Corona POA President Jason Perez Defeats CalPERS Board President

CalPERS has reported that Corona Police Officers Association President Jason Perez defeated incumbent CalPERS Board of Administration President Priya Mathur with 56.78% of the vote to her 43.22%.  His term will begin in January.  Perez ran on a platform of maximizing investment returns and putting an end to using CalPERS investments to advance unrelated social and political causes.

The Board of Administration is a 13-member board of elected, appointed, and ex-officio officials charged with overseeing and directing the management of CalPERS.  The executive leadership of the Board is elected from among its members. 

CalPERS Investment Return Exceeds Forecast For Second Straight Year

CalPERS reported an impressive 8.6% return on its investments over the last fiscal year.  That's on top of the 11.2% CalPERS reported for fiscal year 2016-17.  CalPERS investment return brings the total fund up to 71% funded, meaning CalPERS has that percentage of the funds it needs to pay out its obligations.  CalPERS recently reduced its predicted returns, triggering higher contributions into the system.  Continued successful investment returns is good news for California labor unions and public employers in the CalPERS system.

Court of Appeal: No Requirement to Meet and Confer on Citizen Sponsored Initiatives

In City of San Diego v. PERB, an appellate court said a citizen sponsored initiative to end pensions for new government employees did not require the city of San Diego (City) to meet and confer with the unions whose members would be affected.  

In November of 2010 then Mayor of San Diego Jerry Sanders announced his plan to place a citizen sponsored initiative on the June 2012 ballot.  The initiative was called the Citizens Pension Reform Iniative (CPRI).  CPRI, if passed, would amend San Diego’s city charter.  The main effect of this amendment was eliminating the pension program for specified future employees, and replacing the program with a 401(k) plan.  

Mayor Sanders, along with many prominent city employees, spent significant time and used considerable resources to gain support for the initiative.  Eventually, enough signatures were collected to place the matter on the June 2012 ballot.  Several unions demanded to meet and confer with City Council before CPRI was placed on the ballot.  If CPRI passed Mayor Sanders would have effectively ended future pensions for city employees without any discussion with union representatives. 

City Council declined to meet with the union representatives, citing a law which requires a citizen sponsored initiative to be placed on the ballot if procedural requirements were met.  Here, the requirements were met, so CPRI was placed on the ballot and passed by the voters.

Several affected unions filed an unfair labor practice charge with PERB.  The City claimed it had no discretion to keep CPRI off the ballot.  According to the City, Mayor Sanders was acting in his capacity as a private citizen.  Since this was was not a government action, they argued, there was no requirement to meet and confer.

PERB found Mayor Sanders was acting as an agent of the City.  Essentially, the City used one of its stronger political figures to create, support, and pass a citizen sponsored initiative.  By doing so the City bypassed the MMBA’s requirement to meet and confer, and ended the pension program for most of the City's future employees.  PERB found this to be a violation of the MMBA, and ordered the City to repay employees for lost compensation, including pension benefits.  The City appealed.

On appeal one of the main argument was over a 1984 case commonly referred to as Seal Beach.  Seal Beach declared, before a governing body can place a charter amendment on the ballot it must satisfy the meet-and-confer obligations under the MMBA.  The unions argued Seal Beach was applicable in the present case.  In other words, 33 years of precedent said governing bodies cannot bypass unions by placing charter amendments on the ballot which will impact the terms and conditions of employment.  The Appellate Court disagreed.

First, the decision dismissed any argument that mayor Sanders was acting as an agent of the City. Concluding CPRI was neither ratified by the City, nor an action of its agent, the court next addressed whether Seal Beach applied.  

The decision said, what took place in San Diego was different from Seal Beach.  CPRI was a citizen sponsored initiative.  In Seal Beach, the city council was using its own authority to place matters on the ballot without an initiative.  Thus, CPRI was not a proposal by a governing body.  Accordingly, there was no obligation to meet and confer.

PERB's decisions are given significant deference on appeal.  Their factual findings are considered final if there is any substantial evidence to support them.  Despite this strong presumption, the court overturned PERB's decision.

