Court Rules That Jerry Sandusky Must Have His Pension Restored

Three years ago, Jerry Sandusky had his $4,900 a month pension revoked by the Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement Board, after he was sentenced to prison for multiple counts of child molestation. Not only did it seem entirely appropriate at the time, but it seemed legal too, since the state’s Pension Forfeiture Act gives government institutions the authority to revoke pensions for “crimes related to public office or public employment.”

However, a Pennsylvania court has just ruled unanimously that the revocation of his pension was unlawful, and it needs to be restored. Apparently, Sandusky didn’t have a “employer-employee relationship” with the school when these crimes occurred (at least, the ones that were proven in court). He had officially retired from Penn State in 1999, and though he worked on the campus and for the Second Mile charity (which he used to target young boys), he wasn’t really an employee for the university. As Judge Dan Pellegrini put it “Mr. Sandusky’s performance of services that benefited PSU does not render him a PSU employee.”

The court has since ordered the Retirement Board to not only reinstate the pension, but to reimburse Sandusky for the three years of lost payments. According to his lawyer, “Under the law it was very clear he was entitled to it, and his wife is entitled to the pension if Jerry predeceases her.”