Greg Hartman just sent me the news that Judge Kantor has issued his ruling in the Arken/Robinson cases this morning. I cannot tell you what the news is, or even read the opinion yet as it is nowhere to be found on the net yet. But have no fear. I will have it by this evening come hell or high water. In the meantime, consider Hartman's final line in his email to me. "On to the Court of Appeals...." I could draw all sorts of inferences from that, but I'd simply prefer to read the opinion. I will have it up as soon as I can get my hands on it.
Here's the ruling. Try to enjoy even though we didn't win anything we didn't already have.
7 comments:
Did I read this right? It looks like we lost!
Gary
On the second question before the court - the question of whether PERS was permitted to adjust the benefits downward to compensate for the overcredit at the time of retirement, we did indeed lose. Kantor does not believe that the Legislature created a new benefit that locked the 20% in. He chose not to get into the question of whether PERS had the right to collect for payments already made - he told them they couldn't in June of 2007. This only dealt with prospective adjustment for the revised 1999 earnings from 20% to 11.33% in which the monthly benefit for most people went down.
Thanks for the clarification. So, in other, words, we still stand where we were as of June of 2007? Does this mean that PERB appeals rather than us?
You'd think I'd understand all of this after following these issues for so long (but apparently not following closely enough or I wouldn't need to ask these questions).
Gary
PERS appeals Robinson; PERS Coalition appeals Arken. That's primarily the way I see things right now.
Sheesh!
Your prediction that we're 5 years out on final decisions will probably be right on. I guess I'll need to quit thinking about this stuff as much as I do-although I can't imagine staying away from your blog just to see if lightning's struck.
Gary
As I try to understand the good Judges wisdom, am I correct in the following statements:
1. PERS wins the 11% interest issue
2.Retirees get their back COLAs
3.PERS can't come to the retirees for the difference between #1 and #2
These thoughts when answered by someone who understands the legal language will, I believe assist retirees in a clear way-thanks-kirkc
kirkc:
Your take is essentially correct. However, Judge Kantor's ruling is anything but the final word. For now, PERS can't collect the "overpayments", and retirees can't expect to get back the COLAs on the benefit calculated using the 20% rate. But all that can change upon appeal. The final decision on all of this could be 4 or 5 years away. In the meantime, whatever is happening now will remain the same until the decisions are reversed or upheld.
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