UC President Robert C. Dynes’ office assistant received several perks that usually go to executives, continuing the University of California’s compensation scandal that has sparked multiple legislative hearings over the past several months.
The university gave Eileen O’Callahan a hefty compensation package when she followed Dynes, the former UCSD chancellor, from San Diego as he filled the presidential position.
As a part of her position as his assistant, O’Callahan regularly schedules Dynes’ appointments. Her benefit package included a $26,563 relocation stipend along with normal moving expenses, a $520,000 low-interest housing loan and a 25-percent salary increase to $106,250 a year, according to documents obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle. The newspaper earlier uncovered several previously unpublicized compensation packages, totaling over $870 million that were distributed to UC employees. A large chunk of the funds were given to top UC officials.
In addition, O’Callahan is under an agreement to receive $10,000 and six months of pay and benefits if she leaves during her first five years of employment. Workers in O’Callahan’s position usually do not receive packages equivalent in value to this one. Among university unions, secretaries and administrative assistants are ineligible for such benefits, according to the Chronicle. UC policy prohibits the awarding of relocation packages such as O’Callahan’s even with the approval of university leaders. However, UC General Counsel James Holst authorized O’Callahan’s benefits.
The university also gave compensation packages to one of Dynes’ top advisers, Linda Williams, who got a $44,467 relocation allowance.
Dynes justified the decision to give the perks to his aides in a statement to the UC Board of Regents, and said that he wanted to relocate them to Oakland because their familiarity with him was important.
“When I became president, I believed their continued service would be beneficial to my success at the systemwide level,’’ Dynes told the board. “Each of these individuals was asked to leave her home and livelihood in San Diego and relocate to the very high-cost Bay Area so that my office would continue to have the benefit of their substantial skills and experience.”
The discovery of the benefits came on the heels of a report to the regents in which the University of California Office of the President disclosed that it had unintentionally given Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Director Steven Chu a benefits plan without going through the proper channels. Chu currently receives a $350,000 salary, along with an extra $17,500 in perks per year in a retirement package.
UCOP discovered the error after the office began auditing the plan, according to UCOP spokesman Paul Schwartz. Several audits are being conducted inside and outside of the university, in addition to a comprehensive UC-sponsored plan to raise all employee pay to market levels within a decade. In an independent study, the university found that its executives were 15 percent behind the average. However, in state Senate subcommittee hearings conducted in February, state senators criticized the study because it did not include extra compensation for top officials. The university audits are expected to be completed by the end of the month.
