Pension Lawsuits Combined
As far as we can tell, this doesn't deal with the Chicago pensions. However, everything that's being done will establish some sort of precedent, which will, in the end, affect Chicago pensions:
- The Illinois Supreme Court today consolidated the four lawsuits challenging the state’s new pension overhaul and assigned the matter to Sangamon County for hearings.
The lawsuits are brought by groups of employees, laborers and retired teachers who sought to have the pension law found unconstitutional. The lawsuits contend that scaling back cost-of-living increases, increasing the retirement age and other changes violated a constitutional provision that government worker pensions should not be diminished or impaired.
This could be good, as there won't be four separate decisions to reconcile somewhere down the road.
This could also be bad as the "one size fits all" decision limits future options.
This could also be bad as the "one size fits all" decision limits future options.
Labels: pension
posted by SCC at 12:01 AM
27 Comments:
I don't know anything about Sangamon County; does its judicial system tend to lean one way or the other? I'll imagine that any decision it makes will hit the Illinois Supreme Court at some point, but I was just curious as to what we might expect out of Sangamon.
Disgusting liberal anti Police Nekrits had dinner with the wife of a downstate judge who got us here in the first place. Don't think her and madigan aren't shopping around for the best judge they can buy. Please FBI and IRS step in and have a forensic audit. Then start to indict these political criminals!
Recent pension stories:
SPRINGFIELD
Watchdog Group: State Should Reduce Income Tax But Tax Retirees
MON, 03/03/2014
Illinois should freeze its income tax rate one year then lower it 20 percent during a three-year ramp-down and begin taxing retirement income like Social Security, IRAs and pensions, a government finance watchdog is recommending.
http://politics.suntimes.com/article/springfield/watchdog-group-state-should-reduce-income-tax-tax-retirees/mon-03032014-1201am
By Associated Press
Feb 20, 2014 - 8:48 am
PHOENIX -- The Arizona Supreme Court said the Legislature can't cut cost-of-living increases promised to state retirees.
The ruling released Thursday came in a case brought after the Legislature cut the increases in 2011 for retirees in the state plan for judges and elected officials.
http://ktar.com/22/1704035/Arizona-high-court-bars-cuts-to-public-pensions
SAN JOSE -- In a landmark ruling that could help shape city budgets around the state, a judge invalidated key parts of San Jose's voter-approved pension cuts but upheld other elements that could still save huge taxpayer costs.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Patricia Lucas' tentative decision released Monday prohibits the city from forcing current employees to contribute significantly more toward their pensions, as called for in last year's Measure B. But the ruling allows the city to cut employees' salaries to offset its increasing pension costs.
http://www.mercurynews.com/pensions/ci_24782960/pensions-city-workers-cant-be-cut-but-pay
Mostly Democrat political judges sit on the court. And yes Fast Eddie Burke's wife. We will get screwed.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I don't know anything about Sangamon County; does its judicial system tend to lean one way or the other? I'll imagine that any decision it makes will hit the Illinois Supreme Court at some point, but I was just curious as to what we might expect out of Sangamon.
3/05/2014 12:33:00 AM
It includes Springfield! What do you think? Next best thing to Cook County but without Perrywinkle.
If the lawyers make less money I am all for it.
By Associated Press
Feb 20, 2014 - 8:48 am
PHOENIX -- The Arizona Supreme Court said the Legislature can't cut cost-of-living increases promised to state retirees.
The ruling released Thursday came in a case brought after the Legislature cut the increases in 2011 for retirees in the state plan for judges and elected officials.
http://ktar.com/22/1704035/Arizona-high-court-bars-cuts-to-public-pensions
====================
The key phrase here is- Legislature cut the increases in 2011 for retirees in the state plan for JUDGES and ELECTED OFFICIALS.
Weren't they excluded from any cuts here in Illinois? Or was it just the judges that were protected?
So again, did FOP endorse judges and politicians that help the police or hurt the police?
Remember, if they didn't fund our pensions properly, but rather directed the money toward other programs it hurt us.
