The California Supreme Court decided last week to deny hearing a claim by three former county employees after an appellate court ruled against them in May. The ex-probation officers said that they should receive retirement benefit increases that the Board of Supervisors granted in 1999, even though these plaintiffs left the county prior to the creation of the benefit boosts.
Because these former employees had not retired by the time the county board and its retirement system implemented the benefits that year, they argued they should have been permitted to purchase years of service to be used for their pension calculations – a new benefit that granted in 1999.
The Fourth District Court of Appeals said in May that individuals who are no longer employed by the county cannot receive pension increases that were not negotiated on their behalf. The state Supreme Court said the ruling should stand at a conference last week.