Judges threaten flight if pensions are cut

[flashl]

Pension cut could prompt judges’ flight, Bucci warns

PROVIDENCE — About a third of the state’s judges will retire all at once if the legislature adopts Governor Carcieri’s proposal to slash judicial pensions by the amount of Social Security benefits they’re due to receive, the head of a state judges’ association predicts.

By the end of the current fiscal year, 23 of the state’s 59 judges will be eligible to retire with pensions equal to either 75 percent or 100 percent of full pay, a courts spokesman said.

And the “vast majority, if not all,” of those 23 judges will retire rather than lose annual Social Security payments estimated to be at least $20,000 per year, said District Court Judge Elaine T. Bucci, president of the Rhode Island Trial Judges Association. She said she hasn’t spoken to each judge, but she said, “Why wouldn’t they retire? That’s a big number.”

Bucci warned that such a large exodus would have a devastating effect on the courts. “I think we would have to come to a dead stop — it would be that significant,” she said. “That would affect everyone: litigants, lawyers, defendants and the criminal justice system where people are entitled to speedy trials.”

Providence Journal

[sam sarrha]

1. they are all make'n 6 figures.. i am sure

[mike_c]

2. why should that matter...?

They've all worked in good faith under their pension plans, paid into social security, etc. They're workers, just like folks in factories. Sure, they make higher wages, but that's a completely separate and distinct issue. They've worked for their pensions just like any other worker, so they should be able to expect their employer to honor its promises.

[sam sarrha]

3. i just thought there was a cut off some where, SS being a system to help the poor, $20,000 SS they

get 120K 160K retirement, i work all my life in abject poverty with disabilities and get maybe $500 a month... something is wrong

[madmom]

4. I hope they remember this when any of these corps going under want to rescind pensions.