Lenander v. Department of Retirement Systems

¶1 Employees retiring from the Washington State Patrol are eligible to receive a pension calculated based on years of service and average final salary. For many years, the only pension benefit option available included a survivor benefit for a spouse who outlived the retiree that was usually equal to 50 percent of the retiree’s monthly benefit. In 2000, the Department of Retirement Systems (DRS) created a new option under which the retiree could opt for a pension that would allow a surviving spouse to continue to receive monthly pension benefits at the same amount after the retiree’s death.…