OTTAWA – Pamela Wallin’s lawyer says the suspensions of three senators will be invalidated if the government retroactively changes the law to preclude them from the parliamentary pension plan.

Terrence O’Sullivan says the law is clear that the time Wallin, Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau will spend under suspension must count toward the six years of service they need to qualify for a pension.

If the government now tries to change the law, he says, that means senators did not make an informed decision when they voted earlier this week to suspend the trio without pay.

Treasury Board president Tony Clement has said he’ll change the law if necessary to ensure the three outcast senators do not continue to accumulate pensionable service while they’re under suspension.

O’Sullivan says the government is being vindictive, vicious and mean-spirited.

Wallin, Duffy and Brazeau have been suspended for the duration of the parliamentary session, which could continue until 2015 — the same year all three would ordinarily become eligible to collect a parliamentary pension.