RPLG Partner Ryan McGinley-Stempel and Of Counsel Steve Cikes spoke on vested pension rights at the County Counsels’ Association of California Spring 2022 Employment Law Study Section Meeting on February 24-25 at the Hyatt Regency in Monterey.
The presentation will cover developments in public pension law, the “California Rule,” and key decisions recently made by the California Supreme Court.
Last month, a unanimous California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) board tentatively approved a roughly 50% hike in the employer pension contribution rate.
Although things are moving in the right direction, we ain’t there yet.
This case reinforces the judicial trend of deferring to PERB’s administrative processes on issues, even of constitutional dimension, on which the court and PERB jurisdiction coincide.
CalPERS has led the state, cities, counties, and other government agencies to the edge of ruin yet continues to stand in the way of pension and benefits reform.
Even though the public is increasingly interested in the workings of government, the news media simply can’t convey the issues and problems in the depth necessary to enable the public to make informed decisions.
At least in the short run, Wisconsin makes a rational discussion of the problems inherent in public-sector labor relations more intractable because of Governor Scott Walker’s extremist views and the heavy-handed way in which he has delivered them.
This article focuses on the coming fights over the validity of initiative measures affecting pensions, in the face of claims that they undermine collective bargaining obligations, and on how the inevitable legal battles may help clarify what role voters are permitted to play in setting other matters within the scope of bargaining.
