Rhode Island Supreme Court upholds public-employee pension settlement

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The state Supreme Court on Friday ruled against the 140 or so retired public employees who were fighting for the pension benefits the state took away seven years ago.

In doing so, the high court upheld the hard-fought public employee pension settlement, affirming the 2015 acceptance of the agreement by Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter as “fair and reasonable.” Under legal precedent, a class-action settlement must be “fair, reasonable and adequate.”

″It is clear that the likely outcome of the Union plaintiffs’ claims at trial is uncertain, and there are also immediate and substantial looming costs of continuing forward with this action. Indeed, we agree with the trial justice that the Union plaintiffs received ‘concrete and immediate benefits’ from the settlement, including a more favorable [annual cost-of-living adjustment] formula, two $500 stipends paid to retirees, and a calculation that would reduce the minimum retirement age for employees,” Justice Gilbert V. Indeglia wrote for the court.

“While we need not rule on the ultimate merits of the case in considering these two factors, on balance, we acknowledge that these factors would weigh in favor of a determination that the settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

Read more: http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180525/ri-supreme-court-upholds-public-employee-pension-settlement