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The state’s retirement board on Wednesday rejected the first batch of case-by-case appeals by 143 State Police troopers who believe they are being kept out of a more lucrative retirement plan.
Consolidated Public Retirement Board members adopted by voice vote the recommendations of hearing officer Jack DeBolt to deny the appeals of the first 25 troopers who contend they were wrongfully kept out of the old State Police Plan A retirement package.
The appeals are the latest in a series of administrative and legal actions by the troopers, who are members of the first four cadet classes after a 1994 law that closed the severely underfunded retirement Plan A and put all new troopers into a new, less lucrative Plan B.
In order to reduce the state’s unfunded liability, Plan B has higher payroll deductions and lower retirement and disability benefits than Plan A. Also, Plan B troopers with 20 or more years of service cannot retire until they reach age 55, compared to age 50 under Plan A.
Charleston lawyer Marvin Masters, who has represented the 143 troopers since their first appeal in 2001, told the retirement board it has an obligation to correct the mistakes made when the troopers joined the State Police between 1994 and 1996.
He said those troopers relied on outdated brochures and other information when they made their decisions to join the State Police.
“They were told they were going to be under Plan A benefits, which by the way are about twice the benefits of Plan B,” he said.
He said the troopers relied on the erroneous information provided to them. Some left better-paying jobs or opted not to go to college because they were attracted by the generous retirement package, he said.
The issue of whether the 143 troopers were deliberately misled into believing they would qualify for Plan A benefits has been before the retirement board for more than four years.
In November 2002, the board ruled in the troopers’ favor, concluding they should be allowed to enroll in Plan A. They reversed that decision at their next meeting, after they found it would cost the state more than $70 million to put the troopers in the more generous retirement plan.
More recently, the board appointed DeBolt to review each case individually, taking testimony from each officer.
He presented the first 25 cases to the board on Wednesday, in part to expedite an expected challenge of the rulings in circuit court. Masters afterward said he would file appeals on Wednesday’s decisions.
DeBolt concluded there was no deliberate intent to mislead the recruits when they joined the State Police, even though the State Police continued to use outdated recruiting brochures and other materials more than two years after Plan B was enacted.
“Ideally, on March 13, 1994, the State Police should have created a new brochure,” DeBolt said, referring to the date the Plan B law went into effect.
Anne Lambright, board counsel, noted that records show the retirement board issued brochures in 1994 outlining the benefits of both State Police plans, though there is no evidence that the brochures were distributed to any of the four cadet classes.
She also said there is no record that any of the 143 cadets contacted the retirement board to review pension benefits.
She said that while the board has legal authority to correct mistakes made by the retirement system, it has no authority to correct oversights by the Legislature or other state agencies.
Masters, meanwhile, argued that the state has a moral obligation to provide Plan A benefits to the 143 officers.
“These gentlemen and ladies are required to go out every day and put their lives on the line,” he said. |