For some background see the Summer 2006 MCCC News. See “Breaking News” on page 1, and “The Tale of SB 2462: A Civics Lesson Revisited” on page 2.
IMPORTANT: See the information below: Establishing Retirement Credit for Previous Work Experience
November 17, 2006
From Donnie McGee’s Report to the Board
- Perserverance and patience are the mantra
- The State Retirement Board will train HR personnel about the 03 Buyback procedure.
- The college presidents agree to the importance of this for members
- They will support this in any way they can
- They indicate that records beyond 7 years aren’t kept, or if kept, easily accessed
- Members are advised to apply even if they aren’t sure their service was “03”
October 16, 2006
Dear Colleagues,
Good news! It may be time to redeem credit for the years you and/or your colleagues have put in as 03 employees in this state. A notice about the purchase of creditable service for former “contract employees” was printed on all state employees’ pay advice statements of 9/22/06. I have copied that message below:
BEGINNING IN OCTOBER, IF YOU HAVE TEN YEARS OF CREDITABLE SERVICE WITH THE STATE RETIREMENT SYSTEM AND HAD FORMERLY PROVIDED SERVICE AS A “CONTRACT EMPLOYEE,” YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE TO PURCHASE THAT SERVICE AS CREDITABLE SERVICE TOWARD YOUR RETIREMENT. PLEASE CONTACT THE STATE RETIREMENT BOARD AT http://www.mass.gov/treasury/srb.htm , and click on “Contract Service Buy Back”. Or, call 617-367-7770, OR 1-800-392-6014 (WITHIN MA).
The website address below will bring you directly to the buyback form needed by former “03” or “contract employees”. No buyback form was sent with this notice. http://www.mass.gov/treasury/forms/ret/SBR_ServiceBuyBack4.pdf
If you have questions, contact the State Retirement Board at the number(s) above and/or the Human Resources Office on your campus. If you still have questions, please contact me.
Good luck to everyone.
Donnie
Diana (Donnie) McGee
MCCC Vice-President & SAC Chair
Establishing Retirement Credit for Previous Work Experience
If interested in establishing retirement credit for previous work experience, please review the September 2, 2006, guidelines for a better understanding of the process. Two creditable service policies are attached/linked to this message:
- The recently passed 03 Creditable Service Legislation, now termed Chapter 161, and
- The Creditable Service Policy of November 16, 2001 for state employees who worked part-time but were not classified as 03 consultants.
Recent developments
- The State Retirement Board will include a notice of the new 03 (Chapter 161) Legislation in the payroll information of every state employee sometime in the next six weeks – before Oct 17, 2006, the date this policy goes into effect.
- A new form explicitly for Buyback related to 03 consultant service is currently being created, so application for credit for 03 service cannot occur until this notice has been given and this form has been developed.
- Do not use the current Buyback Form on the State Retirement Website.
- A revised link to the Creditable Service Policy of November 16, 2001, includes a second page with examples of part-time service that have been credited under this law.
- Sections 3, 5, and 6 of Chapter 161 refer to veterans benefits and are not discussed herein.
- If you have questions about this process after reading the suggested guidelines on the link below, contact the State Retirement Board at 617-367-7770.
E-mail me if you have further questions: 
Diana (Donnie) McGee
MCCC Vice-President and SAC Chair
September 3, 2006