Supplementary Regulations of the City of Revere Retirement System

The purpose of these regulations adopted by the City of Revere Retirement Board, herein after “the Board”,  is to more clearly define various types of employment with the City of Revere, hereinafter “the City” for membership and creditable service requirements within the City of Revere Retirement System, hereinafter “the System.”

Section 1

DEFINITIONS:

1. “Employee” An employee is any person hired, employed or appointed to a permanent or provisional position by the City, non-teaching employees of the Revere School Department, herein after “the School Department,” appointed by the School Committee and/or the Superintendent, and employees of the Revere Housing Authority, herein after “the Housing Authority,” appointed by the Housing Authority Board and/or the Executive Director, who are regularly employed with a regular work schedule with commensurate salary and wages.
2.  “Permanent full-time employee” shall be defined as any administrative clerical or library employee who works not less than thirty-nine (39) hours per week, any laborer, custodian and/or all hourly rated employees who work not less than forty (40) hours per week, any uniformed members of the police and fire departments who work not less than forty-two (42) hours per week, non-teaching employees of the School Department who work not less than 35 hours per week, administrative employees of the Housing Authority who work not less than thirty-seven and a half hours (37.5) per week, and maintenance employees of the Housing Authority who work not less than forty (40) hours per week.
3. “Permanent part-time employee (eligible)” is an employee who regularly works at least twenty (20) hours per week and who does not meet the requirements of full-time employment.  School Department employees who work more than twenty (20) hours per week for ten (10) consecutive months shall be eligible for membership in the System.
4.  “Temporary, seasonal and/or intermittent employee”- (ineligible) an employee who is scheduled to work fewer than twenty (20) hours per week shall not be eligible for membership in the System.  
5. Any employee receiving compensation of less than $5,000 annually for employment occurring on or after July 1, 2009, shall not be eligible for membership in the System. Employees who earned less than $5,000 annually and who established membership in the System prior to July 1, 2009 shall continue to be members of the System.  The regular compensation of such employee shall be subject to retirement withholding but such employee shall only accrue creditable service subject to the provisions of Section 25 of Chapter 21 of the Acts of 2009.
6. “Provisional employee”:  A person who is employed in a Civil Service position or appointed by a Board or Commission of the City for more than twenty (20) hours per week and earns more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) annually shall become a member of the System upon the completion of the sixth month of employment, provided that there is no change in the status of the provisional employee.   Said employee, upon employment, shall be advised that he or she must participate in an alternative retirement plan, provided by the City during the six months of provisional employment.
7.   Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 4 of this regulation relative to Creditable Service, Employees and Full-time Employees as previously defined in this regulation shall not be subject to reductions in service credit resulting from temporary hour reductions to their specific positions incurred due to budgetary constraints, provided that the Board annually votes to authorize said service credit.

Section 2

REPORTING AND NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

1. All persons responsible for hiring, employing or appointing a person to a position within the City, non-teaching employees of the School Department, other than Teachers, or the Housing Authority must notify the Board of the appointment of any employee, aside from a temporary, seasonal and/or intermittent employee, at least five (5) days before the person receives his or her first paycheck.
2. A department head must, within seven (7) days notify the Board when a part-time employee subsequently becomes employed on a full-time basis.
   A department head must also notify the Board of any change in the employee’s status, pay grade or address change.  This includes, but is not limited to, promotion, reduction in hours, suspension, termination, leave of absence, and medical leave of absence.
3. The Board may require the department head to furnish other information regarding an employee in order for the member to be properly classified.
4. The Board is empowered to allow late entry into the System upon a Board vote, and then only if the Board finds that his or her failure to become, or his or her election not to become, a member of the System was caused by circumstances other than those generally applicable to employees.  Failure of the Department head to notify an employee of his or her membership rights shall not be deemed by the Board to be a circumstance other than one generally applicable to other employees within the meaning of Chapter 32, section 3(3), and shall not be deemed by the Board to be a circumstance permitting late entry into the System. 

Section 3

MEMBERSHIP:

