Can the State of Florida require its employees to contribute to their own retirement plan? Oral arguments on both sides of that question were waged this morning before the Florida Supreme Court.
Lawmakers began requiring employees pay 3 percent of their salaries last year to cover part of their pension. Several unions and almost two dozen employees sued saying the requirement violated their contracts and collective bargaining rights.
A Leon County judge ruled for the employees, appeals followed and the case landed before the high court and Justice Charles Canady.
Ronald Meyer – an attorney representing the state employees – answered that even if an employee works a year – that employee has right to benefits under the preservation of rights clause.
Canady: "Employees from the state can be discharged. "
Meyer: "Of course they can. There can be reductions in force. I have a hard time understanding how when someone does not have a right, a continuing right to employment, they have a continuing right to a particular benefit of employment."
If the high court rules for the employees – the state may have to pay back the estimated $2 billion already taken from employee salaries.