After 34 years of work for feds, Naperville man shorted on his pension
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (CBS) – He worked hard for his money and he expected to be treated right.
But Paul Peroutka, a retired federal agent from Naperville said the government he served is failing him. Morning Insider Lauren Victory took a closer look at a nationwide pension problem.
Peroutka never thought he'd ask a TV reporter and a U.S. senator's office for help tracking down his retirement benefits.
"My pension is something that I legitimately worked for," he said. "I earned this."
Peroutka spent 34 years with the U.S. Department of Treasury and the U.S. Marshal's Service.
"I retired because it was mandatory," he said.
He was required to put his feet up, but he can't. The retiree said he was forced to take a full-time job in school security to make ends meet.
"I'm disgusted at this point," he said. "This is absolutely ridiculous."
Peroutka's been stuck on "interim pay," receiving only about 40% of what he expects for his full pension until the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, does its own calculations.
"I'm not asking for something free," he said. "This is mine. I paid for this with over three decades of service."
CBS 2 found a federal report about OPM released just a few months ago. It's an audit that specifically mentions problems with the processing of retirement claims. The previous goal was 60 days or less. The department's current average is closer to 90 days.
For Peroutka, it's been more than 390 days of waiting.
OPM's retirement backlog is at one of its highest levels since 2014, according to that federal review.
"Their response to your question via email is 'Do not respond to this email,'" Peroutka said.
Calls rarely go through. Even a congressional inquiry gets the runaround.
"I think the process has gotten worse," said Larry Cosme, the president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association.
Cosme said complaints from retired members like Peroutka are piling up.
"We've expressed our concerns to OPM in the past and the present that pace needs to be picked up so that the employees can be made whole and this can be remedied," Cosme said.
Nothing's really changed, except Peroutka's pension status. Recently, it showed "case finalized."
"I was all excited," he said. "I thought 'Great, finally.'"
But the calculations were wrong, he said. So it's back to pacing the halls at his current job to pay the bills.
After 13 months of waiting, Peroutka got numbers that don't come close to what he was promised. CBS 2 asked the OPM four times to explain the delays in his case, but never got an answer.