Employer and pension fund sued for refusing to allow police officers to obtain retirement credit
A recent case before the State of New York Court of Appeals showed how changes in the laws over the years can impact the eligibility of different types of employees to retirement credit.
The Matter of Patrick J. Lynch v. City of New York involved the New York City Police Pension Fund, which was the retirement program for police officers employed by the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
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The legislature wanted to address the issues of steeply mounting pension costs and budget constraints. Thus, in 1976, it created tier 3, a program which aimed to provide uniform benefits to all public employees and to eliminate the former program’s costly special treatment of selected groups.
In 2016, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association of the City of New York, Inc. and its president filed a lawsuit on behalf of its members. The association alleged that certain parties – including the pension fund and the City of New York as a public employer – refused to allow tier 3 officers to obtain credit toward retirement eligibility for prior non-police service.
This refusal violated certain provisions of the Retirement and Social Security Law and of the New York City Administrative Code, the association said. The denials of credit breached a 2002 settlement agreement that resolved past litigation over...
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