Court of Appeals reverses ruling allowing state employee to elect pension plan

 Gillian Emlaw Williams began working for the Washtenaw Intermediate School District in 1989 when she was 18.  In later years, she was hired full time, and claimed that she was never informed with regard to the short time period during which she could elect one of two pension options.  She attempted to change plans, and through a course of administrative and Circuit Court hearings, she was eventually granted that right.  The Public School Employees Retirement System appealed that decision, and this week it was over-turned by the Court of Appeals.  The appeals court held that the Retirement Board's holding (which reversed a decision in Williams' favor by the hearing officer) should not have been overturned by the Circuit Court without a showing of abuse of discretion or arbitrariness.