The three to four thousand employees covered by the California State Law Enforcement Association lost a court case, as a District Judge ruled that their half a percent increase in pensions were not retroactive.
In 2002, the Davis administration negotiated an increase for the union’s members, brining them from a 2 at 55 to a 2.5 at 55 pension plan.
Although the authorizing legislation did not address whether or not the increase would be retroactive, the Governor said it was. His replacement said it wasn’t. And now the courts agree.
The ruling should save the state approximately $40 million.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
As the debate over state pensions simmers in Sacramento, an appeals court overturned part of a negotiated increase in retirement benefits Wednesday for several thousand regulatory workers, saying the Legislature never approved the full increase or its estimated $40 million cost.
The case involves 3,500 to 4,000 employees whose union, the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association, reached an agreement with then-Gov. Gray Davis’ administration in 2002 to reclassify them as “safety members” of the state’s retirement systemin July 2004.
That entitled them to higher pensions – 2.5 percent of their pay, instead of 2 percent, for each year of service if they retired at age 55.
Read the full article here.