In these grim economic times, Olympia has realized the need to relieve some burden off public employees. Legislators have recognized that involuntary reductions in pay, such as a furlough, have a double impact on retirees. While Local 17 and the King County Coalition of Unions protected retirees during the 2009 furlough by negotiating the right to use vacation in lieu of a payroll deduction, the Legislature now makes it official.
Senate Bill 6157 protects public sector pension calculations for employees covered under the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) in the event of reduced workloads for the 2009-2011 fiscal biennium. The legislation directs the Department of Retirement Systems to include in a member's salary for the purpose of calculating final average compensation any compensation that is forgone by the member during the 2009-2011 fiscal biennium as a result of reduced work hours, voluntary leave without pay, or temporary furloughs, provided that the reduced compensation is part of the employer's efforts to reduce expenditures.
The protection in this legislation takes effect July 26, 2009, but will cover the County furlough day set for Monday, July 6, 2009, as well as the remaining furlough days in 2009.
If you have put in an Intent to Retire form and wish to take a payroll deduction for furlough instead of using a vacation day, please send an email to your supervisor, your Human Resources personnel, as well as Sharon Brown in the Benefits, Payroll and Retirement Operations Section at King County.
You can view a summary of the legislation as well as the final bill as passed by the Washington State legislature by going to the King County section of the Local 17 website at www.ifpte17.org.