While significant inroads have been made in implementing defined contribution plans for new hires in Connecticut municipal negotiations, police and fire unions have continued to resist such changes, citing, among other things, the greater likelihood a cop or firefighter may become disabled on the job than other municipal workers. Nonetheless, while still in the minority, the list of police contracts that provide a defined contribution plan for new hires continues to steadily grow.
The latest to add a defined contribution plan for new hires is Trumbull. In a labor contract settlement negotiated by Berchem, Moses & Devlin, P.C.’s Floyd J. Dugas and Jeffrey P. Mogan, in addition to a wage freeze for the first year of the contract and switching to a CompMix health insurance plan, starting in 2014, new hires will no longer be eligible for the Town pension plan, rather will only be eligible for the Town’s new defined contribution plan. It is expected that in the long term, this will help the Town address the underfunding of its pension plans.