“When salary payments were periodically increased ..., benefits ... under the retirement system established by the Code of 1959 also were to increase accordingly.”
How later courts described this case
- “When salary payments were periodically increased ..., benefits ... under the retirement system established by the Code of 1959 also were to increase accordingly.”
- pension benefits are based upon contract theory of deferred compensation
- all of the justices concurring in the result
- Nix and Flaherty, JJ., concurring
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
LARSEN, Justice,
concurring.
I concur with Mr. Justice Roberts’ result; I cannot however, accept his reasoning.
Article 5, § 16(a) of the Pennsylvania Constitution provides:
Justices, judges and justices of the peace shall be compensated by the Commonwealth as provided by law. Their compensation shall not be diminished during their terms of office, unless by law applying generally to all salaried officers of the Commonwealth.
*336 Compensation includes pension benefits as provided by the pension formula in effect on the date a judge first assumes his office. No decrease of any judicial compensation can occur “unless by law applying generally to all salaried officers of the Commonwealth.” As there was no corresponding decrease to all salaried officers of the Commonwealth involved in the June 22, 1972 actions of the Commonwealth Compensation Commission and the 1974 revisions to the State Employees’ Retirement Code, any judge who assumed office before March 1, 1974 (effective date of 1974 Retirement Code) will be unaffected by these two actions and their retirement benefits will be computed in accordance with the formula mandated by the State Employees’ Retirement Code of 1959 and any subsequent increased enhancements.
FLAHERTY and KAUFFMAN, JJ., join in this concurring opinion.