Category: Retirement and Pension

The Dallas Police and Fire Pension System provides comprehensive retirement, death, and disability benefits for approximately 9,300 Dallas police officers, firefighters, pensioners, and beneficiaries. Individuals automatically become members of the Pension System upon commencing training at a Dallas police or firefighter academy. Upon retirement, a member of the Pension System becomes a “pensioner,” which is defined in the Pension Plan as “a former member of the pension system who…

Read More

The pensions for retired Houston, Texas firefighters are administered by the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund. The Fund was created by a Texas statute, and is administered by a board of trustees. The role of the Board is to receive, manage, and disburse the Fund, hear and determine applications for benefits. The Act also prescribes standards regarding eligibility for retirement, disability, and death benefits and the amount of…

Read More

In accordance with its charter, Baltimore County engages in collective bargaining with the exclusive representatives of various categories of its employees. Among those categories of employees are police officers below a certain rank, who are represented by Lodge 4 of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). The negotiations result in an agreement that is called a “memorandum of understanding.” Under the County Charter, disputes with the representatives of certain…

Read More

In an immediately controversial decision, the California Court of Appeals has upheld measures taken by the Marin County retirement board to reduce the pension benefits of existing employees. Because the Court’s decision appears to fundamentally alter constitutional protections given pensions, it seems likely that the impacted employees will petition the California Supreme Court to weigh in. For years, the County’s pension board has included standby pay, administrative response pay,…

Read More

For many years, public sector retirees in New Jersey received cost of living adjustments to their pensions. The COLAs were thought to be protected by a New Jersey statute making pension benefits non-forfeitable. As part of Governor Chris Christie’s pension reform efforts, the New Jersey Legislature in 2011 suspended future COLAs, freezing the cost-of-living adjustment at the 2011 level for current and future qualifying retirees. A group of retirees…

Read More

Bruce Edwards, Joseph Sarkis, and Joseph Kovel were all Pennsylvania state troopers and members of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association. In 2008, an arbitration decision produced a new union leave clause in the Association’s contract with the State. The clause reads: “Upon written request by PSTA, Union officers shall be released from duty. Union officers released from duty pursuant to State law shall be paid by the Commonwealth at…

Read More

The State of Illinois has five public employee retirement systems, all of which provide traditional defined benefit plans under which members earn specific benefits based on their years of service, income and age. All of the pension plans are subject to the pension protection clause of the Illinois state constitution, which provides: “Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school…

Read More

Since 1996, retired employees of the City and County of San Francisco have been eligible to receive a supplemental cost of living allowance (COLA) as part of their pension benefits when the retirement fund’s earnings from the previous year exceeded projected earnings. On November 8, 2011, City voters passed Proposition C, an initiative measure that, among other things, amended the Charter of the City and County of San Francisco…

Read More

Since 1996, retired employees of the City and County of San Francisco have been eligible to receive a supplemental cost of living allowance (COLA) as part of their pension benefits when the retirement fund’s earnings from the previous year exceeded projected earnings. On November 8, 2011, City voters passed Proposition C, an initiative measure that, among other things, amended the Charter of the City and County of San Francisco…

Read More

Responding to problems with underfunding of pension systems, the California Legislature passed the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act. The Act, which was effective January 1, 2013, limited the defined benefit formulas available to new members of public safety retirement plans. There are various options available under the Act, but the maximum benefit possible is 2.0% at age 50, 2.5% at age 55, and 2.7% at age 57. The…

Read More

In December 1974, the Douglas County, Nebraska Board of Commissioners passed a resolution which allowed employees of the County who retired between the ages of 55 and 65 to participate in the County’s health insurance plan until attaining age 65. The resolution did not specify the amount of premiums to be charged annually or promise that the amount would be the same as that charged to active employees. Since…

Read More

Since 1939, the City of Gadsden, Alabama has provided its firefighters with a pension program as part of their compensation. Firefighters initially belonged to a local program, the Policemen’s and Firemen’s Retirement Fund (PFRF). In 2002, concerns about the PFRF’s solvency led Gadsden to negotiate a new arrangement with these employees: the City, it was agreed, would terminate the local fund and move all of its assets, liabilities, and…

Read More