California filed a lawsuit against the Department of Labor on Friday for “improperly denying federal grants to California public transit works after it erroneously concluded that the pension reforms constrain workers’ collective bargaining rights, according to a news release from Gov. Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown.
The DOL denied grant money to state transit providers after it decided a California pension reform bill passed last year diminished the collective bargaining rights of transit employees. Mr. Brown signed a bill on Friday that exempts transit employees from the pension reform bill.
“Bringing this lawsuit is just another step to ensure that our pension system is viable long into the future,” Mr. Brown said in the news release.
“The department’s decision violates federal law. It will result in the loss of billions of dollars in federal funding to California transit providers and constitutes an arbitrary, capricious and unconstitutional effort to coerce California to alter a pension reform law adopted for the benefit of California’s citizens and public employees,” according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento. “The court should invalidate and overturn the department’s determinations.”
