Retirees Have to Pay Back Money

In Thursday Fresno Bee there was an article about the past overpayment to some Fresno County retirees. Apparently Retirement officials have over paid some retirees for about 20 years and now they want some of their money back. FCERA has agreed to make retirees return the overpayment for the last 3 years in a addition to 3% interest. This just doesn't seem right. There wasn't any mention of fraud on behalf of the retirees. It appears that the system just messed up.

Now I understand that this is all probably legal due to contracts that are probably in their retirement deals. I mean it just doesn't SEEM right. 1 person owes $20,000. While I understand they received it so they had it, I don't know if it works that way. They are also collecting from estates for people who have passed away but were effected. The system wants the money that they should have but do they have a reasonable right to demand it back? Should any attention be paid to the chaos this will cause?

A very frustrating situation.