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The Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide the fate of the state’s new public employee retirement improvement law.
Justices on May 25 agreed to take original jurisdiction in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law. That means the lawsuit will go directly to the Supreme Court and not through lower courts first.
The Legislature approved the improvements to the retirement system last fall and the governor signed them into law a few weeks later. The state Department of Employee Trust Funds and the Employee Trust Funds Board filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new law soon after the governor signed it. WEAC, one of the leading advocates of the new law, has been named a defendant in the lawsuit.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case in October, and a decision could be issued by the end of the year.
WEAC Legal Counsel Tony Sheehan said it is important for WEAC members to recognize it is not necessary to wait for the court to rule before making a decision to retire. He said if the law is upheld, the benefits will apply retroactively.
Resource page on the pension improvement law
Posted May 26, 2000