Marin Ass'n of Public Employees v. Marin County Employees' Retirement Ass'n

practice known as “pension spiking,” by which public employees use various stratagems and ploys to inflate their income and retirement benefits, has long drawn public ire and legislative chagrin. Effective January 1, 2013, the Legislature amended Government Code section 31461, a provision of the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937, with the aim of curtailing pension spiking by excluding specified items from the calculation of retirement income. A number of individuals currently employed by various governmental entities in the County of Marin, together with a number of organizations representing current county employees, brought suit to halt implementation of the revised formula. The trial court concluded application of the new formula to current employees did not amount to an unconstitutional impairment of the employees’ contracts, and sustained the pension authority’s general demurrer without leave to amend.

After an extensive independent review, we reach the same conclusion and affirm, holding that the Legislature did not act impermissibly by amending section 31461 to exclude specified items and categories of compensation from the calculation of pensions for…