Undocumented rewards for "favorites"

The Dirty Half-dozen were even dirtier than I suspected. They were creating busywork positions downtown for their "favorites" and paying them very generous full-time salaries for part-time positions. In addition, since these "favorites" were technically rehired retirees, they were simultaneously collecting an APS pension.

Retirees can't continue careers in APS
[ajc] Superintendent Erroll Davis ordered the firing of about 70 retirees, some who earn handsome hourly wages out-of-step with the district's salary scale. Contracts for the retirees will be terminated Oct. 31 and could amount to $1.7 million in annual savings, the equivalent of one furlough day.
Almost half of the targeted positions fall under the office of former Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Kathy Augustine, a key figure in the state's test-cheating scandal, and some worked as assistants to major players in the investigation. Critics say some positions are evidence of the district's culture of cronyism.
...According to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open records request, educators who retired as principals returned to the district in ill-defined central office jobs such as "administrator" earning $33 an hour.
...A retired principal who was rehired as an hourly administrator and paid $33.43 an hour said her job was to assist an APS area superintendent named in the cheating investigation in "whatever was needed," such as fielding calls from principals or parents.
...Charles Carey, president Atlanta Association of Classified Employees, a group with about 250 members, said under the old APS leadership, aging employees were pressured into retirement so the district could make room for retirees who were "favorites."
"They would bring back [favorites] and let them work no matter if they had a bad record when they left," he said. "People who retired with good records, if they didn’t like them, they wouldn’t let them come back."

This was a very difficult story to pick a "money quote" from. It's not very well written (sorry, Mr Sarrio), unless the reporter's intent was to obscure this key concept, which doesn't show up until paragraph fourteen.