A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Senate Bill 1, the pension cutting bill passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Pat Quinn in early December, is being developed by IEA and the other unions that comprise the We Are One Illinois (WAOI) coalition.
That suit is being designed to defend the constitutional rights of hundreds of thousands of active and retired public employees in Illinois’ three major state retirement systems.
IEA’s share of the lawsuit funding will come from the IEA Crisis Fund, which was approved by the 2013 IEA Representative Assembly in anticipation of a constitutional lawsuit. Donations to the Crisis Fund can be made here.
WAOI will challenge SB1 as violating the constitution and will seek a stay of the legislation’s implementation pending a ruling on its constitutionality.
On Friday, Dec. 27, a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of SB1 was filed in Cook County Circuit Court by the Illinois Retired Teachers Association (IRTA) and the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA).
The suit covers retirees participating in the Teachers Retirement System and active administrators.
The lawsuits challenging SB1 are not in conflict with each other. It is anticipated that all plaintiffs will be working together. In fact, attorneys for all affected groups have already been in contact and will continue to confer.
According to IEA President Cinda Klickna, “We are all in this together and we will all need to cooperate for the benefit of all the men and women who would be injured by SB1.”
Please continue to check the IEA website , Facebook and Twitter pages for updates.
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Harper College Adjunct Faculty Association 