On July 1, the Michigan Supreme Court remanded to the Michigan Court of Appeals our case challenging the validity of parts of the 2010 changes to the Retirement Act, including the compulsory payment of 3% of wages. The remand means that the cases will be again reviewed by the Court of Appeals and a new decision issued.
As you will remember, we filed two cases, one challenging the 2010 changes to the Retirement Act (including the 3%) and one challenging the 2012 changes to the Act.
AFT Michigan Plaintiffs won the 2010 case in the Court of Appeals. That win would have ended the mandatory deduction of the 3%. However, the Attorney General appealed that decision to the Supreme Court.
AFT Michigan Plaintiffs lost the 2012 case in the Court of Appeals. AFT Michigan appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court recently affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals upholding the 2012 changes to the law.
The Michigan Supreme Court remanded the 2010 case back to the Court of Appeals to determine the impact, if any, of the 2012 case ruling on the 2010 case.
The remand process will take some time as new presentations will have to be made to the Court and new argument conducted. However, AFT Michigan will continue to argue that the mandatory deduction of 3% of pay is unlawful and unfair since it pays for retiree health care of people already retired but does not guarantee that health care will be available who have yet to retire. AND WE WILL ARGUE That the withholding of the 3% between 2010 and 2012 cannot be retroactively impacted by the 2012 law and the ruling upholding the law.
AFT Michigan will continue to provide updates on the cases as they proceed.
