The UFT’s Pension Department will hold special group meetings in each borough beginning in early June to accommodate members who are making last-minute decisions to retire at the end of the school year in light of the tentative contract’s provisions on the retroactive payments.

The meetings will cover, in general terms, everything a member needs to do in order to retire. The dates, times and places of the meetings will be announced in early June and will be posted in the pension section of the UFT website and published in the June 5 issue of the New York Teacher. You will also be able to find out the dates and places of the meetings by calling your UFT borough office or the union’s Pension Department at 1-212-598-6866 or 1-212-598-6867 in early June.

Pending ratification, the contract provides that members who retire on or before June 30, 2014, will receive payment in full for the retroactive raises in one lump sum. Members who retire on or after July 1, 2014, will be paid the retroactive money on the same schedule as in-service members: beginning Oct. 1, 2015, and ending Oct. 1, 2020. In both cases, the pension calculation at the time of retirement will include the entire 8 percent rate increase arising from 2009 and 2010 and any other pay increases that occurred during a member’s employment.

Note to Medicare-eligible retiring members: If you are planning to retire on or before June 30 and you already are or you are going to be age 65 or older, you must sign up for Medicare Parts A and B at your local Social Security office now so this coverage will be in place on June 1. If you plan to retire after June 30 of this year, Medicare Parts A and B should be in place on the first of the the month in which you plan to retire.