An organization representing 40,000 retired New York state employees has sued Gov. Andrew Cuomo and members of his administration over an increase in health care costs they say they had no input in.
The Retired Public Employees Association filed the lawsuit Dec. 8 in state Supreme Court in Albany County, demanding the increase in contribution rates be reversed.
Starting Oct. 1, mid- to low-pay grade individual retirees and families enrolled in the state”™s popular Empire Plan began paying 12 percent and 27 percent of the premium costs, respectively.
Previously, individual state employees who retired after Jan. 1, 1983 paid 10 percent and families paid 25 percent.
The increases ”“ expected to save the state $19.8 million for the current fiscal year ”“ were attached to new labor contracts reached earlier this fall between the state and its two biggest public employee unions, the Civil Service Employees Association and the Public Employees Federation.
In the lawsuit, the RPEA argues that because its members were not represented in the contract negotiations they should not be forced to pay more.
“When we retired from the state there was a promise that our percentage cost would remain stable. Now the administration feels that since they negotiated new contracts they can extend them to non-represented retirees,” RPEA President Stan Winter said in a statement.
However, legal experts have questioned whether the RPEA will have enough cause to get the 2 percent increase reversed because it is not a union and does not represent workers currently employed by the state.
Cuomo did not return a call for comment.
