|
 Cook County Circuit Court Judge Rita Novak, who tossed out the law
last Friday, rejected Chicago's motion to suspend her ruling until
the Illinois Supreme Court ultimately decides the law's fate.
Novak's latest ruling means that unless the high court temporarily
keeps the law in place, the city's municipal and laborers'
retirement systems must refund higher contributions that the
affected workers were required to make since the law took effect on
Jan. 1. Retirees who received lower cost-of-living increases
mandated by the law would also be owed money.
The law required Chicago and affected workers to increase their
pension contributions and replaces an automatic 3 percent annual
cost-of-living increase for retirees with one tied to inflation.
Those increases are also skipped in some years.
The cash-strapped city is betting that the state supreme court will
overturn Novak's ruling, which rejected Chicago's argument that the
2014 law results in a net benefit because it will save the
retirement systems from insolvency.
[to top of second column] |
The high court in May found public sector workers have iron-clad
protection in the Illinois Constitution against pension benefit
cuts. That decision came in litigation over a 2013 law that reduced
benefits for workers in state retirement systems.
(Reporting By Karen Pierog; Editing by Grant McCool)
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