Marcatante v. City of Chicago, No. 10-2114 (7th Cir. 2011)
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City employees accepted early retirement incentives in 2004 while their unions were still negotiating new collective bargaining agreements for 2003-2007. In 2005, after two years of negotiations, the city and unions agreed to make raises retroactive to July 2003, but only for current employees, not for the plaintiff retirees. The district court granted the city summary judgment on federal due process and equal protection claims and a state law breach of express contract claim, but granted summary judgment to plaintiffs on their state law implied contract claim and awarded the class $1,773,502 in retroactive pay, plus attorney fees. The Seventh Circuit reversed on the implied contract claim and otherwise affirmed. Because express contracts, the 1999-2003 CBAs, governed wages, an implied contract claim cannot succeed. Plaintiffs hoped for wage increases, but had no right to them, and there was no evidence that the city made misrepresentations to induce early retirement.
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