Pension Refund For MaBSTOA Staff Delayed

By ARI PAUL

Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority workers and retirees have not received letters informing them how much of a pension refund they will get, the president of Transport Workers Union Local 100 said Oct. 23.

ROGER TOUSSAINT: Made displeasure known.

Governor Spitzer signed legislation July 26 granting refunds - as much as $14,000 - to roughly 22,000 Local 100 members who made higher contributions toward their pensions between 1994 and 2000. But Local 100 President Roger Toussaint said members in MaBSTOA, a subsidiary of New York City Transit, have not received letters indicating how much they will be refunded.

"This is completely unacceptable and we have said so loudly and clearly," Mr. Toussaint said in a letter to members Oct. 23.

Audit Held Up Payouts

He informed them that NYC Transit officials told him that a last-minute audit of the fund for MaBSTOA workers and retirees caused an unexpected delay. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority estimated that the refunds will cost $132 million in payments from the two pension systems - the bigger one is the New York City Employees' Retirement System - to which transit workers belong.

"For Local 100, this delay raised questions that we intend to press in the future concerning how the OA Fund is managed," Mr. Toussaint said. "But for now, our focus is entirely on seeing that the OA Fund gets the letters - with the right numbers - into our members' hands as expeditiously as possible. We are monitoring the situation closely and are talking with management frequently to see that this happens."

NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges said that the delay was not intended to shortchange any worker or retiree.

Some Benefit More

"In fact, the delay was caused when the Authority discovered a calculation error in compounding interest that, if not corrected, would have shortchanged employees," he said in an e-mail. "Because of our due diligence, this correction yielded additional payments of nearly $2 million, up to an $1,000 additional refund to some employees."

The delay is not the first problem that has arisen connected to the pension refunds. Many Local 100 retirees have complained because those who retired before Dec. 28, 2005 are not eligible for refunds.

Mr. Toussaint assured members that NYC Transit will send letters to MaBSTOA workers and retirees indicating how much they will be paid by the middle of the week.

"Of course, the tax issues have to be handled properly," he said. "No one can say otherwise. But the delay is painful."