As a follow up to the article link I posted earlier in the week, this article more clearly defines the issues in the Alameda case to be heard next Tuesday, May 5th.
Among other topics, it notes that
"Alameda County Deputy Sheriff’s Association v. Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association specifically targets the pay public workers receive in their last few years of service. As public workers receive larger pensions equivalent to how much they made in their last one to three years on the job, many would “spike” their last few years of pay with extra income. In some cases it was as blatant as giving and receiving out of nowhere bonuses.
"Former Governor Jerry Brown had targeted this public pension practice in 2012 by signing the Public Employee’s Pension Reform Act into law. Under the law, any payments “paid to enhance a member’s retirement benefit” during the last few years of employment would not be figured into the pension amount.
"However this was challenged by the Alameda County Deputy Sheriff’s Association just before taking effect in 2013 with the Association arguing that those workers before 2103 should keep the higher pensions.
Governor Brown later predicted 5 years later, amid more unions and groups joining the growing court case, that public pensions would be in serious danger during the next economic downturn." [Emphasis added]