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No fundamental right to pension benefits contained in a collective bargaining agreement

No fundamental right to pension benefits contained in a collective bargaining agreement
Source: Adjunct Law Prof Blog; http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/adjunctprofs/
Reproduced with permission. Copyright © 2010, Mitchell H. Rubinstein, Esq., Adjunct Professor of Law, St. Johns Law School and New York Law School, All rights reserved.

Walker v. Burns, ___F.3d___(2d Cir. Jan. 13, 2010), is an interesting public sector case. The legal issue in this case was whether pension benefits contained in a CBA were fundamental rights. If they were, due process rights would attach. The court held that there was no fundamental right, reasoning:

This Court has made clear that ?simple, state-law contractual rights, without more,? are not protected by substantive due process. Local 342, 31 F.3d at 1196. This view finds support in the case law of several other Circuits. See, e.g., Taake v. County of Monroe, 530 F.3d 538, 542 (7th Cir. 2008); Nicholas v. Pa. State Univ., 227 F.3d 133, 143 (3d Cir. 2000); Charles v. Baesler, 910 F.2d 1349, 1353 (6th Cir. 1990). While we recognize the important public service that the plaintiffs provide, we cannot conclude that they enjoyed a fundamental right to the pension benefits they received pursuant to an ordinary employment contract.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

NYPPL Comments: In Lippman v Sewanhaka Central High School District, 66 NY2d 313 , the Court of Appeals ruled that a retiree?s health insurance benefits was not a ?retirement benefit? and thus they were not constitutionally protected against reduction or impairment. New York State?s Constitution, Article 5, §7, provides that ?After July first, nineteen hundred forty, membership in any pension or retirement system of the state or of a civil division thereof shall be a contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.?

N.B. The ?Optional Retirement Plan,? available to certain employees of the State University of New York, the State Education Department, the Statutory Contract Colleges at Cornell and Alfred Universities, and the community colleges, is not a ?pension or retirement system of the state? [Education Law Section 396].

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on March 02, 2010 (boomark / email).