The association representing state employees has gone back to court, this time seeking to stop a controversial new law eliminating an expensive retirement benefit from taking effect.

Attorneys for the Utah Public Employees Association have filed a motion for an injunction against HB213, which would phase out the state's "Unused Sick Leave Retirement Option" beginning next year.

"We felt like, as an association, that we waited as long as we could," UPEA President Larry Evans said of the motion, filed in 3rd District Court on Sept. 15 after several months of discussions with state officials.

Evans said neither the governor nor lawmakers have been willing to reconsider the law passed by the 2005 Legislature to curtail a complicated and costly program that allowed retired state workers to purchase medical insurance with unused sick leave.

The association voted in May to sue over the law but didn't go to court until more than a month later. Even then, the association postponed seeking an injunction in the hopes that a special legislative session would be called to deal with the issue.

"The state has shown no interest in negotiating with us," the association's attorney, Ben Hathaway, said. "Our hope is just to forestall any effective date until the court can hear all the evidence and make a full decision on it."

No date has been set yet for the hearing on the preliminary injunction. The new law takes effect Jan. 1 and already, some state employees are deciding to retire by the end of the year.

State employees are eligible to retire after 30 years, or 20 if they're in public safety.

Those who leave by the end of year will be eligible to continue to receive health insurance for up to five years, or until they turn 65. Then they can "pay" their premiums with unused sick leave, at a rate of one month of coverage for every eight hours of unused time.

"I think this is going to be really nasty," Evans said of the exodus. "The 'brain drain' is really killing us. We're losing a lot of good people."

The state's executive director of the Department of Human Resources Management, Jeff Herring, said through August, 400 employees have put in for retirement compared to 276 for the same period last year.

"They are up," Herring said of the retirements, "but not as dramatically as we thought they might be." He said that the state has attempted to provide information about the benefit to employees so they can make an informed decision "rather than just an emotional" one.

As for the latest legal action, Herring said the administration "is going to have to let the legal process proceed." He said during meetings with the public-employees group, the only solution proposed was a repeal of the law, something only lawmakers could do.

"We always want, certainly, to make sure we have a good balance of benefits and salary. Unfortunately, the Legislature controls the purse strings with the way those are distributed," Herring said.

The sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, has said the benefit would eventually create a liability of some $250 million for the state. The benefit was extended to state employees in lieu of pay increases during some of the state's lean years.

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