A case to be argued in the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday over state and local-governmental early-retirement programs has drawn the interest of education groups.
In Kentucky Retirement Systems v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the justices are essentially weighing whether it is OK for age to be a factor in an early-retirement system. That may sound like it borders on the absurd, but at issue is whether Kentucky violates the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act by its disparate treatment of workers seeking disability retirement versus those seeking early retirement based on years of service.
The National School Boards Association has filed a friend-of-the-court brief on the side of the state, mainly to stress to the court the importance of early-retirement incentive plans for school districts and states.
The National Council on Teacher Retirement, an organization of state and local teacher retirement plans, has joined several other groups on a friend-of-the-court brief, also on the state’s side.
I plan to attend the arguments tomorrow and get a better understanding of the issues in this case.