$550M returned to teachers in 3% lawsuit

LANSING — Teachers at public schools in Michigan got a big win in Michigan Supreme Court last week. A fairly large sum of money is coming back to those teachers.

A seven year litigation process was finally put to rest, as Michigan teachers won $550 Million. Under a 2010 law, teachers were required to contribute 3 percent of their earnings to their retirement healthcare. That money was collected between 2010 and 2013 and was then deposited into an escrow account.

“I know I’ve talked with a lot of teachers, and this was so unfair, so they’re able to get some money back, along with interest that they were certainly owed,” said Rich Rossway, President of the Marquette Board of Education.

The Michigan Education Association and American Federation of Teachers were among those who brought the suit against the state of Michigan.

“It gives us maybe a little bit of a fresh start,” said Rossway. “We stood with our teachers with this process and we just felt that teachers in Michigan have been continually attacked, and are not really paid and funded at the levels that we have to be able to fund them at.”

Teachers will know how much they are getting by mid-January, and have their refund by the end of the month.