Appellate court rejects reduction in Michigan school employee pay

From The Detroit News: The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that a 3 percent reduction in public school employee paychecks violates multiple constitutional rights. The decision upholds a lower court's ruling in a legal victory for teacher unions. The lawsuit, brought by the American Federation of Teachers Michigan and affiliated local unions, challenged the provision of a 2010 law that captured 3 percent of school employee wages to pay for retiree health care — without guarantee that workers will enjoy the same benefits in retirement. The judges said the state cannot require "a small subset of Michigan's population to surrender 3 percent of their wages, above and beyond that which they pay in taxation, with no guarantee of anything in return, to meet the government's obligations to other individuals."