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Robertson Review Denied by US Supreme Court

May 25, 2007
Sisters and Brothers,

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied our petition to review the Ninth Circuit Court decision in the Robertson case.
This brings Robertson to a conclusion and it is very close to the final chapter in our fight to overturn the PERS changes proposed by Governor Kulongoski and adopted by the 2003 Oregon Legislature.

While this development is unfortunate, it was not unexpected.

In Robertson, we challenged in federal court the Oregon Legislature’s decision to prevent PERS members from contributing to their PERS accounts. Since January 2004, all member contributions (the 6% employer pick-ups) have been diverted to IAP accounts.

From a member's perspective, there are two serious problems with the diversion of member contributions:

  1. Unlike Tier 1 PERS regular accounts, IAP accounts have no guaranteed rate of return; and
  2. Unlike Tier 1 and Tier 2 member accounts, IAP accounts are not eligible for employer money-match at retirement.

The diversion of PERS contributions will result in a more than $2 billion reduction of PERS member retirement benefits. It represents a theft of the pension benefits promised to hundreds of thousands of public employees.

Unfortunately, both the Oregon Supreme Court and the federal court system have decided that in this case, a deal is not a deal.

Please feel free to call me directly if you have questions regarding Robertson or other PERS cases in litigation.

Stronger Together,

Joe DiNicola
President, SEIU Local 503, OPEU