Kranker v. Levitt
| Citation | 30 N.Y.2d 574,330 N.Y.S.2d 791,281 N.E.2d 840 |
| Parties | , 281 N.E.2d 840 Abraham KRANKER, on Behalf of Himself and All Others, Similarly Situated, et al., Respondents, v. Arthur LEVITT, as Comptroller of the State of New York, Appellant. |
| Decision Date | 18 February 1972 |
| Court | New York Court of Appeals |
Louis J. Lefkowitz, Atty. Gen. (John Q. Driscoll and Ruth Kessler Toch, Albany, of counsel), for appellant.
James W. Roemer, Jr., Samuel Jacobs and Harold G. Beyer, Jr., Albany, for respondents.
The 1957 decision of the Comptroller--in accordance with section 23.1 of the Rules and Regulations of the Department of Civil Service (4 NYCRR 23.1)--to include cash payments for accumulated vacation credits in determining the salary base for the computation of retirement benefits constitutes a valid contract between the State Employees' Retirement System and its members. In addition, such payments represent compensation for services actually rendered and are, therefore, properly includable in the computation of a member's final average salary. Accordingly, the plaintiff and all others similarly situated have acquired a vested right to the aforesaid benefit, and that benefit may not now be constitutionally impaired. This being so, it follows that subdivision 1 of section 431 of the Retirement and Social Security Law (as added by L.1971, ch. 503), which eliminates inclusion of cash payments for accumulated vacation credits, violates section 7 of article V of our State Constitution if retroactively applied to the plaintiff and others similarly situated.
The judgment appealed from Sup., 327 N.Y.S.2d 259, should be affirmed, without costs.
I would modify the judgment rendered to restrict the invalidation of chapter 503 of the Laws of 1971 only to the extent that it impairs contractual rights vested prior to the enactment of the statute on June 17, 1971. That is the date the statute became law by approval of the Governor in accordance with bill section 20 which for relevant purposes provided that the act would take effect immediately. After that date new entrants into the Retirement System acquired contractual rights subject to any statutes then outstanding, whether or not by the terms of the statutes they applied to current or future events. This subordinate issue is as simple as that. It should not be confused by misusing the substantive language contained in the statute and treating that as 'effective date' language, rather than bill ...
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Opinion of the Justices
...Angeles, 50 Cal.2d 438, 326 P.2d 484 (1958); Glaeser v. Berkeley, 148 Cal.App.2d 614, 307 P.2d 61 (1957); Kranker v. Levitt, 30 N.Y.2d 574, 330 N.Y.S.2d 791, 281 N.E.2d 840 (1972). It may be noted that the Legislature has means of preventing a given increase of benefits from becoming vested......
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Kraus v. Board of Trustees of Police Pension Fund of Village of Niles
...affect those who entered service and membership in the fund after the statute became effective. See also Kranker v. Levitt (1972), 30 N.Y.2d 574, 330 N.Y.S.2d 791, 281 N.E.2d 840; Weber v. Levitt (1973), 41 A.D.2d 452, 344 N.Y.S.2d 381, Aff'd (1974), 34 N.Y.2d 797, 359 N.Y.S.2d 39, 316 N.E.......
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McDermott v. McDermott
...865); to eliminate the inclusion of cash payments for accumulated vacation credit in the final average salary (Kranker v. Levitt, 30 N.Y.2d 574, 330 N.Y.S.2d 791, 281 N.E.2d 840); to adopt a mortality table which would have had the effect of reducing payments (Birnbaum v. New York State Tea......
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Poggi v. City of New York
...... Page 335 . of the pension contract relationship rather than "naked pension rights qua rights.." (Mutterperl v. Levitt, 89 Misc.2d 428, 431, 393 N.Y.S.2d 837, aff'd 41 N.Y.2d 956, 394 N.Y.S.2d 881, 363 N.E.2d 587.) Thus, in order to prevail on their claim that the ...N.Y. City Emp. Ret. Sys., 36 N.Y.2d 95, 365 N.Y.S.2d 500, 324 N.E.2d 865; Kranker v. Levitt, 30 N.Y.2d 574, 330 N.Y.S.2d 791, 281 N.E.2d . Page 340 . 840). Where "statutory changes in the computation or availability of ......
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Curbing the incentive for pension padding: correcting the employer contribution mismatch.
...Convention of the State of New York 1405 (1938) [hereinafter CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION], (93) See, e.g., Kranker v. Levitt, 30 N.Y.2d 574, 575, 281 N.E.2d 840, 841, 330 N.Y.S.2d 791, 792 (1972) (holding that statute eliminating inclusion of cash payments for accumulated vacation credits wou......