Date: | 04/25/2025 |
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Organization: | Division of Administrative Law Appeals |
Docket Number: | CR-24-0372 |
- Petitioner: Edward Fratto
- Respondent: State Board of Retirement
- Administrative Magistrate: Yakov Malkiel
Date: | 04/25/2025 |
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Organization: | Division of Administrative Law Appeals |
Docket Number: | CR-24-0372 |
The petitioner was not initially entitled to retirement credit for a period of temporary or provisional work. He cannot purchase credit for that period now, because he is no longer publicly employed and is already receiving a retirement allowance.
Petitioner Edward Fratto appeals from a decision of the State Board of Retirement (board) declining his request to purchase retirement credit for a five-month period of work in 1981. On Mr. Fratto’s motion, the appeal was submitted on the papers.[1] I admit into evidence exhibits marked 1-24 in the case file.[2]
Findings of Fact
I find the following facts.
Analysis
A public employee’s retirement benefits are determined in part by the employee’s tally of creditable service. See G.L. c. 32, § 5(2)(a). Generally speaking, employees are credited with the periods during which they worked for Massachusetts governmental units while maintaining membership in Massachusetts retirement systems. See id. § 4(1)(a).
A special rule applies to employees who initially are hired “on a . . . provisional [or] temporary . . . basis.” G.L. c. 32, § 3(2)(a)(iv). Such employees become members only “upon the completion of six calendar months of service.” Id. Given this rule, the following points of fact are now reasonably clear: Mr. Fratto should not have been making retirement contributions immediately upon starting to work for MEMA; MEMA erred by withholding contributions from him in March‑June 1981; MEMA then alleviated the error by refraining from taking contributions from Mr. Fratto in July‑November 1981. To the extent that there is an imperfect alignment between Mr. Fratto’s period of provisional or temporary work and his period of missing contributions, the discrepancy works in Mr. Fratto’s favor.[3]
In specified circumstances, employees who begin their careers in provisional or temporary roles may later purchase retirement credit for the provisional or temporary period. See G.L. c. 32, §§ 3(5), 4(2)(c). Two related problems make Mr. Fratto ineligible for such a purchase. The first is that the pertinent statutes allow applications under them to be submitted only by individuals who remain publicly employed. See Zavaglia v. Gloucester Ret. Bd., No. CR-09-459, 2015 WL 14085596 (Contributory Ret. App. Bd. Apr. 13, 2015); Cohen v. Massachusetts Teachers’ Ret. Syst., No. CR-20-203 (Div. Admin. Law App. Nov. 5, 2021). The second is that those statutes require the purchase price to be paid “before the date any retirement allowance becomes effective.” §§ 3(5), 4(2)(c). Mr. Fratto is no longer publicly employed, and he already is receiving a retirement allowance.
Mr. Fratto argues that his predicament is unfair: in essence, he was not told when he left MEMA that he was thereby losing his opportunity to buy back several months’ worth of credit. But entitlements under the public retirement law are prescribed by strict statutory provisions. Any deficiencies in the information provided to a member cannot alter the member’s entitlements. See Clothier v. Teachers’ Ret. Bd., 78 Mass. App. Ct. 143, 146 (2010). And administrative tribunals have no power to overrule or sidestep statutory rules on the basis of fairness-related or sympathy-related concerns. See Bristol Cty. Ret. Bd. v. Contributory Ret. Appeal Bd., 65 Mass. App. Ct. 443, 446, 450-51 (2006).
In view of the foregoing, the board’s decision is AFFIRMED.
Division of Administrative Law Appeals
/s/ Yakov Malkiel
Yakov Malkiel
Administrative Magistrate