The San Diego Police Officers Association has been granted a temporary restraining order that prevents the city from making any changes to the Deferred Retirement Option Program, or DROP, for the next two weeks. This case is separate from a ruling issued by the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday. POA president Brian Marvel says all of the legal wrangling is about the city making promises to the union in better financial times and trying to go back on them now.
“And here we are, 2009, the economy’s not doing so good. And all of sudden all these promises that were made to our employees are no longer valid. And they’re finding all these excuses and technicalities to get out of paying these promises,” he says.
Marvel says many union members were promised retirement benefits instead of annual pay increases. The city has long looked for a way to modify or eliminate DROP.
