These changes do NOT affect the majority of our members and are limited to a small population
As you may have heard, on August 3, Governor Baker signed new legislation, Chapter 134 of the Acts of 2022.
What does the law do?
The new law allows members who transferred* into the MTRS from another Massachusetts public retirement system between specific dates and did not respond to their election a final, one-time opportunity to participate in RetirementPlus.
*Please note: the MTRS defines a “transfer” as a transfer of service time and contributions from one of the other 103 Massachusetts public retirement systems to the MTRS. A common example is a Teacher Aide who is a member of a municipal retirement system who later becomes a licensed teacher and transfers into the MTRS. Moving from one MTRS-eligible position to another MTRS-eligible position (e.g., moving from a teaching position in one school district to another, or a promotion from teacher to principal) is not a qualifying transfer.
What is the impact?
Eligible members will have the opportunity to opt-in or opt-out of R+ during the confirming election period, which runs from January 1, 2023 through June 30, 2023.
Who is eligible?
The new law provides a final, one-time opportunity to participate in the R+ program only to those members who:
- were not a part of the original election window prior to July 1, 2001 (see note below), AND
- transferred into the MTRS from one of the other 103 Massachusetts public retirement systems between July 1, 2001 and June 30, 2022, AND
- did not yet submit an election.
What is next?
We are currently identifying eligible members affected by these changes and we will contact those members directly with further instructions by the end of October.
Questions?
Email us at RetirementPlus@trb.state.ma.us. For additional information, see https://mtrs.state.ma.us/new-rplus-law/.