Stay tuned as the unions are likely to seek review in the Supreme Court of California.

California Supreme Court Grants Review of CAL FIRE Airtime Credit Case

On April 12, 2017, the California Supreme Court granted CAL FIRE Local 2881's petition for review of the First District Court of Appeal's decision on December 20, 2016 to uphold the elimination of the “airtime credit” benefit in the Public Employment Retirement Systems (“PERS”).

The most significant part of the previous decision by the  Court of Appeal for the First District was the court's decision to adopt the ruling in Marin Association of Public Employees v. Marin County Employees’ Retirement Association (MAPE) regarding the authority of the Legislature to reduce retirement benefits if they do not destroy the pension. The MAPE ruling broke with a half century of precedent holding that any modification of a pension resulting in a detriment must include an offsetting advantage.

The California Supreme Court has now granted review of both the MAPE and Cal Fire rulings. This is a significant opportunity to right the ship and overturn the damage these decisions did to the California vested rights doctrine.

Our office is currently representing two law enforcement associations in separate pension-related appeals in the First Appellate District, including the Alameda Deputy Sheriff's Association. 2017 continues to be an important year for determination of pension rights.

Third Appellate District Upholds Elimination of Pension Pick Ups

In San Joaquin County Correctional Officers' Association v. County of San Joaquin the Court of Appeal upheld a County’s ability to force employees to pay a portion of cost of living (“COLA”) adjustments to their retirement program. This case involved two laws governing public employee retirement, the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (“CERL”) and the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (“PEPRA”).

Prior to PEPRA’s passage, the default retirement program arrangement was that counties and county employees shared the cost of COLA contributions to retirement programs. However, as an option, CERL permitted counties to pay all of the cost of COLA contributions of its employees if it chose to do so. This was known as a “pickup.” This pick up was a common strategy employed by Counties to provide a benefit that was less expensive than a salary adjustment.  In 1975, San Joaquin was one of the counties that agreed to pay the employee share of COLA contributions as part of some of its MOUs.

PEPRA was passed in 2013 to reduce unfunded liabilities in public employee retirement systems. One of PEPRA’s provisions seeks to eliminates the pickups of the employee share of COLA contributions, but does not take effect until 2018.

In 2012, the County negotiated a new MOU with the San Joaquin County Correctional Officers’ Association which eliminated the pickup. The membership voted the MOU down and impasse procedures were engaged. Once impasse was reached, the County unilaterally imposed the elimination of its pick up as part of last best and final offer. The Association challenged the imposition arguing that PEPRA shielded them from such a change until 2018.

Rejecting the Association's challenge, the Court found counties have always had the power to eliminate or reduce pickup under CERL. The CERL permitted the pick up employee costs of COLA contributions, but did not require the pickups nor restrict the employers ability to modify or eliminate them. The court concluded, “In short, the County always has had the power to eliminate the COLA pickup, subject to labor laws, and those laws permitted the county to do so in the event of a bargaining impasse, which occurred. Nothing in PEPRA limited the County’s power in this regard.”

Interestingly, the court cited Marin Assn. of Public Employees v. Marin County Employees’ Retirement Assn. (2016) 2 Cal. App. 5th 674, 681, review granted Nov. 22, 2016, (MAPE) in explaining "the historical backdrop animating recent pension reform legislation in California", but "express[ed] no view" over MAPE's "interpretation of precedent regarding the validity of changes to retirement benefits."

First Appellate District Challenges Vested Rights Doctrine in Upholding Elimination of Airtime Credit

In Cal Fire Local 2881 v. California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the Division Three of the First District Court of Appeal upheld the elimination of the “airtime credit” benefit in Public Employment Retirement Systems (“PERS”). Airtime credit was a benefit available to CalPERS and some other PERS programs that allowed members who had already earned five years of service credit, to purchase another five years of “nonqualified retirement service credit.” The record reflected that PERS had been under charging for the benefit.  In 2013, the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (“PEPRA”) was passed in what was billed as an effort to reign in unfunded pension liabilities. One of the provisions of PEPRA eliminated the ability to purchase airtime credit.

