SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The California Supreme Court will rule on a closely watched lawsuit that has the potential to upend California's long-held rule that retirement benefits for government workers can never be taken away once promised.
At issue in the decision the justices will release on Monday is a provision of a 2012 pension reform law backed by former Gov. Jerry Brown. That provision eliminated the ability of public workers to pay for more years of service for a more lucrative pension when they retire.
Attorneys for a union argued that the change violated a long line of California court rulings that have made pension benefits for existing employees sacrosanct.
The justices during a hearing in the case in December appeared inclined to sidestep the larger issue over the sanctity of pension benefits.
