FRS Issues Still Evolving; Lawsuit Filed
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- Created on Friday, 08 July 2011 22:08
As everyone who works for a county sheriff’s office is painfully aware, the legislature passed a law in April requiring employees enrolled in the Florida Retirement System to contribute 3% of their salary toward the FRS to defray the cost of their pensions. What some may still be unaware of, however, is that the lawmakers made it a point in the legislation to lower the required contribution employers make by 3%. This came after extensive lobbying by PBA!
What that means for workers is the following: each individual county and city participating in the FRS will have at their discretion how to spend that money previously allocated for FRS contributions. In short, each city and county in FRS will have 3% of their payroll added to their budget – on the backs of employees.
Now comes the moment of truth for each sheriff, county commissioner and county department head. How will they spend the 3% of payroll they will now have added to their budget? In most cases, it is too early to tell, as budgets are often not set until late summer or early fall. So stay tuned to see what YOUR agency does.
Before that can even occur, however, the courts will get the opportunity to examine the changes, with particular emphasis on the legality of passing legislation that overrides collective bargaining contracts. Read more on the recent lawsuit filed here.
