N.J. pension trustees to sue over skipped payment
The trustee board that oversees New Jersey’s public employee pension fund plans to hire its own lawyer to try to force the Gov. Chris Christie administration to make a legally required pension payment.
The Public Employees Retirement System trustees voted 6-0 Wednesday to file suit against Christie and the state over Christie’s plans to skip a $900 million pension payment to balance the budget this year.
More than 10,000 PERS members sent letters to the trustees urging them to sue.
The trustees say they were given more legal rights under a 2011 pension reform law that significantly raised workers’ share of benefits costs.
Trustees for the police and firefighter pension fund have authorized similar action.
Unions representing teachers, state troopers and public employees have already sued.
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