DOJ: Nevada failed to guard pension rights

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the state of Nevada, the Nevada attorney general’s office and the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Nevada to protect the employment pension rights of service members who are called to serve their country, the agency announced Wednesday.

The Justice Department alleges that when state employees are reemployed after military service, NVPERS violates the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 by overcharging those service members when calculating their contribution to their pension plans.

“When rehiring service members, the law requires employers to not only return the veterans to their rightful positions, but also to protect their pension rights,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in the release. “The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that those who sacrifice so much to protect this country do not have to sacrifice their civilian employment rights, including their pensions.”

The complaint states that NVPERS violated USERRA when it charged reemployed service members based on their age and salary, rather than their age and salary when they passed their five-year employment anniversary.

When Nevada state employees pass their five-year anniversary, they are able to purchase pension credits in the state’s pension system operated by NVPERS, and the employee is charged for these pension credits based on their age and salary at the time of the purchase.

USERRA requires employers to restore employee’s benefits as if they had not been called to military service, the complaint states.

The complaint alleges that when Major Charles Lehman, an employee in the state’s Office of the Attorney General, was called to active duty with the Nevada National Guard and passed his five-year anniversary, NVPERS overcharged him for his pension credits based on his increased age and salary.

The amount exceeded the amount he would have owned if he had not been on military service by more than $38,000.

The Justice Department is seeking to have NVPERS change its policy of overcharging service members, and refund Lehman and others affected by the overcharge, the release states.