Purchase of Service Credit Update

As promised in Ann Smith’s October 4^th E-blast on the purchase of service credit (PSC) issue, we wanted to give you a brief update regarding MEA’s next steps on this matter.

At MEA’s October 13 Board of Directors meeting, Ann Smith recommended and the Board agreed that an informational meeting for all affected MEA-represented active and retired employees should be held.  Invited attendees will be limited to MEA-represented active employees—or retired employees who worked in a job classification represented by MEA—with a PSC contract affected by the recent 4^th District Court of Appeals ruling.  (For more information on what that ruling said and who is affected, please click here to read a previous update from Ann.)

The meeting is now scheduled to be held on Thursday, November 18^th from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Balboa Park Club meeting room in Balboa Park.  You will receive further details as we get closer to the event, but we wanted to let you know about that date well in advance so that eligible and interested employees and retirees could mark their calendars.   We will also let you know as soon as we learn the date (in November) when SDCERS’ representatives will address the City Council in an open session on this issue.

Please note that the meeting on November 18^th will be a confidential attorney-client privileged meeting, meaning that access to the facility will be limited to only MEA-represented active and retired employees.  All participants will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement in advance stating that his or her purpose in attending the meeting is to seek legal representation and/or advice.

Also, please remember that, until SDCERS takes action to “correct” a PSC contract, no actual harm has yet occurred and “harm” is a prerequisite to any viable legal action.  Moreover, before any employee can make an informed judgment as to whether legal action is in his or her best interest, each employee also needs to know whether (1) the City Council intends to offer any relief at all and, if so, what; and, if not, (2) what the actual “correction” numbers look like for that individual employee because not every employee will be harmed in the same dollar amount – and some will not be “harmed” at all because they want the refund with interest or because the cost of a new purchase contract to replace the service credits at issue will not exceed the dollars being refunded on the window period contract with interest.

These are precisely the types of issues that will be discussed at the meeting on November 18, and we encourage all affected MEA-represented employees and retirees to attend.  More detailed information and confidentiality agreement forms will be sent via E-blast in the next few weeks.

Because MEA does not have a list of active employees or retirees who are/were represented by MEA and who purchased service credits during the “window period” in 2003, we are unable to target this announcement to those affected.  Please help us to get the word out about this important meeting by giving this message to any MEA-represented employee or former employee (now retired) whose purchase of service credit contract(s) may be threatened as a result of this recent court decision.  If you have any questions or need more information before then, please do not hesitate to call your MEA representative at 619-264-6632.