Standing the idea of airline security on its head, the Transportation Department now says it hopes to retain as many experienced airport screeners as possible when creating a new federalized airline security workforce.

What a Concept
The plan is to pay the newly federalized screeners, that is, the same people holding the job today, a starting salary of $31,000 a year, which is nearly double what entry-level screeners earn for some private airport security companies.

What's more, one quarter of the recycled hires don't have a high school diploma, and they won't need one under the new rules announced Dec. 19 by the Transportation Security Administration, the agency newly created by Congress to oversee aviation security. Current screeners can substitute one year of relevant experience for the diploma.

Here's a Better Idea
Do not hire screeners who lack the minimum education of a high school diploma. Replace them with college-educated people who have disabilities and who would be thrilled to have a decent job.

Analytically monitoring a computer screen hour after hour to detect sophisticated and trained individuals who are trying to blow up our commercial aircraft with us on it is a task for the dedicated and dutiful mind. Physically robust legs aren't required.

Educated, Unemployed People
The employment rate of people with disabilities has hovered around 35 percent since World War II, despite the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and endless consciousness-raising activities.

During the hot job market between 1995 and 1999, there was a slight improvement for the well-educated: 51 percent of people with disabilities who had a four-year college education were employed, compared to 90 percent of those without disabilities. Clearly, a talent pool is ready to be tapped.

Screeners Are Vital
Study after study shows that people with disabilities long for meaningful employment -- and that once hired, they work hard to keep it. Not all disabilities can be accommodated, but those who are physically challenged, say wheelchair-mobile, and who have the desired skills and aptitude should be recruited for this critical line of defense.

The aviation security law signed by President Bush was designed to upgrade the quality and professionalism of the screener ranks. Why have federal transportation officials backed up and lowered the bar for education in a linchpin industry that dramatically impacts such others as tourism and hospitality?

Members of the flying public are dismayed at the incomprehensible intent to fix the airline passenger security problem by federal rehiring -- at double the salary -- of the same screeners. As David S. Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, told the Washington Post: "We don't want to be just recycling these workers because, to some degree, that's what got us into trouble in the first place."

Dear Joyce: I heard a career expert on television today say that job hunters should go after such thriving industries as health care. Do you agree? -- E.N.

Dear E.N.: Yes. What that expert didn't tell you is that you don't just walk into a health care job -- prepping for one takes time. A book recommendation: "Health Care Job Explosion, Third Edition" by Dennis V. Damp, $17.95.

Dear Joyce: Are severance packages required by law? How much cash can a laid-off person expect? -- B.C.S.

Dear B.C.S.: Without a contract, employers can send you naked out the door without a dime.

The summary of a recent severance study by Lee Hecht Harrison, "Severance and Separation Benefits," is posted on the company's Web site, http://www.lhh.com . It finds that severance policies became more generous during boom years -- that the typical executive severance formula has increased from one week to two weeks per year of service, and that while lower-level employees still get one week per service year, a growing percentage collect two weeks.

Other researchers, such as Manchester Inc., have reached the opposite conclusion. Their studies show a shrinking severance package trend due to increased pressure to cut costs.

Still another take on the topic comes from outplacement expert John Challenger: For every year of service, executives often get between one and four weeks of pay; middle managers and technical workers receive one or two weeks; and others one week.

Send career questions for possible use in this column to Joyce Lain Kennedy at Box 368, Cardiff, CA 92007, or e-mail her at jlk@sunfeatures.com. Sorry, the volume of mail makes personal replies impossible.

©2001 Tribune Media Services, Inc.