White v. Public School Employees' Retirement Board

**What Happened** A retired public school employee named White received incorrect benefit estimates from the Public School Employees' Retirement Board that were higher than what he was actually entitled to receive. When the Board discovered the error, they reduced his retirement benefits to the correct amount. White argued that because the Board made the mistake with their estimates, he should be allowed to keep receiving the higher payments and waive the downward adjustment. **What the Court Decided** The court sided with the Retirement Board and said White could not keep the higher benefit amount. The court ruled that even though the Board made an error in their estimates, White was not legally entitled to waive the correction and continue receiving payments above what the retirement system actually owed him. **Why This Matters for Workers** This case shows that workers cannot rely on incorrect benefit estimates, even when the error comes from the retirement system itself. If your employer or retirement board gives you wrong information about your benefits, you may not be able to keep receiving those higher amounts once the mistake is discovered. Workers should verify benefit calculations independently and understand that estimates are not guaranteed final amounts.