The court considered whether the ability to purchase airtime credit was a “vested benefit.” The court started its analysis with a general presumption against the granting of a vested benefit, unless its text or legislative history evidence an intent to be bound. Applying the reasoning in Employees Assn. of Orange County, Inc. v. County of Orange (2011) 52 Cal.4th 1171, the court held “there is nothing in either the text of the statute, or its legislative history, that unambiguously states an intent by the Legislature to create a vested pension benefit. This demonstration of intent, as we explained above, is required by California law.” The court found no such intent with respect to airtime.

Further, the court held no right was destroyed, noting PEPRA provided members with a seven month window to purchase the service credit, and that such applications would be honored if they were submitted prior to December 31, 2012. "Thus, nothing in the revised statutory scheme immediately destroyed plaintiffs’ right to purchase the airtime service credit ... To the extent plaintiffs lost out on the opportunity to purchase the airtime service credit, such loss was, accordingly, a product of their own doing."

The court also held that the elimination of airtime did not destroy any benefit because the cost of airtime was always intended to be borne entirely by the employee.  Because the benefit was established as cost neutral to the employer, "the employees, not the state, paid for this benefit" and therefore the court held "this simply is not a case where the state provided a retirement benefit to its employees in exchange for their work performance, and then took the benefit away."

Most significantly, the court endorsed Division Two of the First District's holdings in Marin Association of Public Employees v. Marin County Employees’ Retirement Association (MAPE) regarding the authority of the Legislature to reduce retirement benefits s long as they do not destroy the pension.  This superfluous basis for upholding the elimination of airtime is striking given that the Supreme Court had granted Review of MAPE.

MAPE broke with a half century of precedent holding that any modification of a pension resulting in a detriment must include an offsetting advantage.  On November 22, 2016, the California Supreme Court issued an order granting review of MAPE, holding, "The petition for review is granted. Further action in this matter is deferred pending the decision of the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Four, in Alameda County Deputy Sheriff's Association et al. v. Alameda County Employees' Retirement Association et al., A141913
 
Although the elimination of airtime is not particularly significant, the court's unnecessary adoption of the MAPE reasoning in the face of Supreme Court review could affect broader legal principles involving the California vested rights doctrine.  Our office currently is representing two law enforcement associations in two separate pension related appeals in the First Appellate District, including the Alameda Deputy Sheriff's Association.  2017 is shaping up to be an important year for determination pension rights.

Court of Appeal Breaks from Supreme Court Precedent in Upholding Prospective Reduction of Pension Benefits

The attack on public employee pensions continues with the California Court of Appeal's recent decision in Marin Association of Public Employees et al. v. Marin County Employees' Retirement Association et al. The Court of Appeal upheld the Marin County Employees' Retirement Association's ("MCERA") implementation of the Pension Reform Act (A.B. 197) in the face of constitutional challenges by employee organizations.

MCERA is subject to the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (often referred to as "CERL" or "the '37 Act.") In 2012, the Legislature passed the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act ("PEPRA"), which, in part, excluded forms of pay from the "compensation earnable" used to calculate employees' pension benefits.

After PEPRA's enactment, MCERA implemented policies to effectuate these changes. Under the new policy, MCERA would begin to exclude standby pay, administrative response pay, call-back pay, cash payments for waiving health insurance, and other pay items from employees' final compensation after January 1, 2013. Four employee organizations and four plaintiffs challenged these changes on the basis that they were unconstitutional impairments of current employees' vested rights under the state and federal contract clauses.

The court found PEPRA's prospective changes to pension calculations, and MCERA's implementation of such changes, were constitutional. The court agreed that current employees have vested rights to a "substantial" and "reasonable" pension, but held they do not have an "immutable entitlement to the most optimal formula for calculating the pension." Rather, in the court's view, pensions are subject to "reasonable" modification before they become payable.

The court's ruling abandons over fifty years of California Supreme Court rulings protecting public employee pension rights. In 1955, the California Supreme Court issued its ruling in Allen v. City of Long Beach, which established that any changes to pension benefits that result in a disadvantage to employees must be accompanied by comparable new advantages.

