International Brotherhood of Teamsters v Metro Police
Teamsters Request Police Pension Fund Audit
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that Nashville's Middle Metro Police Department has neglected the police officers' pension fund by going six years without a performance audit to show how investments have performed.
Twelve Nashville Metro police officers are plaintiffs in the lawsuit meant to force the department to conduct such an audit to follow up on irregularities found in a 2000 audit. At that time, a consulting firm's overcharges and several other problems had led to a fund loss of $60 million, the lawsuit alleges.
"There has to be a regular performance audit to do a comprehensive analysis to determine how the funds are performing," Teamsters spokesman said. "We can't come to the bargaining table with information that's six years old."
The Teamsters are in the midst of a battle with the Fraternal Order of Police over representation of Nashville Metro Police as their bargaining agent. Enough votes were cast last month to oust the FOP as Metro's union. An election between the two police organizations to determine who gets the contract is set for Feb. 8, 2006.
Litigation led to the recovery of $10 million, Nashville Metro Police Finance Director said. Reports on the plan are made public quarterly and that the finances are audited yearly. Investment yields have been good ever since.
"A separate performance audit should be done again sometime in the future, but not even close to every year," the Metro Finance Director said. "Frankly, that would be an over-the-top waste of money. ... The Teamsters seem to be looking for some publicity."
