Florida judge: Cuts to state employees' pay violated contract

[teach1st]

Source: St. Petersburg Times

TALLAHASSEE — The decision to cut state and local government workers pay 3 percent and shift the money to the state's pension fund broke the state's contract with employees, a Leon County circuit judge told lawyers for Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature on Wednesday.

But was the move illegal? That's the question Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford left undecided as she ended the day-long hearing on the lawsuit brought by the Florida Education Association and other state and local government unions.

The unions sued the state for changing the rules of the game on pensions for current employees when it cut worker salaries 3 percent, eliminated cost of living adjustments, or COLAs, for retirement benefits, and shifted the money into the Florida Retirement System to save the state $1 billion during the 2011 legislative session.

The state argues that it was entitled to make the changes, which it called "modifications," under its budgetary authority and denies it violated the collective bargaining rights of state workers when it made the changes without renegotiating employee contracts.

Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/teachers/florida-judge-cuts-to-state-employees-pay-violated-contract/1198705

[LiberalFighter]

1. If a contract is not a contract

How many contracts can then be voided or modified?