In this case, the court did not follow this precedent and claimed the Supreme Court did not intend its use of "must" to to be literal or inflexible. Rather, the court preferred the formulation that a disadvantageous change to pension benefits only "should" be accompanied by a comparable new advantage. In any event, the court determined under the facts of this case, that the employees received a comparable advantage to the reduction in their pension benefits in the form of reduced employee contributions to the retirement system. Since MCERA excluded standby pay, administrative response pay, and call-back pay from pension calculations, it would no longer collect retirement contributions on such pay. This ruling seemingly ignored the fact that, for years, employees contributed to MCERA to fund pension benefits that included such pay.

This case has significant limitations and is sure to be promptly challenged in the California Supreme Court.

Chuck Reed's Pension Attack Fails to Make the Ballot for a Third Time

Earlier today, former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed admitted defeat for his third attempt to attack public employees' retirement security.  Accordingly to the Sacramento Bee, the move appears to be motivated by poor polling for the initiative and Reed's inability to raise enough money to pay people to gather signatures in support of the measure.

Reed's campaign for a statewide attack on retirement security follows his failed attempt to attack pensions in San Jose.  Despite his repeated failures of this issue, Reed said he and his partners planned to bring the issue up again in 2018.  He said in a press release that he planned to "re-file at least one of our pension reform measures later this year for the November 2018 ballot."

Reed is joined in his effort by Pacific Grove Mayor Bill Kampe and San Diego politician Carl DeMaio.  Pacific Grove's attack on pensions was ruled unconstitutional in 2013.

Mastagni Holstedt, APC Protects Retirement Rights in the Court of Appeal

Mastagni Holstedt, APC filed an amicus brief with the California Second Appellate District, Division One. At issue are adjustable retirement health subsidies under the City of Los Angeles’ retirement system. In 2006, the City of Los Angeles passed an ordinance which allowed the Board of the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System to provide an adjustable retirement health subsidy. This adjustable rate would allow the City to increase contributions as costs increased over time.

However, in 2011, the City of Los Angeles passed an ordinance freezing future increases to the subsidy. Los Angeles employee organizations brought suit alleging this violated their vested right to a variable subsidy. The trial court agreed and ordered the City to increase the subsidy pursuant to the 2006 ordinance.

The City appealed the decision arguing it had plenary authority to modify the pension subsidy as it was a type of “employee compensation.” In its brief, Mastagni Holstedt, APC argues a pension subsidy is not salary, but is instead a vested benefit. The California courts have already held on numerous occasions a pension benefit, once vested, cannot be revoked. The California Constitution’s Contracts Clause prohibits such an action. Thus, the City cannot arbitrarily revoke a benefit by reforming it as “employee compensation.”

Mastagni Holstedt, APC thanks the employee organizations who joined the firm in fighting back against the destruction of employee benefits.  Mastagni Holstedt attorneys David E. Mastagni, Isaac S. Stevens, and Ian B. Sangster represent the amici in the matter.

PERB Tackles Vested Rights Issues in Finding Unions Refused to Bargain Over Employee Pension Contributions

On June 3, 2015 in County of San Luis Obispo (2015) PERB Decision No. 2427-M, PERB held two unions unlawfully refused to bargain over employee pension contributions. In reaching this decision, PERB ruled San Luis Obispo's independent retirement system did not provide employees with vested rights for employee contributions. This case demonstrates PERB's willingness to decide vested rights issues, potentially providing labor organizations with an alternative forum to litigate such issues.

The County of San Luis Obispo maintains the San Luis Obispo Pension Trust ("Trust") as its own independent retirement system. The County requested to bargain with two unions over a proposed increase in employee contributions to the retirement system. The unions argued, among other things, that the employee contributions constituted vested contractual rights and the unions could not lawfully bargain over such vested rights. During this time, the unions were litigating cases in superior court over similar issues. If the unions agreed to bargain over employee contribution rates, they risked weakening their position in the pending superior court litigation.

