U.S. appeals court upholds California program for workers whose employers don’t provide retirement benefits

Security guards stand in front of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 12, 2017, in San Francisco. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: May 6, 2021 / 02:17 PM PDT

Updated: May 6, 2021 / 02:17 PM PDT

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a California program that provides retirement savings accounts to workers whose employers don’t offer them.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided unanimously that the program, CalSavers, did not interfere with federal law.

The state established CalSavers in 2017 to encourage savings for future retirees. Private workers whose employers do not provide pensions or 401(k) programs were automatically enrolled in CalSavers. Unless workers opt out, their employers are required to remit money from payroll deductions to CalSavers to be deposited in IRAs set up on the employees’ behalf.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. sued to invalidate the program, calling it a “massive government boondoggle” and arguing that it was superseded by a federal retirement law.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.