Hundreds of thousands of North Carolina retirees who are fighting for their benefits have claimed a major victory in court.
A judge ruled against the state for charging former workers premiums for their health care coverage.
Marilyn Futrelle, a former Hickory teacher, filed the lawsuit.
She spent more than 30 years teaching fourth, fifth and sixth grade students at Hickory Public Schools. Futrelle said after she retired the state broke a promise by changing her health insurance benefits and charged a premium for her 80/20 plan.
“How did you feel?” Channel 9 anchor Allison Latos asked.
“Betrayed. You know, I felt like, ‘What a rip off,” Futrelle said in an interview on Thursday.
Futrelle said that reduced her retirement income. She sued North Carolina and the class-action case grew to 220,000 plaintiffs.
“We were judges, superintendents of schools and prison guards and state Highway Patrol, the SBI (State Burea of Investigations), all kinds of state retirees,” Futrelle said.
A judge handed down a ruling in May saying the state breached the contract. The ruling involves retirees who were hired by the state before 2006. But paying retirees damages could cost the state more than $100 million.
State Sen. Dan Bishop, R-Mecklenburg, said North Carolina is in a $60 billion hole over unfunded pension and retiree health benefits.
“We need to reform pension and healthcare benefits for state employees and state retirees, and we need to put them on a footing that we can begin to afford over time,” Bishop said.
The state is appealing the case. Futrelle and her attorney Gary Jackson worry a longer legal process means some won’t live to see a conclusion.
“It could be many more years and we will lose lots of retirees in that time period,” Jackson said.
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