UNION FILES SUIT OVER PENSIONS VACATION PAYOUTS ARE CENTER OF CONTENTION.Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer A Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County's sheriff's union has filed suit to allow disabled employees to cash out vacation time to boost their pensions, although a state Court of Appeal rejected a similar lawsuit. Currently, sheriff's employees cannot use the first 320 hours of vacation cash-out pay to calculate their pensions. But under an ordinance A law, statute, or regulation enacted by a Municipal Corporation. An ordinance is a law passed by a municipal government. A municipality, such as a city, town, village, or borough, is a political subdivision of a state within which a municipal corporation has been the Board of Supervisors approved in 1993, sheriff's employees can use vacation cash-outs in excess of 320 hours to increase the income their pensions are based on. However, the vacation cash-out pay can be used to increase pensions only if it's taken before the employee retires, not at retirement or afterward af·ter·ward also af·ter·wards adv. At a later time; subsequently. Adv. 1. afterward - happening at a time subsequent to a reference time; "he apologized subsequently"; "he's going to the store but he'll be back here . ``If you get it one minute before you retire, it's pensionable,'' Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. attorney Stephen Silver Stephen Silver (born August 30, 1972 in London, England, UK) is a professional artist, cartoonist and character designer. He is best known as the lead character designer for animated series such as Kim Possible and Danny Phantom. said Monday. ``But if you get it one minute later, it's not.'' Silver is representing the Professional Peace Officers Association, whose members include sergeants and higher-ranking employees. The lawsuit, which names 15 sheriff's employees as plaintiffs but represents a much larger number of employees who retired with excess vacation pay that was not used to boost their pensions, was filed against the county. David Muir David Muir is an American news anchor. Muir is anchor of World News Saturday and a co-anchor of Primetime and a correspondent for ABC News based in New York. Muir reports for "World News with Charles Gibson," "Good Morning America," "Nightline," and other ABC News broadcasts. , chief counsel for the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, said the county plans to argue that only vacation time cashed out prior to retirement is pensionable. ``If someone is on disability leave and never came back to work, then they have to get the the cash while already retired, and any cash received while retired is not pensionable,'' Muir said. The lawsuit comes amid growing concern about how cities and counties will pay for already lavish public retirees' pensions and benefits. Government agencies are expected to have to set aside at least $110 billion and perhaps as much as $185 billion to pay for these benefits, a result of numerous public-employee pension boosts in recent years, many of which were retroactive Having reference to things that happened in the past, prior to the occurrence of the act in question. A retroactive or retrospective law is one that takes away or impairs vested rights acquired under existing laws, creates new obligations, imposes new duties, or attaches a . Earlier this year, a report by county Risk Manager Rocky Armfield found that the county's liberal injured-worker policies encourage employees to file workers' compensation workers' compensation, payment by employers for some part of the cost of injuries, or in some cases of occupational diseases, received by employees in the course of their work. claims shortly before retiring to boost their retirement packages with hefty heft·y adj. heft·i·er, heft·i·est 1. Of considerable weight; heavy. 2. Rugged and powerful. See Synonyms at heavy. 3. disability pensions. An average of 79 percent of firefighters and 56 percent of sworn sheriff's employees received disability pensions in the past decade, a rate among the highest in the state. In the previous lawsuit, the state Court of Appeal rejected the association's claims that sheriff's employees who were out on workers' compensation were discriminated against because state law protects the pay and benefits of peace officers. The court ruled that sheriff's employees who missed work because of their disability would have had no excess vacation to cash out at the end of the year because of an unwritten LAW, UNWRITTEN, or lex non scripta. All the laws which do not come under the definition of written law; it is composed, principally, of the law of nature, the law of nations, the common law, and customs. policy forcing individuals to take off excess vacation hours to avoid the year-end cash-out, Silver wrote. In the new lawsuit, Silver alleged that the sheriff's employees were serving in assignments where there was an established practice of not forcing individuals in certain jobs to take vacations at unwanted times. ``(The judges') answer wouldn't be applicable to these people because they were working in assignments where people were not forced to take excess vacation time off,'' Silver said. Troy Anderson, (213) 974-8985 troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com |
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