Professor Simmons Comments on UC Executives' Demands for SF Chronicle
Professor Daniel Simmons commented for the San Francisco Chronicle on a letter by a group of the University of California's highest-paid executives who are threatening to sue unless the university agrees to dramatically increase retirement benefits paid to employees making more than $245,000 per year. The letter, sent to the UC Board of Regents on December 9, urges the board to base retirement benefits on the executives' full salary, rather than the federally instituted limit of $245,000, and threatens legal action.
"I think it's pretty outrageous that this group of highly compensated administrators of a public university are challenging the president and the chair of the Board of Regents," said Professor Simmons, who is chairman of UC's Academic Senate. "What outrages me the most is that these 36 people are blind to the fact that this is a public entity in dire straits."
Professor Simmons also stated that if the university promised the executives a higher pension in writing, they should show the contract, in which case "they may have a legitimate claim."
Daniel L. Simmons is a UC Davis Professor of Law and a national expert on tax law, with an emphasis on corporate and partnership taxation.