Court rejects pension challenge

New Mexico's highest court is allowing the state to continue collecting higher pension contributions from part-time governmental workers earning less than $20,000 a year.

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a lawsuit that contended the payments were wrongly being taken out of the salaries of workers earning more than $9.579 an hour but who annually make less than $20,000.

A part-time state district court worker in Santa Fe brought the legal challenge.

Starting in July, most state workers had to contribute an extra 1.5 percent of their salaries to pension programs but the state reduced what it contributed. The shift saved the state $40 million a year to help plug a budget shortfall.