The outcome of the case hinged on whether the Trust provided vested rights regarding certain employee contribution rates. If PERB determined the pension benefits were vested at the current employee contribution rates, the unions would have been within their rights to refuse to bargain over proposed increased contributions for the same fixed level of pension benefit. However, PERB held the current employee contribution rates were not vested and immutable under the Trust's governing documents. PERB determined the Trust's language did not show a clear intent to create vested rights in particular contribution rates or benefits. Since the employee contributions were negotiable, PERB ruled the unions unlawfully refused to bargain over the County's proposed changes to the contribution rates.

This case demonstrates PERB's willingness to decide vested rights issues in determining whether a refusal to negotiate pension benefits constitutes an unfair labor practice. Although the County prevailed under the circumstances in County of San Luis Obispo, this case could benefit labor organizations in the future by providing an administrative forum with labor expertise to determine vested rights issues. This decision also shows the danger for labor organizations and employers to refuse to negotiate over proposals where bargaining obligations are unclear.

Chuck Reed Tries New Tactic in Pension Assault

Chuck Reed announced a new strategy to attack pensions in California today.  The text of new proposal has several features designed to take away employees retirement benefits.

It would abolish pensions for employees hired after January 1, 2019 and replace them with a "defined-contribution" system unless changes to benefits are approved in an election.  In a defined-contribution system, employees have to pay in a fixed amount with no guarantee of what their retirement income would be.  As a result, this approach shifts the risk and could result in thousands of public employees unable to retire.

The proposal is not limited to retirement benefits.  It provides, "Voters have the right to use the power of initiative or referendum... to determine the amount of and manner in which compensation and retirement benefits are provided to employees of a government employer."  As a result, the measure could be read to allow voter initiatives to eliminate or change MOUs, severely limiting collective bargaining in California.

The proposal also seeks to prevent the Public Employment Relations Board from hearing unfair practice cases involving ballot measures to strip employees of bargained-for compensation.

Illinois Supreme Court Blocks Attack On State-Funded Pensions

The Illinois Supreme Court blocked an attack on state employees and their pensions when it upheld a lower court ruling on May 8, 2015. In Pension Reform Litigation v. Pat Quinn, the Court struck down a 2013 law aimed at slashing state-funded public employee pensions. The Court ruled the law violated the Illinois State Constitution’s contracts clause.

In 1970, Illinois ratified an amendment to its constitution protecting state-funded pensions. From 1970 until 2013, the funding for the state-funded pensions stagnated, having only 41% of the funding necessary to meet the fund’s liabilities. Conversely, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund is funded at 96%. The IMRF is not state funded.

To meet growing concerns with its state-funded pensions and other budgetary issues, the Illinois state legislature passed Public Act 98-599. The heart of PA 98-599 aimed to cut state-funded pensions. The bill sought to delay eligibility for members. It also capped the maximum salary used to calculate benefits. PA 98-599 then tried to effectively reduce base pension amounts for some members. Senator Kwame Raoul, one of PA 98-599’s chief sponsors, characterized the bill as sacrificing state employee pensions to protect state finances.

Former Governor Pat Quinn signed PA 98-599 in 2013. Five separate lawsuits challenging the law’s validity were immediately filed. The lawsuits, all decided in this case, claimed that PA 98-599 violated Illinois’s contracts clause. Just like the California's contracts clause, the Illinois Constitution prohibits the impairment of state pensions. PA 98-599’s proponents characterized the bill as an exercise of the legislature’s emergency police powers. The Illinois Supreme Court disagreed. The Court ruled that the PA 98-599 violates the Illinois Constitution.

The Illinois Supreme Court warned against a slippery slope of unnecessarily using police powers. Writing for the Court, Justice Lloyd Karmeier instructed that emergency police powers must be reserved for true emergencies. If not, “no rights or property would be safe from the State. Today it is nullification of the right to retirement benefits. Tomorrow it could be renunciation of the duty to repay State obligations. Eventually, investment capital could be seized.” Justice Karmeier further explained that “crisis is not an excuse to abandon the rule of law. It is a summons to defend it.” The Court pointed to the possibility of raising taxes to meet the fund’s needs.

