Membership:
October 29, 2010:
A. Employees of all member units of the Woburn Retirement System who are regularly employed in a permanent position for a minimum of 20 hours per week and who earn a minimum of $5,000 per year must become members of the System.
B. Employees of all member units of the Woburn Retirement System who are provisional, seasonal, temporary or intermittent, and who are regularly employed in a position for a minimum of 20 hours per week for a period of six consecutive months, and who earn a minimum of $5,000 per year, must become members of the system at the conclusion of the six-month period. Such members shall be allowed to purchase prior non-membership service.
C. Employees of all member units of the Woburn Retirement System who are employed less than 20 hours per week are ineligible for membership.
D. Employees, elected and appointed officials of all member units of the Woburn Retirement System who earn less than $5,000 per year are ineligible for membership.
Creditable Service:
October 29, 2010:
A. Members of the Woburn Retirement System who earn less than $5,000 per year and who established membership prior to July 1, 2009 shall continue to be members of the system. The regular compensation of such member shall be subject to retirement withholdings, but such member shall not accrue creditable service after July 1, 2009, except that, such member who on said date was serving in an elected or appointed term of office or employment shall continue to be credited with service until the expiration of said term of office or employment, but not thereafter.
B. Members of the Woburn Retirement System shall be credited with one year of service for each year of employment of not less than 20 hours per week, or yearly proportion thereof. If the members hours of employment fall below 20 hours per week, the member shall be credited with one-half year of creditable service, or yearly proportion thereof.
C. Creditable service may be allowed for any period of approved leave of absence without regular compensation that is not in excess of one month, upon petition to the Board by the member. Any portion of any period of continuous leave of absence of any member without regular compensation that is in excess of one month shall not be creditable service.
Applicability:
This regulation shall apply to creditable service calculated for member buybacks, membership transfers to other Massachusetts retirement systems, and to retirement benefit calculations for members of the Woburn Retirement System retiring on or after November 1, 2010.
Regular Compensation:
Miscellaneous:
May 2, 2022
Correction of Errors under G.L. c. 32, § 20(5)(c)(2)
In all cases of correction of an error by the Woburn Retirement Board of an underpayment or non-payment of a pension or benefit to a member or beneficiary of the Woburn Retirement System which results in a onetime retroactive payment of benefits, such payment shall include interest for such period of underpayment or non-payment at the rate annually determined for such period by the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission pursuant to G.L. c. 32, § 22(6).
In all cases of correction of an error by the Woburn Retirement Board of an overpayment of a pension or benefit to a member or beneficiary of the Woburn Retirement System, the amount of overpayment shall be due from the member or beneficiary, along with interest for said period of overpayment at the rate annually determined by the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission pursuant to G.L. c. 32, § 22(6).
Pursuant to the judgment of the Supreme Judicial Court in Herrick v. Essex Regional Retirement Board, 465 Mass. 801 (2013) and PERAC Memorandum #32, 2013, said interest shall be deemed to be the actuarial equivalent of the adjustment to the pension or benefit as set forth in G.L. c. 32, § 20(5)(c)(2).
[1] G.L. c. 32, § 20(5)(c)(2)- When an error exists in the records maintained by the system or an error is made in computing a benefit and, as a result, a member or beneficiary receives from the system more or less than the member or beneficiary would have been entitled to receive had the records been correct or had the error not been made, the records or error shall be corrected and as far as practicable, and future payments shall be adjusted so that the actuarial equivalent of the pension or benefit to which the member or beneficiary was correctly entitled shall be paid. If it is determined that a member has contributed an incorrect amount to the retirement system, the member shall be required to contribute an amount sufficient to correct such error or the board shall pay an amount to the member to correct such error, as the case may be. (Footnote in original)