Worth Every Penny

In 1986, Annemarie Dubois took a leave of absence from Peabody Veterans Memorial High School in Massachusetts to work for the American Federation of Teachers. She renewed that leave and continued to work for the AFT for the next 24 years. Now, when she's ready to retire, and under the union's agreement with the school system, she'll be paid a full pension just as if she'd actually been working in the school. School officials say they couldn't deny her requests for a leave of absence. That, too, was in the contract.