As reported by nj.com, despite a rising chorus of opposition from fellow Democrats, the Senate President and Assembly Speaker pressed forward Tuesday to overhaul health and pension benefits for the state’s 500,000 public employees. After trying for a week to line up Democratic support for the measure with little success, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver announced that she had scheduled a hearing on the controversial plan on Monday.

Oliver’s decision came on the same day that Senate President Stephen Sweeney introduced his 120-page bill, which is scheduled for a hearing before the budget committee on Thursday. It shifts more of the costs of pension and health benefits onto public workers in the form of increased contributions, along with eliminating cost of living adjustments for retirees and pushing back the retirement age. Nearly all of the state’s public workers would see their health insurance costs at least double and in many instances triple.  

As momentum has built for the plan among Senate leaders eager for an agreement, so has union opposition. Labor leaders are urging members to rally at the Statehouse on Thursday to block what they see as a crucial blow to the collective bargaining rights in the state.

Unlike Sweeney, who is relying largely on Republicans, Oliver has said she will not move the bill without “significant” support of her party. Tuesday she said she wanted to use the committee hearing to touch off an earnest debate.

So far Governor Chris Christie, despite working with Sweeney on the measure, has not publicly endorsed it. Union members and lawmakers have not expressed their opposition to the portion of the bill concerning pensions, and several lawmakers want the pension and health changes put in separate bills.

Currently, the average public employee earns about $60,000 a year and pays 1.5 percent of that salary, or $900 a year, for health benefits. Under the Sweeney bill, the same employee could pay $2,056 annually for single coverage and $3,230 annually for a family plan. Employees with the lowest incomes would pay about 2 percent of their salaries for health benefits, while those who earn $110,000 would kick in 6 percent of their salaries.

Tags: Articles, benefit overhaul, benefit reform, Christie, health benefits, health care, health care reform, Oliver, pension reform, Sweeney
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Photo of Donald C. Barbati Donald C. Barbati

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues…

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues litigated before the courts and administrative tribunals throughout the State of New Jersey. In addition, Mr. Barbati also routinely represents individuals in various types of public pension appeals, real estate transactions, and general litigation matters. He is a frequent contributor to the New Jersey Public Safety Officers Law Blog, a free legal publication designed to keep New Jersey public safety officers up-to-date and informed about legal issues pertinent to their profession. During his years of practice, Mr. Barbati has established a reputation for achieving favorable results for his clients in a cost-efficient manner.

Mr. Barbati has also handled numerous novel legal issues while representing New Jersey Public Safety Officers. Most notably, he served as lead counsel for the Appellants in the published case In re Rodriguez, 423 N.J. Super. 440 (App. Div. 2011). In that case, Mr. Barbati successfully argued on behalf of the Appellants, thereby overturning the Attorney General’s denial of counsel to two prison guards in a civil rights suit arising from an inmate assault. In the process, the Court clarified the standard to be utilized by the Attorney General in assessing whether a public employee is entitled to legal representation and mandated that reliance must be placed on up-to-date information.

Prior to becoming a practicing attorney, Mr. Barbati served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Linda R. Feinberg, Assignment Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer Vicinage. During his clerkship Mr. Barbati handled numerous complex and novel substantive and procedural issues arising from complaints in lieu of prerogative writs, orders to show cause, and motion practice. These include appeals from decisions by planning and zoning boards and local government bodies, bidding challenges under the Local Public Contract Law, Open Public Records Act requests, the taking of private property under the eminent domain statute, and election law disputes. In addition, Mr. Barbati, as a certified mediator, mediated many small claims disputes in the Special Civil Part.

Mr. Barbati received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, magna cum laude, from Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Upon graduating, Mr. Barbati attended Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware. In 2007, he received his juris doctorate, magna cum laude, graduating in the top five percent of his class. During law school, Mr. Barbati interned for the Honorable Joseph E. Irenas, Senior United States District Court Judge for the District of New Jersey in Camden, New Jersey, assisting on various constitutional, employment, and Third Circuit Court of Appeals litigation, including numerous civil rights, social security, and immigration cases.

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