June 12th, 2018 – Public Employee Pensions Under the “California Rule” (San Francisco, CA)

Under the so-called “California Rule,” a public employee’s right to receive a future pension benefit on immutable terms is considered a vested right, such that those terms can only be changed to the employee’s detriment under very limited circumstances. This rule, which evolved over decades of judicial decision making, is getting a closer look in light of the California Governor and legislature’s recent attempt to address certain real or perceived abuses of defined benefit pension systems, some of which are blamed for contributing to the underfunding of certain public pension systems. Underfunding requires public entities to pay higher employer contributions to amortize these unfunded liabilities – costs they claim will “crowd out” vital public services.

In 2012, in part as a result of this fiscal stress, the State enacted pension reforms, which public employee unions and others challenged as violating public employees’ vested rights to their pensions. The California Supreme Court has before it three of these cases, in which the parties and a wide range of amici are making arguments on the proper scope of the “California Rule.” This program, featuring the attorneys who are in the front lines in these cases, will examine the law from the point of view of the public employees, the retirement systems, and the public employersThe Rutter Group