The Illinois pension victory represents just one battle in that state’s fight. Though the ruling came from the Midwest, the fallout hits close to home. Just like Chuck Reed here in California, Governor Bruce Rauner wants to amend the Illinois constitution so that he can gut state-funded pensions.

Similar attacks on retiree benefits have failed in California on similar grounds.  In Stockton, the superior court found a fiscal emergency declaration does not authorize City to renegotiate a closed labor contract.  In Los Angeles, a court determined a fiscal emergency declaration does not permit freezing retiree medical benefits or imposing furloughs, and in Pacific Grove the court found a local ballot measure capping PERS pension contributions violated California's contracts clause.  Mastagni Holstedt attorneys David E. Mastagni and Isaac S. Stevens represented the employee groups in Stockton and Los Angeles.  Mastagni Holstedt attorney Jeffrey R. A. Edwards represented the employee groups in Pacific Grove.

California Court of Appeal Strikes Blow to Employee Pension Rights

On January 22, 2015 the California Court of Appeal changed how the Legislature can change pension benefits under a contract.  The Legislature may change current contractual pension benefit formulas for new employees. But, the Legislature may not alter pension contribution requirements under a current contract.

In DeputySheriff’s Association of San Diego County v. County of San Diego the County and Deputy Sherriff's Association had a memorandum of understanding. The contract contained provisions related to pension benefits. The contract's pension formula for members was 3 percent at 55. The contract also required the employer to pay a percentage of the employee’s pension contribution.
 

The California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 went into effect on January 1, 2013. The Act required that new safety members receive less than 3 percent at 55. PEPRA also limits employer contributions. Employers may not cover an employee's required contributions. The DSA argued PEPRA unconstitutionally impaired the contract terms. If a contract is in place then the Legislature cannot alter it until it expires. 
 

The Court of Appeal did not agree with the DSA.  The Court said a benefit vests when the employee begins working under the terms of the contract. Future employees cannot claim a vested benefit until they begin working. Thus, the Legislature could alter the pension benefits for new members.
 

The Court of Appeal also found an impairment of the contributions under the contract. PEPRA's contributions provisions cannot conflict with current contract terms. PEPRA as applied here would change the terms of the agreement.  Therefore, PEPRA would not apply until the agreement expired on June 26, 2014.

Illinois Supreme Court: Pensions Protected By State Constitution

In Kanerva v. Weems (July 3, 2014), the Illinois Supreme Court ruled health-insurances subsidies for retired state workers are protected under the Illinois Constitution. The ruling poses a challenge to Illinois’ recent pension reform legislation and may force the State to consider raising revenue rather than cutting benefits.

Recently, the State attempted to reform the pension system by imposing healthcare insurance premiums on its retired workers, reducing cost-of-living increases for pensions, raising retirement ages, and limiting the salaries on which pensions are based. Retirees challenged a recent amendment to the State Employees Group Insurance Act, arguing it violated pension protection clause of the Illinois Constitution. The high court agreed, finding the pension protection clause applies to an Illinois public employer’s obligation to contribute to the cost of health care benefits for employees covered by one of the state retirement systems.

In a similar case, David E. Mastagni and Isaac S. Stevens, obtained a decision in the Los Angeles County Superior Court for the Los Angeles City Attorneys’ Association (LACAA). They argued the City of Los Angeles’ freeze ordinance, which capped retiree medical premiums at $1,190 with no increases, unconstitutionally impaired a contractual obligation to LACAA’s members because a maximum medical plan premium subsidy is a vested right. The court agreed, finding the freeze ordinance was an impairment of a vested right to a substantial or reasonable benefit and issued a writ of mandate directing the City to compute and provide the health insurance premium to LACAA’s members without regard to the City’s freeze ordinance.

