Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
Another municipality has been sued for failing to allocate sufficient funds to meet pension obligations. The trustees of the Harvey Firefighters Pension Fund in Harvey, Illinois, filed suit on December 17, 2010 in Cook County Circuit Court because the city failed to meets its contribution obligation for the third year in a row.
The suit is similar to suits filed recently by Pittsburgh Firefighters, IAFF Local 1, Providence Firefighters, IAFF Local 799, Baltimore Firefighters IAFF Local 734, and other firefighter unions from around the country challenging the failure of politicians to properly fund firefighter pension systems. Pension related matters are also figuring into lawsuits in Atlanta, St. Louis, New Jersey (statewide), and Delray Beach as the economic downturn continues.
In the Harvey case, the city was supposed to pay over $1 million each year, but last year only contributed $18,000. A similar suit was filed on the same issues during the 1990s after the city refused to make its required contributions. In the end, the city paid what was due.
