The two-year pension litigation between public safety workers and the City of Atlanta is over after Supreme Court of Georgia on Thursday unanimously denied reconsideration of the lawsuit.
“The court’s final ruling allows one of the most comprehensive and effective examples of pension reform in the United States of America to move forward,” said City Attorney Cathy Hampton in a statement to the media. “Pension reform, under the leadership of Mayor Kasim Reed and the Atlanta City Council, empowers other local governments to address escalating pension costs rather than suffer the consequences of escalating debt. It also allows public employees to find solutions to unsustainable pension plans that protect the integrity of employees’ retirement dollars. I thank my entire Law Department team for bringing this matter to a favorable close.”
The state Supreme Court had ruled in favor of the city in a lawsuit filed by firefighters, police and other city employees over changes to the city’s pension system. Reed had withheld raise to employees who had been involved in the lawsuit.
Police and firefighter unions sued the city claiming a five percent pay raise was canceled out by the five percent they had to pay into the pension plan.
