Retired Teachers Chapter News
Initial pension revisions for class coverages to be processed this month
May 21, 2009 3:59 PM
Although the UFT won a court victory making per-session work pensionable in 2002, it took five years of concerted effort before the city agreed in 2007 that classroom coverages would be pensionable. It was agreed that the pensions of educators who have retired since 1993 would be recalculated.
TRS has announced that the first retirement allowance revisions to reflect pay for class coverages will start to be processed this month and will start to hit payroll in June.
The recalculation will be retroactive to September 2001; or, for members who retired after 2001, the recalculations will be retroactive to the date of retirement.
Retirees who did coverages during the time period in which their final average salary was computed are eligible for the revised retirement benefits. Generally that period is the last 12 months for Tier I and the last three years for Tiers II and III/IV retirees.
Nearly 20,000 retirees who retired since 1993 may be eligible for revised benefits. TRS is reviewing all of these cases to calculate any increases, and it is working with the office of the actuary to have the new benefit certified as soon as possible.
All recalculations for eligible retirees must be certified by the office of the actuary which indicates it can handle about 1,700 benefit certifications a month for the TRS. The certification process includes calculations for the first pension checks for new retirees as well as recalculations for the 20,000 retirees eligible for the additional coverage compensation.
Retirees who are due an increased retirement allowance will be notified by TRS before the increase occurs and the communications from TRS will indicate the amount of the increase resulting from the coverage wages.
This fall, after the summer retirement season, TRS expects to be able to increase the number of revisions processed per month and to complete the majority of the revisions for eligible retirees some time in 2010.
We will keep you updated on TRS’ progress and on any changes to the process.
