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Judge sides with UI in lawsuit brought by retirees

November 3, 2009, 11:43 am

Latah County Second District Court Judge John Stegner has granted summary judgment in favor of the University of Idaho in a class-action lawsuit filed against it by a group of former UI employees.

Stegner’s written decision was filed Monday. He wrote the UI “reserved the right to modify or cancel the benefits of any and all retirees,” including the two classes of retirees in the lawsuit.

The decision also indicates changes made to the UI’s health insurance policy in 2007 did not violate the contracts of the retirees, who took early retirement buyout offers under the 1999 Early Retirement Incentive Program and the 2002 Voluntary Separation and Retirement Opportunities Program.

Stegner wrote that the UI Faculty-Staff Handbook in effect at the time the agreements were signed was incorporated into the agreements because the retirees used the handbook to define “existing benefits” as referenced by the ERIP and VSROP agreements.

The handbook also included a clause that stated the UI’s Board of Regents — the Idaho State Board of Education — reserves the right to modify or cancel benefits.

“Once the (retirees) acknowledge that reference to the Faculty-Staff Handbook is necessary to define ‘existing benefits’ it is clear that the university retained the right to modify the benefits it offered,” Stegner wrote.

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