Generation of Litigation
Published online 5-27-11 in "Readers write to The Providence Journal"

I will comment on the article in the Journal of 05-24-2011 titled "Raimondo offers ‘dramatic changes’" regarding possible pension changes especially for retirees, as it might be of interest to your readers.

1. If the state changed the terms on which people agreed to retire, then retirees could reclaim their jobs - with the benefits they had before they decided to retire. This is the remedy for contracts that are abrogated whether for a car loan or mortgage, or other financial agreements. (What a mess this would create.)

2. It is a legal principle that contracts or laws cannot be changed retroactively to affect one category of persons. (I think this principle goes back to Byzantine times.)

3. If, nevertheless, the state unilaterally reduced the benefits of retirees, they would have a remedy: They could leave the state and not pay Rhode Island personal-income taxes or sales taxes and not patronize local small businesses. (How would this help the economy? Rather, as other states have found, retirees add to an economy and should be given incentives to stay.)

4. If the state won the vesting issue and decided to implement it, there would follow a rush to retirement by any state employee who could do so. This would lead to more funds being paid to retirees, and to a reduction of contributions to the fund. (How would this help the state? You should remember that many if not most state jobs are reimbursed in various percentages by the federal government, and the state would therefore lose these funds.)

5. How would the state expect to increase its revenue and get out of recession if the incomes of workers are continually reduced? (It sounds like a race to the bottom in the economies of the states.)

6. All such changes as mentioned above would be litigated for a generation, costing the state a great deal of money in legal fees, and they would probably lose - costing them even more. How could those who have not contributed to a problem be punished for it?

T.R. Catanzarite

T.R. CATANZARITE, M.S.W. is a retiree of the state of Rhode Island. He worked for the Dept. of Human Services.