The Utah Public Employees Association (UPEA) vowed earlier this month to sue the state after lawmakers and the governor passed a law that phases out of a retirement benefit allowing employees to exchange unused sick leave for medical insurance.
Huntsman met with association leaders for the first time Friday to discuss ways to avoid a court battle, which could strain relationships between 24,000 employees and the state leaders who set their salaries.
"I'm certainly willing to talk to UPEA, as I'm doing now . . . to see if there's anything else that we ought to be looking at," Huntsman said Monday. "I think they're willing to maintain this discussion before they formally launch any lawsuit."
UPEA has hired the law firm of Kirton & McConkie, which has started to work on a potential suit, but UPEA President Larry Evans said he is willing to postpone any filings to negotiate.
"I made it very clear that we would be willing to sit down and talk," he said.
Evans described Huntsman as "non-committal" during their first meeting. But Evans said he ended the discussion "more optimistic" than before that a lawsuit could be avoided.
Huntsman signed House Bill 213, which phased out the benefit, on the same day it hit his desk, well before the statutory deadline.
Lawmakers, who received tremendous pressure from state workers to vote against HB213, say they supported the bill in part because of the rising cost of health insurance. They said they feared the pricey program could jeopardize the state's bond rating, which allows Utah to take out cheaper loans, saving taxpayers millions of dollars.
Evans wants Huntsman to help persuade lawmakers to preserve the benefits for current employees. But the governor on Monday did not seem interested in tinkering with the new law.
"I think it was looked at pretty exhaustively, pretty comprehensively in the last two-year review," he said.
Evans said other options are available.
"Our goal here is to protect public employees and the promises that were made to them," he said.
mcanham@sltrib.com
