HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2339        FILED ON: 1/14/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2593

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act Relative to creditable service..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Subdivision (1) of section 4 of chapter 32 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:

Any member in service of the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System who, immediately preceding the establishment of membership in that system or re-entry into active service in that system, was compensated for service to the commonwealth as a contract employee for any department, agency, board or commission of the commonwealth, may establish as creditable service up to 4 years of that service if the member has 10 years of creditable service with the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System, and if the job description of the member in the position which the member holds upon entry into service or re-entry into active service is similar to the job description of the position for which the member was compensated as a contract employee for the Commonwealth.  No credit shall be allowed until the member has paid into the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System before any retirement allowance becomes effective for the member, in a lump sum or in installments, upon the terms and conditions that the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System prescribes, makeup payments of an amount equal to that which would have been withheld as regular deductions for the service as a contract employee if the service had been rendered as a municipal employee and the member had been a member of the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System, plus buyback interest on that amount.  Eligible members who worked part-time as State contract employees shall be eligible for creditable service proportionately equal to their part-time service.

Upon completion of the payments, the member shall receive the same credit for the period of previous service as a contract employee as would have been allowed if the service had been rendered by the member as a municipal employee.  Members in service of the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement  System who make application for this creditable service shall, subject to the rules and regulations of the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System, be notified by the State of their eligibility for creditable service and, if they are eligible, shall also be notified by the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System that they have the following options: (1) to purchase the service in a lump sum within 180 days after the date of the notice; or (2) to enter into an installment agreement within 180 days after the date of the notice to pay for the service.  No creditable service shall be allowed under this section unless the member provides documentation of the member’s service as a contract employee satisfying the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement requirements.