How's your FOP ballot going? At this point you had better not mail it, but rather hand carry it to FOP.
Not sure if I am the only one feeling this but I get the vibe from my peers that the pension issue is one out of our reach. A, we can't do anything about so why try attitude. There is no other more significant issue affecting the CPD other than the pension issue. I am almost positive we are going to have to give concessions, however by not banding together and uniting as one we will leave it up to Rahm to set the concessions. Just like our contract, he will try his best to increase our contribution by more than 14% percent, and just like the state reduce cola benefits. We did more for the last contract than for this looming problem!
You will not get a pension. You will get a "MyRA". Too bad So sad
http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/29/retirement/myra-accounts/
Could be that start of a class action suit, the lawyers get 99% and we get 1%
We should remember back in 2010, Senate Bill 3538 was passed. In this bill, CPD and CFD agreed to a two tiered pension for new hires. In agreeing to this system, the city agreed to up their payments to fund the pensions at 90% by 2040. Each year they don't pay as required, they lose state funds that would be diverted to the retirement funds. Now the city wants to change this law, but only their payment section, not the reform of the pension annuity. T
his is what needs to be addressed and provided to the media that calls for reform
When Rauner wins your pension is done. Those already collecting will also be cut big. But you can keep pretending if you need to.
Don't forget, all of those judges
are bought and paid for by the
Madigan/Cullerton/Emanuel Combine.
So expect the worse but hope for the
best.
I feel for those of you with pensions that are at-risk, but ultimately, they're going to go away. The private sector, which "generates" wealth (as opposed to the public sector, which obtains funding from taxation) has either been scaling back on pensions, or screwing people who have earned them out of them for years now. Cost-of-living adjustments are almost laughable, when some people collect pennies on the dollar, if that, from what they had "earned". If you're retired and dependent on your pension, I wish you luck. If you're still on the job, good luck to you too, but word to the wise, plan ahead for your own future, rather than banking on a pension that probably isn't going to be there. You make a pretty good living compared to us taxpayers who own our own businesses and are barely scraping by. All due respect, put a few bucks away, and expect that to be your retirement.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
When Rauner wins your pension is done. Those already collecting will also be cut big. But you can keep pretending if you need to.
3/05/2014 10:43:00 AM
There are thousands of retired cops whose ONLY source of income is that pension check. Now what are they going to do if Rauner and Rahm succeed in stealing those pensions? P.S., they are all armed.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I feel for those of you with pensions that are at-risk, but ultimately, they're going to go away. The private sector, which "generates" wealth (as opposed to the public sector, which obtains funding from taxation) has either been scaling back on pensions, or screwing people who have earned them out of them for years now. Cost-of-living adjustments are almost laughable, when some people collect pennies on the dollar, if that, from what they had "earned". If you're retired and dependent on your pension, I wish you luck. If you're still on the job, good luck to you too, but word to the wise, plan ahead for your own future, rather than banking on a pension that probably isn't going to be there. You make a pretty good living compared to us taxpayers who own our own businesses and are barely scraping by. All due respect, put a few bucks away, and expect that to be your retirement.
3/05/2014 08:41:00 PM
Imagine you are a young college student in 1982 and you have decided to become a police officer. You have a mixture of good grades, parents who taught you responsibility, a desire to 'help people' and a reasonable understanding of your employment value in the private versus the public sector.
You sit in the gymnasium, among all the other new probationary officers, filling out a lot of forms, many of which will permanently stamp and determine the direction of your police career.
On some of them, you can attest to being a minority, which may guarantee you a better chance at certain career enhancements, even twenty years later. You will fill out forms allocating where the benefits will go, should you die in the line of duty, which will determine if your kids go to college or your spouse will have to sell the house, even if you're killed 27 years down the road. You will fill out forms relative to your pension benefits and you will be told what to expect in pension payouts, once you have entered your thirtieth year on this job. And you grudgingly admit to yourself that the pension guarantee is one of the deciding factors for you, in an uncertain economy, that caused you to choose this as your possible 'forever' career.
