Retirement – Termination of benefits – Annual forms

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Where a petitioner’s accidental disability retirement benefits were terminated after she failed to provide an annual statement of earned income for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, the petitioner is not entitled to retroactive payments.

Affirmed.

“The Petitioner, Kristine Kennedy, timely appealed a decision by the Boston Retirement System denying her request for retroactive disability payments during a period when her payments were terminated. …

“A member who receives disability retirement benefits has an obligation to show they are not earning excess payments. To fulfill this obligation, they are required to file a yearly statement ‘certifying the full amount of [their] earnings from earned income during the preceding year.’ G.L.c. 32, §91A. …

“Here, there is no dispute the Petitioner failed to file her annual forms, failed to appear at a hearing concerning termination of benefits, and in turn, failed to show good cause why she failed to file her forms. That resulted in the termination of her benefits. And, although she has now filed her annual statement and her benefits have been reinstated, under §91A, she is not entitled to retroactive payments.

“The Petitioner raised some issues in these proceedings that conceivably could be considered ‘good cause’ for her failure to file the forms. But she raised these for the first time on appeal, and not at the hearing, which is the forum in which these issues must be raised. …

“BRS’s decision denying the Petitioner’s request for retroactive payments is affirmed.”

Kennedy v. Boston Retirement System (Lawyers Weekly No. 27-162-25) (4 pages) (Tennen, Administrative Magistrate) (Division of Administrative Law Appeals) Kristine Kennedy, pro se; Natacha Thomas for respondent Boston Retirement System; Felicia McGinniss for respondent PERAC (Docket No. CR-23-0010) (Dec. 26, 2025).

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