Recompensing Jacksonville employees who were improperly put into Social Security rather than the city pension plan could cost the city half a billion dollars over a 30-year period, an attorney for those employees said Wednesday.

The figure came up in a hearing U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan called for as he makes a decision on dueling motions for summary judgment in a case that started more than two years ago.

Corrigan has not said when he’ll rule.

The case focuses on city workers who, for several decades, were directed into Social Security rather than the much more lucrative city pension plan if they failed a physical exam. The practice appeared to have become more common in the years before the lawsuit was filed. The city stopped in 2010.

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Wednesday’s federal court hearing focused on technical issues, as Corrigan wrestled with the contours of what might be one of the first class-action lawsuits related to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

City General Counsel Cindy Laquidara tried to limit the size of that class, arguing that the majority of the 1,500 employees put in Social Security have had the statute of limitations run out on their complaint.