire, change their minds and return to their old jobs - but their retirement is canceled and the employee cannot retire again for two years. In other cases, retired workers can work part time in their old jobs, helping to train their replacements.

State personnel directors claim rehiring actually benefits the public. Retired workers often have years of institutional knowledge, and their medical benefits already are covered by state retirement policy.

Human Services spokeswoman Carol Sisco says former State Hospital Director Mark Payne planned to retire permanently earlier this year when lawmakers reduced state employees' post-retirement medical benefits. But the department lured him back and hired him as the director of the Substance Abuse Division.

"We don't hire people back very often," Sisco says. "But we were looking for another director that had specific skills. We looked at quite a few people and didn't find the right match."

The practice is more common in public safety and corrections. Police officers routinely retire from one department and move on to another. In state government, it's common for former Utah Highway Patrol officers and prison guards to retire and take another job in the same department. After 20 years, public safety and corrections employees can collect half their highest salary in annual pension payments.

But several current and former corrections and public safety workers told The Tribune the rehirings have created a system of favoritism, where only certain retired employees are guaranteed a shot at open jobs.

"It is viewed as the good ol' boy method of operation and creates a morale-deflating roadblock to honest career advancement," a corrections worker, who asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation, said in an e-mail to The Tribune. If law-enforcement retirees are rehired, the state does not have to provide additional medical benefits or another pension. But the state contributes a percentage of their salaries into a 401(k) account - 24 percent for police academy-certified jobs and 14 percent for civilian positions.

For example, Public Safety Director Robert Flowers collects a $103,000 salary and an annual pension payment - from his account with the state's privately managed retirement fund - of $54,000. Flowers also is eligible for a $26,000 401(k) payment from the state.

Carver now collects a $105,000 paycheck and a retirement check of at least $46,000. He also acknowledges state deposits into his 401(k) account of more than $26,000 a year.

Carver insists corrections managers' habit of rehiring retirees is good for taxpayers, noting his department has 133 vacancies. "We'll hire anybody who wants a job who can qualify," Carver said.

But Jerman says state managers are abusing the system. "When legislators established this policy, they did not envision state workers double dipping to the extent that they are," said Jerman, spokesman for the business-funded taxpayers association. "The Legislature needs to scrutinize the cost to the taxpayer when state employees double dip."

Despite the disgruntlement of other employees and government watchdogs, state leaders are not opposed to the practice.

Huntsman says he is comfortable with the state policy. He says rehiring retirees is common in local government.

"If they've earned their retirement in the job they've already done and they've hired on at the executive position which provides continuity on particular issues or in areas of expertise, it's a service to the taxpayer and to government in general," the governor said.

The issue:

State employees who retire, then return to work for the state in a different job: Critics say such "double dipping" is bad for taxpayers and creates a morale-busting climate of cronyism.