CalPERS Reports Huge Investment Gains

CalPERS posted another huge increase in its investments which grew by 16.2% in 2013.  That's more than the 12.5% CalPERS reported in July 2013 and the 13.3%it earned in 2012.  CalPERS has continued to grow its assets since 2011 when a 20.7% return prompted CalPERS to declare "We are back."  According the the Sacramento Bee, "the latest investment performance by CalPERS last year was the best since 2003."

Court: Key Parts of San Jose Measure B Unconsitutional

On December 20, 2013, the Santa Clara County Superior Court overturned the heart of Measure B, San Jose's attack on employees' pensions.  In doing so, the court followed the Monterey and Los Angeles superior court which have overturned similar attacks on employees' vested rights.

The court overturned part of Measure B that shifted financial responsibility for unfunded liabilities from the City to employees.  That section would have dramatically increased employees' contributions into the system.  The court found that employees had a vested right to have the City pay that portion.  As a result, Measure B unconstitutionally impaired their vested rights.

The court also overturned a provision that allowed the City council to suspend retirement Cost-Of-Living-Adjustments (COLAs) by "declaring a fiscal emergency."  COLAs are not always vested rights, but the court found that retirees in this system had a vested right to COLAs.  The court overturned this section, noting it is not enough for a city council to declare an emergency.  Instead, there has to really be an emergency.  Further, an impairment to a vested right on emergency grounds has to be temporary.  Since this section did not require a real emergency and impaired vested rights in a permanent way, the court ruled it was unconstitutional.

The court upheld other portions of Measure B related to disability retirement, supplemental payments to retirees, retiree medical, and wage cuts.  The court also found "that the Measure B sections at issue in this case can proceed as to new employees."

Trust Counsel: California Pensions More Secure Than Detroit's

After a Michigan bankruptcy judge opened the door to cutting public employees' pensions as part of the City of Detroit's bankruptcy, some observers suggested the ruling opens the door to similar tactics in California. But as Harvey Leiderman, the well-regarded trust counsel to CalPERS and other retirement systems, recently explained, California's pensions are very different from - and more secure than - Detroit's.

Leiderman explained Michigan's pension system hinges on a contractual relationship between two groups: retirees and employers, making it more vulnerable to impairment in bankruptcy.  That's because bankruptcy courts (unlike employers themselves) have special powers to impair contracts.  California's system, however, has three groups: retirees, employers, and pension trusts, such as CalPERS.

Leiderman explains that California's system includes legal duties between employers and pensions trusts on the one hand, and pension trusts and retirees on the other.  These duties are the product of state laws, not contracts.  He used this chart to illustrate the relationship:

Thus, even without contracts, California public employers have a duty to pay CalPERS and CalPERS has a duty to pay retirees.  Read the full article here.

Poll Shows Californians Oppose Reed Initiative

A recently survey conducted December 5-9, 2013 shows Californians coming out against the Reed Initiative by a margin of 49% to 35%.  The poll shows an overwhelming majority of Californians oppose efforts to eliminate public servants' pensions.  Specifically, the poll noted that 54% of California strongly oppose "Eliminating Police, Firefighters, and Other Public Employees Vested Pension Benefits."  Read the report on the new poll here.

British Firefighters Poised to Strike Over Retirement Age Increase

Firefighters in England and Wales announced today they plan a 4-hour strike to protest a proposal to raise their retirement age to 60 because raising the retirement age jeopardizes public safety.  The firefighters' labor union, the Fire Brigades Union, explained "It is ludicrous to expect firefighters to fight fires and rescue families in their late 50s - the lives of the general public and firefighters themselves will be endangered. None of us want a strike, but we cannot compromise on public and firefighter safety.” It will be the first nationwide strike of firefighters in that country in a decade.

PERB: No Duty to Bargain Over Retired Peace Officers' CCWs

In Riverside Sheriffs' Association v. County of Riverside (2013) 38 PERC ¶ 21, PERB ruled an employer does not have to meet and confer with a union about the CCW policy for retirees because retirees are not in the bargaining unit.  PERB reaffirmed that employers do not have to negotiate policies affecting retirees or other employees outside a union's bargaining unit unless those decisions affect current bargaining unit members in a significantly adverse way.