CA high court limits scope of California vested pension rights rule

The California Supreme Court has finally issued its long-awaited decision in Alameda County Deputy Sheriffs' Association et al. v. Alameda County Employees' Retirement Association et al. Alameda County is the second of two cases the court agreed to hear addressing changes to pensions made by the California Legislature when it passed the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act (PEPRA), which became effective in 2013. PEPRA spawned numerous lawsuits asserting that its provisions violated the "vested rights" of active employees.

On March 4, 2019, the supreme court decided the first of those cases, Cal Fire Local 2881 v. California Public Employees' Retirement System, holding that the ability to purchase credit for service not rendered ("airtime") in the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) was not a vested benefit. That decision was largely based on a determination that the legislation originally authorizing airtime didn't give CalPERS members a contractual right to the benefit. The court didn't address whether the so-called California Rule—the controversial rule that unions argue means the future benefits of current employees can't be changed—in fact protects not-yet-earned future benefits.