Bank Regulators Received Bonuses

The Associated Press discovered through FOIA requests that bank regulators received taxpayer-funded bonuses despite missing or ignoring signs the financial system would melt down. The bonuses ranged from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.

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Nearly $130,000 for 13 days of work?

FOI at Work!
The Times Union in Albany, N.Y., used an FOI request to uncover that the police union president only worked 13 days in 2008. Many of those days were holidays, when the city had to pay him time and a half plus regular pay. When he's away on union business, the city must pay a replacement commander overtime.

Thirteen days.

That's the number of days police union President Lt. Robert Hamilton worked for the city in 2008 when he grossed $129,908 with overtime and retroactive pay, according to city financial records obtained by the Times Union under a Freedom of Information request.

Hamilton spent most of the rest of his time on union business, according to department attendance sheets. Police officials have previously said an officer at the top of the pay scale earned, on average, about $10,000 in back pay resulting from last year's contract settlement, which is included in Hamilton's gross earnings.

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FOI At Work: Urbana, Illinois Bonuses

For more than 10 years, Urbana employees have gotten bonuses when worker's compensation claims are lower than expected. Last year, the mayor and city clerk started getting them, too.

Mayor Laurel Prussing's salary is set by ordinance at $50,000, but city records show she and City Clerk Phyllis Clark also received $940 bonus payments.

The bonus payments, which all regular city employees get, are part of a worker's compensation self-insurance program in which city employees share 50 percent in overall savings when worker's compensation claims are lower than expected.

The bonus payments were made in November. The News-Gazette recently requested information about the payments, after learning about them, through the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

More here.