Nebraska Auditor questions $23,000 intended payout to former employee

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The Nebraska Auditor of Public Accounts Mike Foley is questioning a decision that the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems (NPERS) has made.

NPERS is reportedly intending to pay a former executive director, Thomas Pfeifle, over $23,000 in salary and benefits. Pfeifle reportedly submitted his resignation on Sept. 21, 2026 and walked off the job, ending further interactions with the NPERS agency that day.

However, Pfeifle allegedly claimed his resignation would not be taken into effect until Oct. 31, 2026.

Pfeifle began his employment with NPERS on May 18, 2026 and ended his employment less than four months later.

“Rewarding a State employee who was on the job for not quite four months before abandoning his
position and turning in his State cell phone, keys, laptop, and identification, and then doing absolutely
nothing through Halloween Day is not only unconscionable,” Foley noted, “but also raises serious
questions about the legality of the planned payment.”

Foley stated the claim that Pfeifle ended his employment five weeks after what is reported is “an apparently successful attempt to collect another five weeks of full pay and benefits.”