In the category of “let’s make government act more like a business,” PennLIVE reported the Pennsylvania House of Representatives is primed to shed 63 employees under a new buyout deal.
Employee buyouts have become increasingly popular in recent years by businesses looking to pare their payrolls. Such deals typically offer longtime employees financial incentives based on years of service — say a lump sum payment equal to a week’s pay for each year worked — to leave. That frees employers to reduce their costs either by eliminating positions or hiring new employees at entry-level salaries.
PennLIVE reported the House of Representatives offered employees $1,000 a year for each year worked up to 25 years.
Legislative staffers range from a handful of executive committee staffers, attorneys and analysts who earn six-figure salaries to part-time aides who earn $10 an hour.
There was no word on who is leaving or just how much the program represents in savings to taxpayers.
But staff departures represent only a small fraction of those employed by the state House.
According to state records, the 203-member House of Representatives has a staff of about 1,600 full- and part-time employees as of Aug. 15, two weeks before the buyout offer ended.
Records for the same period show the state’s 50 senators had a staff of about 825 full- and part-time employees.
