History
The Collaborative Settlement Agreement (CSA) and Consent Decree
In 2011, City Council adopted ordinances that made extensive and profound changes to the Cincinnati Retirement System (CRS). Almost everyone who was an active employee at that time faced big reductions in benefits, having to work longer and pay higher contributions for lesser benefits than they had been promised. In the worst cases, people who had started working young, for whom retirement was in sight, suddenly had 10 or 11 years more to work before they were eligible for unreduced benefits. In addition to the plan changes, big structural changes were made to the CRS Board of Trustees and to the (then) Retirement Division. The Board of Trustees was reconfigured to so that a majority of trustees were appointed by the Mayor, relegating the active and retired member trustees to the minority. The Retirement Division, a division of the Finance Department, was transformed into a Department of the city, and its director became a direct report of the City Manager. As these changes took place there was little communication with, or involvement of, any stakeholders.
A group of active employees filed suit in federal court over the changes in 2011, in an action called Sunyak v. the City of Cincinnati. Not long after, AFSCME filed a lawsuit against the City for not paying their required contributions in an action known as Harmon v. City of Cincinnati. The two lawsuits were combined in the federal District Court under Judge Michael Barrett, who sought to settle the cases by mediation among the parties involved. Judge Barrett recognized that any solutions to the CRS pension problem would also impact current retirees, and so he brought existing retirees into this process. CMERA President Tom Gamel and a team of seven others served as the Retiree Plaintiff Team.
The end result of this process is the Collaborative Settlement Agreement, or CSA, which was approved by the Federal District Court on October 5, 2015. This very statement completely oversimplifies the arduous work and countless hours of time spent by all parties in order to reach this agreement. Pensions, healthcare, and governance of the CRS are all addressed.
Very simply, the CSA is between among the Retirees group, the Active employees group, and the city. Within the Active employees group, there are several sub-groups. Different provisions of the CSA for retirement benefits and eligibility apply to each of the groups, so to understand your benefits you must know which group you are in.
A common misunderstanding is that anyone who is retired is a member of the Retirees group. This sounds perfectly logical, but it doesn’t work that way. If you retired on or after July 1, 2011, you are — and always will be – a member of the Active employees group.
Throughout the mediation, CMERA was closely involved in representing the concerns of the Retiree group. Most who are CMERA members now are also members of this group. But as time moves forward, more and more Active employees group members are coming into CMERA. As our organization moves forward, we wish to address the concerns of all our members, including those retired after July 1, 2011. In fact, the long-term survival of CMERA depends on this.
The documents around the CSA and Consent Decree are available as PDF links on this page or available for download HERE.