The Florida Supreme Court is to hear arguments on whether Republican-backed changes to the state’s public-employee pension system, touted as a way to save more than $1 billion a year, violate workers’ constitutional rights, Bloomberg News reported today. The court today will review a judge’s finding that the pension-overhaul legislation, backed by Republican Governor Rick Scott as a way to help close a $3.6 billion budget gap, illegally cut state workers’ collective-bargaining power. As part of an effort pushed last year by Scott, legislators changed the way pensions were funded, requiring workers to contribute 3 percent of their pay and eliminating the retirement fund’s cost-of-living adjustment for employees retiring after the law took effect.