And, for nearly three decades, you have at least nine percent (now more) of your paycheck deducted for 'pension purposes'. And you know your pension will be there, despite those few times over the next thirty years that you're tempted to start your own business, or strike out on your own or enter the private sector where the money is better, but has no future guarantee.
And today, having achieved those thirty years of work history and dutifully 'banking' your pension contribution every single paycheck, you are told it was all a big hoax and hahahahaha, the joke's on you because the politicians stole your pension to buy some bike lanes, or a stadium for a private school, or to pay off their construction buddies or buy the silence of that guy who knows their daughter got caught smuggling coke into the country.
No. I worked hard. I have the injuries to prove it and I have pictures in my brain you folks in private endeavors will NEVER have to see, because I was there first and I took the brunt of it. I put my faith in the employment promises made to me in 1982, or 1979, or 1991, and I made life-choices based on the contract I have with the City of Chicago.
I deserve my pension. I fulfilled MY end of the contract. Now, the City has to fulfill theirs.
Imagine you are a young college student in 1982 and you have decided to become a police officer.
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Yes, and now imagine, you are a young, hard-working individual in the private sector, you know, the place where wealth is CREATED. You live an honest, law-abiding existence, never ONCE in your LIFE having an interaction with police (the kind that create lasting mental images). Not you, and not any of your family members, except for perhaps those occasional obligatory speeding tickets...because you're careful, but you're not above the law!
So you subject yourself to long hours, uncompensated overtime, filthy, dirty, dangerous jobs using chemicals and potentially-explosive agents, getting skin burns and inexplicable headaches and other physical problems as a result, missing time with your family, your kids, because you're trying to put a roof over their heads. Prices go up, taxes go up (to go to those taxpayer-funded jobs with nice pensions), and you labor hour after dangerous and toxic hour, just so your family can have a better life. You are also promised a pension, which you invest in to ensure you have some money when you can no longer work. Then, you are finally let go, because there's no longer a demand for your product, because so many people are buying imported crap cars. (what do YOU drive, by the way, retired copper?)
And lo and behold, the company sold itself to another company, and your pension got "lost" in the process. So you try to sue, to get what's rightfully yours, and after years and years of legal wrangling, you get three cents on the dollar from your pension, the lawyers get 50 cents on the dollar from your pension (for all that diligent work on your behalf) and it's all done. The company is gone, and the pension is gone, and the house is still mortgaged...but hey, you're a member of the "public", and since those crooked politicians did the wrong thing 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago, and since THEY can't be held accountable, let's go back to the golden goose to make sure those public pensions get paid. Those poor citizens are just going to have to cough up some MORE tax dollars.
I'm sorry, but with all due respect, we're ALL getting screwed, and it's the politicians we have to thank for it. You guys do a difficult, horrible job, and I for one thank you for doing it. But there are some of us out here who are ALSO doing difficult, horrible jobs, and just because some politician screwed you over, please don't think that the taxpayers are just going to be milked perpetually to make up the difference. You're going to lose out something in the deal too. It's not your fault, and it's not our fault. Maybe it's time that people started connecting the dots and realizing that the places with the worst crime, and the places with the worst economic problems, are also the places with dedicated bike lanes, shiny new stadiums, and politicians that all have a (D) after their names.
And by the way, I applaud SCC for being one of the places that is "connecting" those dots. My beef isn't with SCC, or with retirees whose pensions are at-risk. My concern is that people who weren't responsible for squandering pension funds (and who in fact FUNDED them in the first place, along with payroll, through tax dollars) shouldn't be held financially liable for the criminal misappropriation of funds.