1. “Membership”:  As of (date of promulgation) permanent full-time employees of the City, non-teaching employees of the School Department, and permanent full-time employees of the Housing Authority, hereafter “employees” as defined in section 1, subsections A through C of this regulation, shall become members of the System upon date of employment in accordance with the provisions of Section 2, subsection A of this regulation.  All other employees who are regularly employed a minimum of twenty (20) hours per week and earn a minimum of five thousand ($5,000) dollars per year shall become a member of System upon the completion of the sixth month of employment.
2. Employees who are provisional Civil Service employees and are regularly employed a minimum of twenty (20) hours per week for a period of six consecutive months and earn a minimum of five thousand ($5,000) dollars per year shall become a member of the System upon the completion of the six month of employment, provided that there is no change in the employment status of the provisional employee.
3. Temporary, seasonal or intermittent employees who are regularly scheduled to work fewer than twenty hours per week are not eligible for membership in the System.  Moreover, any hours worked in excess of the employee’s original scheduled work hours as temporary or intermittent employees(fewer than twenty (20) hours per week) shall not be considered for eligibility in the System for the purpose of buyback.  Any temporary employee who becomes a permanent part-time or full-time employee shall not be allowed to buyback hours of employment worked as a temporary or intermittent employee working fewer than 20 hours per week.
4. On or after July 1, 2009, employees who earn less than five thousand ($5,000) dollars per year shall not be eligible for membership in the System.  Employees who earned less than $5,000 annually and who established membership in the System prior to July 1, 2009 shall continue to be members of the System.  The regular compensation of such employee shall be subject to retirement withholding but such employee shall only accrue creditable service subject to the provisions of Section 25 of Chapter 21 of the Acts of 2009.  M.G.L. Chapter 32, section 4(1)(o).

Section 4

CREDITABLE SERVICE:

Members of the System shall receive creditable service in whole-month increments in the following manner:

1. For a member-in-service who is employed in a permanent full-time capacity as defined above while an employee of the City, he or she will receive one month of creditable service for each month in which the employee receives regular compensation for such service and remits the appropriate contributions to the System, with said service not to exceed one (1) year of creditable service in any calendar year.
2. For a member-in-service who is employed in a permanent part-time capacity throughout his or her entire career while an employee of the City, the Board will pro-rate months of service.  The percentage of service to be awarded to the employee by the Board will be determined by computing a fraction the numerator of which is the total regularly scheduled hours worked by the employee in a calendar year and the denominator of which is the full time hours required for qualification for permanent full-time employment as defined above, based on a forty-two week year for employees of the School Department whose regular employment requires them to work school years, and based on a fifty-two (52) week year for all other permanent employees.  Said service shall not exceed one (1) year of creditable service in any calendar year.  For non-teaching employees of the School Department, full months of actual service as determined above shall be divided by ten (10) months for each academic school year.  The quotient will then be multiplied by twelve (12) to determine the number of months of creditable service to be allowed under the buyback.  

B1   Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, any permanent part-time employee who had completed ten or more years of service prior to [the effective date of these regulations] shall be granted full creditable service for any period during which he or she is regularly employed at least twenty-eight hours per week. The provisions of the foregoing sub-section B1shall expire on December 31, 2017.

1. For a member-in-service who has been employed in both a permanent full-time and a permanent part-time capacity while an employee of the City, the member will receive full-time credit for permanent full-time service, and prorated credit for permanent part-time service based on the full-time employment equivalency as defined in sections 1B and 1C of this regulation.

C1  Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, any permanent part-time or full-time employee who had completed ten or more years of service prior to [the effective date of these regulations] shall be granted full creditable service for any period during which he or she is regularly employed at least twenty-eight hours per week.  The provisions of the foregoing sub-section C1 shall expire on December 31, 2017.

1. For a member who is a employed in a permanent part-time capacity as defined in section 1C of this regulation throughout his or her entire career while an employee of the City but who either purchases past refunded service, or who has transferred into the System service rendered in a permanent full-time capacity, the service attributable to the member’s part-time employment shall be prorated based on the hour required for qualification for permanent full-time employment service as defined in section 1B of this regulation.   
2. Employees whose positions were funded through the Comprehensive Employment Training Act, (CETA), and would have otherwise been eligible for membership in the System at the time said service was actually rendered shall be considered eligible for membership in the System for the purpose of buyback upon the submission of information required herein.
3. In the case of non-teaching employees of the School Department whose permanent full-time employment requires them to work from on or about September 1^st to June 30^th, said employees shall receive one month of creditable service for each full month the employee is receiving regular compensation as defined in M.G.L. Chapter 32, section 1, with ten (10) months being the equivalent of one year of creditable service, and with said service not to exceed one (1) year of creditable service in any calendar year.
4. In the case of non-teaching employees of the School Department, including but not limited to custodians and secretaries whose employment requires them to work the entire calendar year, in such a situation said employee’s creditable service will be based on a twelve (12) month year.
5. Any member purchasing past permanent part-time service rendered shall have said service credited based on the percentage of permanent full-time employment service as defined herein.  

Section 5

Creditable Service, Buybacks, Make-ups, and Re-deposits:

The following regulation is applicable to and mandatory for all current and future employees of the System. 

