In the case Ohio Ass’n of Pub. Sch. Emples. (OAPSE) v. Sch. Emples. Ret. Sys., 2020-Ohio-3005, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 1951, an Ohio appellate court found that the plain language of R.C. 3309.374 gave the School Employees Retirement System of Ohio (SERS) the discretion to freeze a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for three consecutive years, and the use of the word “annually” did not evince a mandate to conduct an annual review, but limited the board to increasing a COLA only once a year. The trial court properly dismissed plaintiff’s constitutional claims, as there was no actual controversy between plaintiff and SERS in that the claims challenged the actions of the General Assembly, not those of SERS. As there was no necessity for a decision on the constitutional claims asserted here, the court would not consider them.
In this case, plaintiffs-public school employees sought to invalidate defendant-school retirement system board’s suspension of cost-of-living-adjustment increases for three years.
To read this case, click here.
Authors: Matthew John Markling and the McGown & Markling Team.
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