the City of Houston, Texas v. Roger Bates, Michael L. Spratt and Douglas Springer

in which Chief Justice JEFFERSON, Justice JOHNSON, Justice WILLETT, and Justice DEVINE joined; in which Justice HECHT and Justice LEHRMANN joined as to Parts I and II.A; and in which Justice GUZMAN and Justice BOYD joined as to Parts I and II.B.

This appeal involves a pay dispute between the City of Houston and three retired fire fighters previously employed by the Houston Fire Department (HFD). The retired fire fighters sued the City to recover allegedly unauthorized deductions from their termination pay upon retire*541ment. The retired fire fighters asserted two distinct claims. First, two of…