A committee of Detroit’s retired workers sued the city and its state-appointed emergency manager, claiming a plan to cut funding for retiree health care by 83 percent violates the Michigan constitution, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The city-funded committee, which was created at the urging of emergency manager Kevyn Orr, filed the lawsuit yesterday in bankruptcy court. “The impact of the city’s decision on the retirees will be devastating,” the committee said in the complaint. “Many of them are economically vulnerable, living near the poverty line, of advanced age and incapable of returning to the workforce.” After putting Detroit into bankruptcy in July, Orr ordered funding for retiree health-care benefits reduced to about $30 million a year from about $180 million, according to the complaint. By filing the lawsuit on behalf of about 24,000 retired Detroit employees, the committee and two retiree associations are trying to reverse the cuts and force Orr to accept court oversight of the issue.