This is all going to wind up in Federal Court... Madigan has the State Supreme Court sewn up! He so much as said so several months ago when he told you how many votes he'd have in favor of his proposal
---
I'm sorry, but with all due respect, we're ALL getting screwed, and it's the politicians we have to thank for it. You guys do a difficult, horrible job, and I for one thank you for doing it. But there are some of us out here who are ALSO doing difficult, horrible jobs, and just because some politician screwed you over, please don't think that the taxpayers are just going to be milked perpetually to make up the difference. You're going to lose out something in the deal too. It's not your fault, and it's not our fault. Maybe it's time that people started connecting the dots and realizing that the places with the worst crime, and the places with the worst economic problems, are also the places with dedicated bike lanes, shiny new stadiums, and politicians that all have a (D) after their names.
3/06/2014 04:02:00 PM
Business bad? Fuck you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? Fuck you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning, huh? Fuck you, pay me. Some politician screwed you over? Fuck you, pay me.
03/05/2014 "when Rauner wins your pension is done" Why do assholes such as yourself enjoy spouting bullshit out of your mouth? Is it because you can post on a forum such as this and there are no repercussions or are you locked up in mommy's basement and have nothing better to do? Yes...I don't like Rauner either but refuse to post stupid nonsensical garbage which is not substantiated by any fact. Go barf somewhere else you loser!
because so many people are buying imported crap cars. (what do YOU drive, by the way, retired copper?)
-----------------
A twelve year old Detroit produced car. That's what I drive. You sound really bitter.
Try to channel some of that bitterness toward the CURRENT lawmakers and put pressure on them to FIX things, rather than advocate that, hey, it's perfectly okay to screw over your first responders because you got scewed.
Oh, and I'm not the ignorant 'fuck you, pay me' cretin.
Anonymous said...
03/05/2014 "when Rauner wins your pension is done" Why do assholes such as yourself enjoy spouting bullshit out of your mouth? Is it because you can post on a forum such as this and there are no repercussions or are you locked up in mommy's basement and have nothing better to do? Yes...I don't like Rauner either but refuse to post stupid nonsensical garbage which is not substantiated by any fact. Go barf somewhere else you loser!
He has said publicly he wants to change your pension to a defined contribution 401 (k). Why would that not effect all ? That would not be fair.
3/07/2014 11:02:00 AM
Anonymous said...
This is all going to wind up in Federal Court... Madigan has the State Supreme Court sewn up! He so much as said so several months ago when he told you how many votes he'd have in favor of his proposal
3/07/2014 02:32:00 AM
Not sure about that. This is a state issue, feds might not hear it
One guy responded to my comment with:
"Business bad? Fuck you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? Fuck you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning, huh? Fuck you, pay me. Some politician screwed you over? Fuck you, pay me."
And another guy responded with:
"A twelve year old Detroit produced car. That's what I drive. You sound really bitter.
Try to channel some of that bitterness toward the CURRENT lawmakers and put pressure on them to FIX things, rather than advocate that, hey, it's perfectly okay to screw over your first responders because you got scewed."
My answer is:
Number one, I'm not bitter, just pissed off by people who complain (about jobs, pensions, etc.) and then contribute to the problems they're complaining about. Want more tax dollars to fix your pensions? Buy American products made by American companies. If this is a difficult concept, ask a detective buddy about "following the money".
Number two, the lawmakers may be completely beyond reach. I don't know, I keep voting, it doesn't seem to help. Too many baby-mamas voting for their "slice of the pie" I think. (when exactly did they EARN their pie, I wonder...) But MY pension isn't on the line, because I don't HAVE a pension, never did. I put my OWN money aside, which I keep under MY control, for my OWN future. You can say "fuck you, pay me" or call me "bitter" until you're blue in the face. To the extent that your pensions have been compromised, you're going to be in the same boat with holders of private pensions that were compromised, Social Security recipients whose benefits have been compromised, etc. etc. And for those of you who are kind of seeing where I'm coming from, I am NOT trying to start a fight. I'm trying to call your attention to the fact that our city, our state, our federal finances are FUCKED, and we ALL have to start planning for our OWN futures, while there's still time. We're not too far behind Detroit, but WE still have jobs. Be mad, be angry, rip on me, but PLEASE!! TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR OWN FUTURE...in a way that politicians can't fuck with. That is ALL I'm saying.
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