Retirement Cuts and Legal Challenges

The UFF-FSU Chapter will sponsor a May 24 luncheon featuring attorneys Thomas
W. Brooks and Lynn C. Hearn to discuss legal aspects of recent cuts in
retirement benefits.  Please let me know if you plan to attend so that we can be
sure to have enough food and drink for all.  Here is an excerpt from a
downloadable flyer available at

https://uff-fsu.org/art/fly20120524RetCuts.pdf

In 2011, the Florida Legislature mandated a 3% employee contribution to retirement, while cutting the state’s contribution a like amount.  In 2012, the Florida Legislature cut its contribution to defined-contribution plans, including the Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) selected by 74% of FSU faculty members, by another 2.28 percentage points.
In just two years, the state’s contribution to most FSU faculty members’ retirement plans has dropped from 10.42% of gross salary to just 5.14%.  This will cost most faculty members tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement funds.  Arguing on behalf of the UFF and its Florida Education Association affiliate, the Meyer, Brooks, Demma, and Blohm law firm successfully challenged the 2011 cut in court.
See Judge Fulford’s ruling at https://uff-fsu.org/art/FulfordRuling20120306.pdf  That case is now on appeal before the Florida Supreme Court. 

What lies ahead?  Can this year’s cut be challenged? Will the
Supreme Court uphold Judge Fulford’s ruling on last year’s cut?  Would that affect this year’s cut?  Please plan to attend this event to hear
answers to these and other questions that you may have. 

Have you taken the May 2012 FSU faculty poll?  Hundreds have already
responded, but if you have not yet done so, please respond as soon as possible.
The UFF-FSU Chapter represents YOU, and we need to know what you think.  Please
see the instructions below.

It is time once again for the (almost) annual FSU Faculty Poll. The UFF-FSU
bargaining team and chapter leadership need your input, and the FSU
administration needs to know how you feel about issues as well. Last year,
hundreds of FSU faculty members responded.

Issues addressed include bargaining priorities, budget cuts, administrator
evaluations, merit administration, and much more. Your responses will be
confidential. Survey responses will be reported only in summary form (except for
comments; see below).
It only takes about 10 minutes to complete the poll, although you are also
welcome to offer comments on various issues. Please take care not to identify
yourself in your comments.
Don’t be left out!
ALL FSU faculty members are invited to take the 2012 poll by clicking on the link below.
You will be asked to provide a password. The password is “maypoll” (all
lower case letters, no quotation marks)
Take the poll now by clicking on this link:
pw=maypoll
If you copy and paste the link to your browser, please be sure to capture the entire link.
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