Class Claims CalPERS Charges for Nothing

LOS ANGELES (CN) - A class action claims the California Public Employees Retirement System lets workers pay extra for additional benefits, but refuses to pay them if employees retire on disability. The named plaintiff claims he paid CalPERS $90,000 in extra premiums, and it stiffed him for the extra 12.5 percent in benefits he thought he was buying.

Named plaintiff David Yost claims that retiring on disability is not a breach of his additional benefits agreement and CalPERS should not punish him for being injured.

CalPERS manages the largest public pension fund in the United States. But its assets declined from $260 billion in October 2007 to $180 billion in December 2008, according to publicly available documents.

State employees can buy the extra options while still employed and CalPERS encourages them to roll over the money in their retirement accounts or to pay with deductions from payroll checks, Yost says.

His 56-page Superior Court complaint, with 28 pages of attachment, alleges breach of duties, breach of contract, denial of equal protection and violation of due process. He seeks an injunction, restitution, an accounting, interest and costs.

Yost is represented by John Jensen.

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