IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 20TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS

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Edmund Edwards
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1 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 20TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS American Federation of State, County and Municpal Employees, Council 31; IllinoisTroopers Lodge No. 41, Fraternal Order of Police; Illinois Nurses Association; Illinois Federation of Public Employees, Local 4408 IFT-AFT; Illinois Federation of Teachers, Local 919; Illinois Federation of Teachers, Local 4717; Illinois Federation of Teachers, Local 4460; Illinois Federation of Archivists, Archival Technical Assistants and Photographers, AFT Local 4051; Illinois Federation of Information System Employees, AFT Local 4407; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council; Laborers International Union of North America ISEA Local 2002; Service Employees International Union, Local 73; SEIU Health Care Illinois & Indiana; Case No. 15 CH 475 SEIU Local 1; Teamsters Local Union No. 705, Affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Conservation Police Lodge of the Police Benevolent and Protective Association, Plaintiffs, v. Bruce Rauner, the Governor of the State of Illinois; Tom Tyrrell, the Director of the Department of Central Management Services; the Illinois Department of Central Management Services; Leslie Geissler Munger, the Comptroller of the State of Illinois Defendants.

2 lack of work or other legitimate reasons. The recognition clause of the agreement also requires the State to bargain with the union prior to making the decision to implement layoffs. b The collective bargaining agreement between the Conservation Police Lodge and the State of Illinois allows layoff for lack of funds or work, abolition of a position, or material change in duties or organization. c Both the RC-29 agreement and the RC-56 agreement between Local 4408 and the State of Illinois give the State the right to layoff due lack of funds or work, abolition of a position, or material change in duties or organization. 56. Many of the collective bargaining agreements between the Plaintiff Unions and the State have salary step plans for the determination of wages. These step plans gradually increase the wages of State employees on the anniversary date of their employment with the State for several years until the employees receive full scale. The State has refused to pay employees for their step increases pursuant to these step plans since July 1, In addition State employees covered by the AFSCME Agreement earn salary increases as they progress through their levels of their classification series by virtue of their time in each title of the series and their increased job responsibilities. The State has refused to compensate employees for such progression since July 1, Pursuant to the State Employees Group Insurance Act, 5 ILCS 375/1 et seq., ( SEIGA, Defendants Tyrrell and CMS administer a program of health insurance for all State employees and retirees and their families including those of State universities and State 21

3 offices and officeholders who are not subject to the Governor. The policy of the Group Insurance Act is to assure quality health care benefits to active and retired state employees and their families and to insure that participants in the program of insurance have continued access to the health care they have received over the course of their state employment from their health care providers. 5 ILCS 375/5. The program of insurance provided under the Group Insurance Act is intended to protect active and retired employees and their families against the rising costs of medical care and must include coverage for medical, surgical, and hospital expenses. 5 ILCS 375/ The Group Insurance Act requires the State to pay the cost of the basic medical insurance program for each eligible participant in the program. 5 ILCS 375/ The State provides insurance under the Group Insurance Act in two different ways. One is to contract with Health Maintenance Organizations ( HMO s to provide medical services at a fixed cost per participant. 5 ILCS 375/5. These contracts with managed care organizations cover approximately 158,000 State employees and retirees and their dependents and survivors. The other is through a program of self-insurance. 5 ILCS 375/6.2. The providers that provide medical care in the health plans in the self-insured program submit their claims to the State and are reimbursed for those claims. The health plans in the self-insured program cover approximately 146,000 State employees and retirees and their dependents and survivors. 60. As the exclusive bargaining representative of more than 40,000 State employees, AFCSME Council 31 has regularly bargained about the health insurance program for active and retired employees and their families. This bargaining resulted in agreements between Council 22

4 31 and DCMS regarding the type of insurance offered, the costs imposed upon employees under those programs, and the amount of employee contributions to insurance premiums. The current program of insurance for State employees covered by the Master Agreement between AFSCME and CMS is set forth in Appendix A to the Agreement and is attached as Exhibit 2 hereto. It has been the historical practice for CMS to extend the provisions of Appendix A to other participants in the State s medical insurance program. 61. The State pays the claims for the self-insured plans and the premiums to the managed care organizations out of the Health Insurance Reserve Fund. The money in the Reserve Fund comes from legislative appropriations, state revenues and employee premiums. 62. On September 11, 2015, the State posted an Informational Notice dated September 9, 2015 on the website maintained by Defendant CMS. This Informational Notice is attached hereto as Exhibit 3. This Informational Notice contained the following statements: That CMS was in uncharted territory; That the Department believed that they would soon have no legal authority to pay health care vendors for their services; That since healthcare providers did not know when they would receive State reimbursement for they health care they provide, a few providers, Cigna, Healthlink, OAP, Coventry OAP and Dental Dental have asked our members to pay cash at the time of service. That with respect to medical claims, the provider will reimburse the member once the provider receives payment for the services. That funds would be released for payment to providers once a budget is approved and appropriate funding is in place; That notwithstanding the foregoing the medical, prescription, dental and vision plan services will continue. 23