1. Creditable service may be purchased as follows:
   All prior creditable service must be purchased by means of a lump sum payment by check or money order made payable to the Revere Retirement Fund.  Any employee eligible to purchase prior service credit must remit the full required payment to the System within 180 days of the employee’s receiving written notice of the amount of the required payment.  The Board may, upon presentation of documentation of financial hardship, may allow the purchase of creditable service by means of an installment plan over a term not to exceed five years under such terms and conditions as the Board may prescribe.
2. Employees shall be awarded service credit in accordance with the following:
   Less than one (1) month-(no creditable service.)
   One (1) month to eleven (11) months-(month for month.)
   Twelve (12) months-(one (1) year)
   One (1) year of credit for ten (10) months of service may only be granted for school employees whose work schedule is the academic school year.
3. When purchasing prior part-time service, employees must provide the Board with official payroll records, pay stubs, W-2 forms, Internal Revenue Service records, Social Security Administration records or a combination thereof which provides the Board with documentation of the employee’s wages and hours worked for each calendar year for which service credit is sought.
4. For the purpose of calculating buyback "months" for a member whose work schedule is the academic school year, the Board will pro-rate full months of service using the number of full months of actual service as determined above, divided by the ten (10) months of the academic school year. The quotient will then be multiplied by twelve (12) to determine the number of months of creditable service to be allowed under the buyback.
5. Upon written request, and proper documentation of prior service, reserve or permanent-intermittent police officers who were on the respective list, eligible for assignment to duty and subsequently appointed to the Revere Police Department as a permanent full time employee, shall be credited with full-time service up to a maximum of five (5) years without repayment to the System in accordance with M.G.L Chapter 32, section 4(2)(b).
6. Upon written request, and proper documentation of prior service, permanent-intermittent or call firefighters who were on the respective list, eligible for assignment to duty and subsequently appointed to the Revere Fire Department as a permanent full time employee shall be credited with full-time service up to a maximum of five (5) years without repayment to the System in accordance with M.G.L Chapter 32 section 4(2)(b).

Section 6

Military Service Buyback:

The following regulation is applicable to and mandatory for all current and future employees of the System.

1. Employees who qualify as a "veteran" under M.G.L. Chapter 32, section 4(1)(h) can purchase up to four (4) years of active service in the Armed Forces of the United States which will be added to their creditable service as a member of the retirement system.
2. Any member seeking military service credit in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 71 of the Acts of 1996 must remit the full required payment in one lump sum to the Board on or before the last day of the forty-eighth month following the date of the Board’s receipt of said member's initial application for such creditable service, or on or before the date immediately preceding the effective date of the member’s retirement, whichever date first occurs. Any member whose required payment for such military service credit exceeds $6,000.00 may petition the Board for an extension. A written request for an extension must be filed with the Board within 180 days of applicant’s receiving written notice of the amount of the required payment. Each such request will be reviewed by the Board on a case by case basis.

Section 7

Creditable Service under Chapter 235 of the Acts of 1994:

Any member seeking creditable service pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 235
of the Acts of 1994, must remit the full required payment in one lump sum on or before the last day of the thirty-sixth month following the date of the member’s receipt of a notice of eligibility from the board, on or before the date immediately preceding the effective date of the member’s retirement whichever date first occurs.

Section 8

TRAVEL REGULATIONS:

Any Board member or Staff member wishing to travel for the purpose of attendance at an educational seminar, meeting or conference must request that the proposed travel be included on a meeting agenda.  Included in the member’s request must be a written statement of the purpose of the travel, and a description of the organization responsible for organizing said seminar, meeting or conference.  The Board must, by majority vote, approve the proposed travel in advance, and said approval must be included in the meeting minutes.  The Board will only approve the proposed travel if such travel is necessary to the proper administration of the System.

At the next meeting following the completion of any travel, but in no event later than thirty days following the date the travel was completed, the Board or Staff member must produce adequate documentation for all expenses incurred during the travel.  The member must certify on a prescribed form under penalties of perjury that the expenses were incurred in the course of, and were necessary to, the pre-approved travel.  Adequate documentation shall be considered to be original itemized bills or receipts.  The Board, upon receipt of documentation, will vote on the amount, if any, to be reimbursed.  The Board may only reimburse for expenses for which documentation has been provided, and reimbursement may be made only to the person who paid for the expense.  Reimbursement will be made within thirty days of submission of proper documentation of expenses.  Requests for reimbursement which are not accompanied by proper documentation as defined above will be denied and written notice of the denial will be sent to the affected Board or Staff member within 30 days of the submission of the request.

Any travel by any means other than private motor vehicle will be arranged by the Board Administrator.  Plane or train tickets shall be purchased in advance and government rates and discounts will be secured when available.  Rental vehicles will be arranged by the administrator when travel has been deemed by the Board in advance to necessitate the use of a rental vehicle.  All rentals will be through a national agency, and will include the purchase of optional insurance.  Any accidents involving a Board or Staff member’s use of a rental vehicle must be reported to the proper authorities and to the Board as soon as possible following the incident.  All lodging will be arranged in advance by the Administrator and will be economy or business class accommodations.  Costs for said accommodations will be reimbursed for the Board or Staff member.   Any Board or Staff member traveling with a spouse, friend, or family member will be responsible for all costs attributable to that spouse, friend or family member.  In addition, the costs of any length of stay of length greater than that of the scheduled meeting, conference or seminar, or any variation of the itinerary required for participation in said event will be the sole responsibility of the Board or Staff member.

