PENSIONS JEOPARDIZED BY COURT RULING

by Bob Walsh

Cranston, R.I., is a fairly typical small town. The First Circuit Court of Appeals just made a very interesting ruling which has the potential to have HUGE downstream effects for retirees, including public employee retirees.

For well over 20 years the police officers and fire fighters of Cranston have been promised state retirement benefits. However, the state has faced serious budget problems over the past few years and the legislature has just declared a "fiscal peril." This legislative declaration allows the state to unilaterally reduce public employee pension benefits, including those being paid to people already retired.

The unions argued that these benefits should be treated like any other contract. The state disagreed. The state won.

This decision had led some to believe that when the time comes (currently predicted to be about 2034) the federal government will similarly tell social security recipients that they are shit outta luck