Retirement – Prior service

Listen to this article

Where the State Board of Retirement denied a petitioner’s application to purchase his part-time 1982-1992 contract service, the board acted correctly, as the relevant contract service “preceded a period of membership service for which [he] took a refund” and therefore cannot be purchased.

Affirmed.

“Petitioner Wayne Klug timely appeals, under G.L.c. 32, §16(4), the State Board of Retirement’s partial denial of his application to purchase contract service under G.L.c. 32, §4(1)(s). …

“Here, MSERS allowed Mr. Klug to purchase his contract service for the period April 25, 1993 through August 19, 1995 because it occurred within 180 days of establishing membership again in September 1995, and it otherwise met all the requirements in G.L.c. 32, §4(1)(s); 941 CMR 2.09(3)(e)(1).

“However, the Board correctly denied Mr. Klug’s application to purchase his January 1, 1982, through February 23, 1992, part-time contract service because, in 1993, he had withdrawn his February 24, 1992, through April 23, 1993, MSERS retirement contributions, thus terminating his membership in MSERS. This means that the relevant contract service ‘preceded a period of membership service for which [he] took a refund,’ and therefore cannot be purchased. 941 CMR 2.09(3)(e)(2). …

“For the above-stated reasons, Mr. Klug is not entitled to purchase service credit for his 1982-1992 contract service. The Board’s decision is affirmed.”

Klug v. State Board of Retirement (Lawyers Weekly No. 27-055-26) (7 pages) (Forton, Administrative Magistrate) (Division of Administrative Law Appeals) Quesiyah Ali for the petitioner; Yande Lombe for the respondent (Docket No. CR-25-0392) (April 24, 2026).

Click here to read the full text of the opinion.