Fraternal Order of Police v. Board of Trustees of the Police and Firemen's Retirement System

Argued May 16, 2001

This is an appeal from a final administrative determination by the Board of Trustees of the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System. The appellants, Pennsauken police officers and their union, initiated these proceedings because the Board adopted a new regulation defining in greater detail the forms of compensation not subject to pension contributions and not creditable for retirement and death benefits. The appellants recognized that the regulation cast doubt on a prior ruling they had obtained from the Board. That ruling approved as creditable a negotiated salary increase for officers with twenty-two years of service that was given in exchange for the waiver of other compensation, not subject to pension contributions, received by the officers during their prior years of service. On this occasion, applying the new regulation, the Board ruled that the increase was extra compensation granted primarily in anticipation of retirement and therefore not creditable. Appellants appeal, and we affirm.