Published: September 20, 2016
The City and County of San Francisco (City) and the Controller have filed an action against the SFERS Retirement Board and SFERS’ Executive Director seeking to prevent the Retirement System from paying supplemental COLA benefits to pre-1996 retirees on the same basis that those benefits have been paid to the post-1996 retirees in accordance with the Court’s decision in Protect Our Benefits v. City and County of San Francisco.  The City contends that the Retirement Board did not have the authority to apply Charter Section A8.526-3(d) to pre-1996 and post-1996 retirees similarly.
On September 20, 2016, the City sought a temporary restraining order from the San Francisco Superior Court prohibiting SFERS from paying the supplemental COLA benefits until the underlying action is resolved. The Retirement Board opposed the application for restraining order, and the Court did not issue one. However, during the hearing, the Court asked SFERS to refrain from issuing the supplemental COLA payments to the pre-1996 retirees until the Court had more time to consider the legal issues involved. The Court set a hearing for October 4, 2016, to determine whether to issue a preliminary injunction preventing SFERS from issuing the payments, with notice of the precise time and department to be provided subsequently.
Based on this development, SFERS will not make the supplemental COLA payments to the pre-1996 retirees with their September 2016 retirement allowance as planned. Unless enjoined by the Court, the supplemental COLA payments will be issued by SFERS with the October 2016 retirement allowance.
The website will be updated as developments occur.
