Home : News : Politics :

Regular Photo Size

Court rejects pension challenge

Updated: Wednesday, 04 Nov 2009, 11:34 AM MST
Published : Wednesday, 04 Nov 2009, 11:34 AM MST

    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.

    Copyright Associated Press, Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    • Your Response (Login Not Required)

    Comments that are derogatory, attack other users, offer unsubstantiated facts, use foul language or are offensive in nature can and will be removed as defined by the Terms of Service. KRQE is not responsible for the content posted in this comment section. We reserve the right to remove any offensive or off-topic remark or thread. To mark a comment for review by a moderator, click "Report."