State employees are employed by the State of Colorado, which is their employer.  They work for the people of Colorado and provide services, not as volunteers or servants.  There is an employee / employer relationship.  There is the matter of deferred compensation, which is a contractual obligation. Although next year's PERA reform will probably be 100% funded by the PERA membership rather than the 80% proposed by the PERA board, there will be both short term and long term ramifications in the recruiting and retention of highly qualified public employees as they come to realize the unfairness and unreasonableness.  Employers should shoulder a 20% portion of the extra funding, whereas the PERA membership should pay 80% of the extra funding.  What's more reasonable.