House acts to limit or ban payouts to departing admin officials

New restrictions or banning could be forthcoming on severance pay for executive branch employees who leave state service.

The House passed HF399, sponsored by Rep. Sarah Anderson (R-Plymouth), 102-20 Friday. The bill now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer (R-Big Lake) is sponsor.

Similar but not identical provisions are included in the omnibus state government finance bill Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to veto Friday.

Rep. Sarah Anderson

Anderson said the bill would ensure the law on severance pay is “as the Legislature intended it.”

Under current law, severance pay may not exceed an amount equal to six months’ salary. The bill would set severance pay limits to the lesser of the equivalent of six months’ pay or an amount equal to 35 percent of the employee’s accumulated but unused sick time.

The bill would apply to “highly compensated” state workers who earn more than $76,577 annually, which is 60 percent of the governor’s salary.

One group of employees would be prohibited from getting severance pay at all: commissioners, deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners and “public officials” as defined by law.

Sparking the bill was Dayton’s approval of three month’s severance pay for three former members of his cabinet:

• Sheila Wright got $18,064 after leaving as director of Higher Education Services Office after eight months on the job in 2011;
• Mark Phillips received $27,097 after stepping down in October 2012 as head of the Department of Employment and Economic Development after 20 months of service; and
• Katie Clark Sieben, who replaced Phillips, got $33,750 after she left the same DEED post in April 2016.

The severance payments came to light in a Sept. 20, 2016, report by American Public Media that noted eight other departing commissioners had not received similar payouts.