EARLY RETIREMENT PROGRAM WILL HAPPEN!

The Globe reported yesterday that Governor Swift will sign the early retirement bill today (Monday, December 31) - her last opportunity. To qualify an employee needs:

*20 years of creditable service at any age or
*10 years of creditable service and 55 years of age or older.

Other features:

*Applications will be between January 1, 2002, and February 15, 2002, with a retirement date of June 15, 2002, for higher education employees, unless the Board of Higher Education includes an employee on a list of employees who can retire earlier. Note: The state retirement board has put documents for filing an early retirement application on line, at http://www.state.ma.us/treasury/srb.htm . In addition, a copy of the application is found at this link: http://mscaunion.org/news/Early_Ret.pdf (Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view this file).

*Not more than 6,700 people can retire under this plan. If more than 6,700 eligible employees apply, preference will be given to individuals based on their years of creditable service. (This is not expected to be an issue.)

*This bill excludes grant employees from the early retirement program ("Employees whose regular compensation is funded from federal, trust, or capital accounts, as defined in chapter 29 of the General Laws, shall not be eligible to receive the benefit.").

*Anyone who entered the service of the commonwealth before January 1, 1975, and has had either 5% or 7% withheld for retirement shall be eligible in any case.

*The plan provides an additional five years of age, five years of creditable service, or some combination of the two, not to exceed five years.

*Any employee electing to retire under this plan must sign a form stating his/her willingness to receive his/her sick leave buyback and vacation time (for librarians), in accordance with general law, paid out in three installments:

1/3 on July 1, 2002
1/3 on July 1, 2003
1/3 on July 1, 2004.

*For any married employee who retires and receives an additional benefit under the provisions of this act, an election of a retirement option under the provisions of section 12 of chapter 32 of the General Laws shall not be valid unless (i) it is accompanied by the signature of the member's spouse indicating member's spouse's knowledge and understanding of the retirement option selected, or (ii) a certification by the state board of retirement that such spouse has received notice of such election as hereinafter provided.

* It is our understanding that this bill would not help a higher education person who is retired - that is, the bill is not written with retroactive language.

SOME LINKS WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

* House 4823 is the bill that passed late Friday, December 21. It's at http://www.state.ma.us/legis/bills/house/ht04823.htm .

* FiveorFive is a page to help you determine whether you want to retire now or wait a year (or more). It helps you estimate what your retirement pay would be if you took the 5/5 option or waited another year (which can be important for some members, as we have another years of contractual raises to go). This page is at http://www.tiac.net/users/mccc/Retirement/FiveOrFive.html .

* The State Retirement Board has a page at http://www.state.ma.us/treasury/srb.htm .

* The MTA Homepage is tracking this issue as well. It's at http://www.massteacher.org/html/Public_area/ .

* Early retirement application on line, at http://www.state.ma.us/treasury/srb.htm .

OTHER BILLS WHICH MAY AFFECT YOUR RETIREMENT

Some of you are especially interested in bills which would add creditable years to your retirement for:

a) part-time teaching / employment in the colleges
b) service in proprietary nursing schools prior to 1973
c) forced maternity leave for those who were in K-12.

The latest MTA Today has an excellent summary article on these matters which corroborates what we have been learning. The sole purpose of the early retirement bill is to reduce state spending on its employees. This was stressed repeatedly at the hearings on the bill. The bottom line is that, in this economic climate, these additional bills are unlikely to pass. The article recommends that you call your legislators anyway, but a realistic assessment is not positive in the short term.

Note: FYI, a colleague looking at the Early Retirement program notes that COLAs on retirement have been 2 1/2%, 3%, 3%, for the past several years and apply only on the first $12,000 of your retirement income, or a max of $360 per year. It is indeed an important fact that once retired, increases in the cost of living eat away at your retirement benefit.

[Thanks to MCCC President Philip Mahler for compiling this information and sharing it with the MSCA membership.]