When David Mayernik chose to step down, a legislative perk sweetened his departure: Mayernik had recently turned 50, so he could retire and begin collecting a $29,583 annual pension. Other Pennsylvania state workers cannot retire until they turn 60.

The younger retirement age has benefited 45% of the 242 retired Pennsylvania legislators. Those 108 legislators collected millions of dollars in pensions that other workers with the higher retirement age could not get in their 50s.

Now an attorney in Pittsburgh, Mayernik says the earlier retirement age was designed to make up for legislative salaries that were low and to compensate for the uncertainty of holding office.