State retirees plan to sue for return of cost-of-living adjustments

An Olympia retiree group and two major labor unions plan to sue next month in an attempt to win back the cost-of-living adjustments for 109,000 retirees that lawmakers voted to cut this year.

The COLAs were for the Teachers Retirement System Plan 1 and Public Employees Retirement System Plan 1, which have the biggest unfunded liabilities of the state-run pension funds.

“It’s not whether we are going to pursue legal action; it’s when and how,” said Cassandra de la Rosa, executive director of the 9,500-member Retired Public Employees Council of Washington.