5 63. On September 15, 2016, CMS posted a notice in the Claim Payment Delay portion of the Benefits section of its website. This posting is attached as Exhibit 4 hereto. This notice states that until there is an approved FY 16 budget in place for the State of Illinois, claim payments for the Quality Care Dental Plan, administered by Delta Dental, the Quality Care Health Plan administered by Cigna, HealthLink OAP and Coventry OAP are on hold. The posting goes on to state that benefits will be paid once the State budget is approved and funds are provided to the plans. 64. According to news reports, State reimbursement of providers in the self-insured program currently takes up to a year or longer. While the State has procedures in place to pay interest to providers who are paid in an untimely manner, it has no procedures in place to pay participants interest if they must pay cash for medical services and await reimbursement from medical providers. 65. Based upon the foregoing, there is a substantial possibility that State employees will forego needed medical care, either because they will not be able to afford to pay for the care up front at the time of service, or because they fear that medical care providers will demand such payments up front. These employees will lose their statutory and contractual right to the benefits provided by the State s insurance program. Given the number of participants in the self-insured program, it is virtually certain that some individuals who forego health care will become debilitated as a result of doing do. 66. There is no guarantee that the final budget will contain sufficient appropriations to pay for the claims that State employees may have in the coming weeks and months. 24

6 67. As of the present date the State has sufficient funds in its Treasury to continue to pay the providers in the self-insured program. 68. Despite the State s failure to provide the insurance benefits required by contract and statute, the State is still deducting employee contributions for insurance from the earnings of State employees. COUNT I IMPAIRMENT OF CONTRACT This Count is brought by Plaintiffs against Defendants for violation of the Illinois Constitution. 69. Article I, Section 16 of the Illinois Constitution states, in relevant part, that No ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts... shall be passed. 70. The employees who are covered by the provisions of collective bargaining agreements between the State of Illinois and their unions have a contractual right to be paid in a timely fashion for their work. 71. The employees who are covered by the provisions of collective bargaining agreements between the State of Illinois and their unions have a contractual right to the benefit of the health insurance benefits required by those contracts. 72. Defendants failure to timely pay the wages, step increases, and salary increases required by movement through classification series required by these collective bargaining agreements impairs the obligations in those agreements. 25

7 73. Defendants failure to ensure that funds are released to medical providers to provide health care required by these collective bargaining agreements impairs the obligations in those agreements. 74. The employees who are covered by the provisions of the collective bargaining agreements and their unions have a contractual right to continued employment if the work and funding continue to exist and if there is no other legitimate reason for their layoff. 75. Defendants decision to implement layoffs due to lack of funds when the work exists and sufficient funds exist in the State Treasury to continue to fund the positions being eliminated exists impairs the obligations of the contracts between AFSCME, Local 4408, the Conservation Police Lodge and the State. 76. Defendants impairment of the obligations imposed by State employee collective bargaining agreements is not reasonable and necessary to serve an important public purpose. 77. The Personnel Code of the State of Illinois defines the terms and conditions of employment for employees subject to the Governor of the State. The Personnel Code obligates the Director of Central Management Services to promulgate a Pay Plan. The Code and the Pay Plan have the force of law. 20 ILCS 415/8 78. The Code and the Plan require the State to pay fair and reasonable compensation for services rendered 20 ILCS 415/8a. The Pay Plan sets the wage rates for the various classifications of employees subject to the Governor and allows the decrease of those wages in certain narrowly defined circumstances. Pay Plan, Section Those circumstances do not include a decrease in pay due to the lack of a budget. 26

8 79. The Code and the Pay Plan combined create employment agreements between the State and the employees subject to the Governor. One term of this agreement is the timely payment of wages for the work performed by State employees. Another element is the insurance provided by SEIGA. 80. The actions of Defendants have impaired the obligations of the employment agreements created pursuant to the Personnel Code, the Pay Plan and SEIGA. 81. The impairment of the employment agreements created pursuant to the Personnel Code, the Pay Plan and SEIGA is not a reasonable and necessary means to accomplish an important public purpose. WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs respectfully request this Court to order the following relief: (a a declaratory judgment that: (1 the refusal of Defendants to pay State employees wages earned in the current fiscal year constitutes an impairment of contract in violation of the Illinois Constitution; and (2 State employees are due full payment for any work performed in the 2016 fiscal year; (3 the failure of Defendants to ensure that funds are available to fund the State health insurance program constitutes an impairment of contract in violation of the Illinois Constitution; (4 State employees covered by collective bargaining agreements cannot be laid off unless the layoff is due to lack of funds, lack of work or some 27

9 other legitimate reason as set forth in the collective bargaining agreements between their union and the State. (b a preliminary injunction directing the Defendants to pay wages and salaries earned in the current fiscal year on a timely basis; (c a preliminary injunction requiring Defendants to take the measures necessary to ensure the funding of the State employee insurance program; (d a preliminary injunction barring the Defendants from implementing the layoffs scheduled for September 30, 2015; (e a permanent injunction directing the Defendants to pay wages and salaries earned in the current fiscal year on a timely basis; (f a permanent injunction requiring Defendants to take the measures necessary to ensure the funding of the State employee insurance program; (g a permanent injunction barring Defendants from implementing layoffs unless those layoffs are due to lack of funds, lack of work or other reasons set forth in the collective bargaining agreements between the unions and the State; (h an order requiring Defendants to pay the costs and reasonable attorneys fees of bringing this cause of action; and (i any other relief the Court deems equitable and just. 28

(132nd General Assembly) (Substitute House Bill Number 332) AN ACT

(132nd General Assembly) (Substitute House Bill Number 332) AN ACT To enact sections 2108.36, 2108.37, and 2108.38 of the Revised Code regarding anatomical gifts, transplantation, and discrimination on