during prior proceedings, whether administrative employment issues or allegations involving the pennal codein general, pensions are delayed compensation for work perform. services rendered. nothing more nothing less. there are statutory and in our case, under this san francisco charter. a pension is also contractual because it is part of the members compensation. the contractual part is not complicated. you perform work, the pension is part of the contract of employment, it's not a reward. you can't get a pension unless you work for a certain period of time. when you get a pension, it is based in part on how long you worked. the san francisco charter uses the phrase, based on services rendered when describing pension benefits. since pension benefits are contractual, the payment for services rendered, they are protected by the contract clauses in the california and united states constitutions. that's also why pensions are protected by due process, you can't be deprived of the vested benefit of contractual benefit without due process. i'd like to continue just for another couple of paragraphs