Retirement – Purchase of credit

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Where the State Board of Retirement denied a petitioner’s request to purchase retirement credit for a five-month period of work in 1981, that decision must be affirmed because the petitioner is no longer publicly employed and he already is receiving a retirement allowance, so he cannot purchase credit for that period now.

“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. …

“Mr. Fratto began working for a predecessor to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) in March 1981. He remained there for thirteen years, leaving for the private sector in August 1994. …

“Mr. Fratto retired for superannuation effective in October 2021. …

“In specified circumstances, employees who begin their careers in provisional or temporary roles may later purchase retirement credit for the provisional or temporary period. … 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. … The second is that those statutes require the purchase price to be paid ‘before the date any retirement allowance becomes effective.’ … 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. … And administrative tribunals have no power to overrule or sidestep statutory rules on the basis of fairness-related or sympathy-related concerns. …”

Fratto v. State Board of Retirement (Lawyers Weekly No. 27-060-25) (4 pages) (Malkiel, Administrative Magistrate) (Division of Administrative Law Appeals) Edward Fratto, pro se; John Durgin for the respondent (Docket No. CR-24-0372) (April 25, 2025).

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