The Board will reimburse its members and staff for up to sixty dollars per day for meals while attending approved conference, meetings and seminars.  The Board will reimburse for gratuities in an amount not to exceed 20%.  The Board will not approve meal expenses for any persons other than Board and Staff members.

Mileage for use of a personal motor vehicle for pre-approved travel will be reimbursed at the IRS approved mileage rate for the year in which the travel actually occurred.

A. LIMITATIONS/EXCLUSIONS

The Board will not reimburse for alcohol, tobacco, expenses incurred as the result of any traffic violations, entertainment, laundry, dry cleaning or other personal expenses.  The Board will not reimburse for expenses attributable to anyone other than Board and Staff members, nor will it reimburse expenses in excess of the amounts stated above.  The Board will not reimburse for any expenses for travel which was not approved in advance by majority vote of the Board.  The Board will not advance cash in anticipation of travel expenses.  No Board or Staff member will be issued a Board credit card.  No reimbursement or payment will be made for airline or any other club memberships.  Board and Staff members are prohibited from directly or indirectly providing to, or accepting from, any person or entity conducting business with or who may be seeking to conduct business with the Board, any item, gift or service of substantial value.  Substantial value is defined as anything of more than fifty dollars in value.  Neither the Board nor its Staff will accept payment or travel reimbursement from any third party for speaking engagements or participation in seminars, meetings or conferences.

B. VIOLATION OF TRAVEL REGULATIONS

Any person or entity found to be in violation of these travel regulations will be deemed to have violated the provisions of 840 CMR 17.00 and will be subject to sanctions imposed by the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission, including those contained in 840 CMR17.04, 19.02, and 26.04, if applicable.

Section 9

ADMINSTRATION:

Name: City of Revere Retirement System.

Board:  Five members as designated by M.G. L. Chapter 32.

Staff: Administrator and Assistant Administrator.

Staff Salaries and Benefits:  Determined by vote of Board.

Staff Hiring: Determined by vote of Board after interviews.

Chairperson of Board: Conducts all meetings, disseminates information from Board.  Chairperson shall be elected annually from among the members pursuant to the Rules of Order of the Board.

Ex-Officio Member: Oversees administration of the Retirement Office and is available to confer with Administrator on important operations of this office.

Administrator: Administers Office in accordance with M.G.L. Chapter 32, 840 CMR, the Board’s supplementary regulations and the Rules of Order, assigns workload to Assistant Administrator.

Meetings: Second Wednesday of every month, subject to adjustments due to scheduling conflicts. Board Counsel shall be present when deemed necessary by the Board.

Warrants:  Two Board members are required to sign all warrants.

Minutes:  Minutes of each Board meeting shall be read and approved by all members of the Board present at that meeting, and will not be certified until signed by all such Board members and the Administrator. 

Budget:  Ninety days prior to the beginning of the Board’s fiscal year, the Administrator shall submit to the Board for its review a proposed administrative expense budget which shall be a statement of the amounts recommended for expenditures of the Board for the subsequent year.  Said budget proposal shall include projections of expected costs for the following year, year to date expenses for the current year, plus at least two years prior historical expense data for the following accounts as prescribed by PERAC:

(a) Salaries

(b) Board Member Compensation

(c)  Investment Management Fees

(d) Consultant Fees

(e)  Legal Fees

(f)   Travel

(g)  Fiduciary Insurance

(h) Service Contracts

(i)    Furniture and Equipment

(j)    Administrative Expenses  

The Board shall, in the month of December, by majority vote, adopt an annual budget, and may reduce, increase or reject any proposed appropriations as recommended by the Administrator.  By majority vote, the Board may, pursuant to G.L. C. 32, s. 22(5), adopt supplemental budgets as it deems necessary during the year. 

Section 10

REPEAL OF FORMER SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS

The City of Revere Retirement Board Supplementary Regulations adopted on July 11, 1990 relative to membership, December 16, 1997, March 13, 1997, and September 30, 1991, July 11, 1990 relative to creditable service, July 11, 1990 relative to miscellaneous, and October 23, 2002 relative to travel, are hereby repealed upon [the effective date of the above new Supplementary Regulations].  

Section 11

SEVERABILITY

Severability:  It is the intention of the Board that the provisions of these regulations shall be deemed severable, and if any portion of these regulations is for any reason determined to be unconstitutional, contrary to statute, in excess of authority, or otherwise inoperative, such determination shall not affect the validity of any other portion of these regulations.