As reported by NJ.com, nearly a year after Governor Chris Christie responded to a sudden budget crisis by slashing payments into the State pension system, New Jersey’s public labor unions will fight for their right to that money before the New Jersey Supreme Court on Wednesday.  A victory for the unions could send billions more into a beleaguered pension fund.  A loss would erase any guarantee the State will contribute into the retirement system of some 800,000 people, working and retired. State officials have warned a ruling for the unions would create a staggering budget crisis this year and the ramifications would ripple through future budgets.

The fight boils down to whether a five-year old pension law requiring the State to gradually increase its payments into the pension fund is constitutional.  A lower court ruled in February that Christie violated the rights of public employees when he cut $1.57 billion from the pension payment for the current fiscal year.  Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson ordered Christie to work with the Democratic-led Legislature to restore the payment. “The court cannot allow the State to simply turn its back on its obligations to New Jersey’s public employees, especially in light of the fact that the terms of the…payment were set forth, and even publicly endorsed, by the governor himself,” Jacobson wrote.  ‘In short, the court cannot allow the State to simply walk away from its financial obligations, especially when those obligations were the State’s own creation.”

More than a dozen public worker unions had sued Christie for violating what they argued is a “constitutionally-protected contractual right” to pension funding under a 2011 reform package that raised the retirement age, suspended cost-of-living increases and pushed higher pension costs onto workers.  At the same time, it required the State to ramp up cash flow into the pension system over seven years until reaching the full payment recommended by actuaries to keep the system solvent.

The unions challenged the cuts, while Christie has challenged whether the contract is constitutional at all.  In its appeal to the Supreme Court, lawyers for the State argued the trial court’s ruling “fabricated a constitutional right to pension funding,” and that the Court doesn’t have the power to force the Legislature or governor to approve or make an appropriation.

Much like Jacobson declined to force the State to reverse the $1.57 billion cut, opting instead to order Christie and the Legislature to collaborate to make up the difference, the Supreme Court could take a range of actions.  They include upholding the law and ordering a full payment or a partial payment, endorsing Jacobson’s plan, or striking down the law.

“I think the best hope is that (the Supreme Court) sends a very clear message to this governor…that he has to make a valiant effort, at least, and not just us the scraps that are left over at the end of the year,” said Patrick Colligan, president of the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association.

The unions have already filed another suit against Christie for shorting the pension payment by $1.8 billion in his proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning in July.

Tags: 2011 Pension and Benefit Reform, Christie, Governor Chris Christie, Jacobson, NJ Pension Crisis, NJ Public Employees, NJ Public Safety Officers, NJ State PBA, NJ State PBA President Patrick Colligan, pension reform
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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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