McCarthy v. State Board of Retirement
McCarthy v. State Board of Retirement
Opinion of the Court
Arthur L. Youngman was a member of the General Court for more than eighteen years before his retirement at the end of 1948. Prior to September 16, 1952, he was a member of the State employees’ retirement system, and before terminating his service he had paid into the annuity savings fund all contributions required or permitted to be paid by him. His retirement was pursuant to his application to the defendant board, and from January, 1949, to September, 1952, he received monthly a retirement allowance computed in accordance with G. L. (Ter. Ed.)
The present case differs from Kinney v. Contributory Retirement Appeal Board, 330 Mass. 302, and Roach v. State Board of Retirement, ante, 41, in that the plaintiff’s intestate had ceased to hold office, had been retired, and had actually begun to receive a retirement allowance. Counsel for the plaintiff is, accordingly, in a position to raise certain questions which were not presented by the Roach case. We feel unable, however, to reach a different result. We think that we should not depart from what we said in the Kinney case. We reaffirm that the State employees’ retirement system “creates no vested and immutable rights resting upon contract rather than upon legislative policy even after the beneficiary has become entitled to pension payments” (page 306). We cannot adopt the suggested qualification that the pension is subject to reasonable alteration but not to complete abolition after the beneficiary has become entitled to payments.
The plaintiff contends that there has been an impairment of the obligation of a contract “as to so much of the pension as is included in an annuity purchaseable from the contributions” to the annuity savings fund, defined in G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 32, § 1, as amended. The theory of this argument is that the accumulated deductions of the employee paid into the annuity savings fund were transferred to the annuity reserve fund, defined in G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 32, § 1, as amended, when his retirement allowance became effective, all in accordance with the requirements of G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 32, § 22 (2) (a), as appearing in St. 1945, c. 658, § 1; and that the amounts thus transferred “must support so much of the pension as actuarially would
The employee acquired no interest in the annuity reserve fund itself, and it seems to us that his rights are no greater because there are two funds and his contributions have been transferred from one to the other. We believe that the Commonwealth has entered into no contract of insurance with a legislator whose retirement is complete any more than with one who has not ceased to hold office.
Any question as to recovery of contributions to the annuity savings fund is not within the scope of these proceedings.
A decree is to be entered declaring that St. 1952, c. 634, is constitutional as to the plaintiff’s intestate, and that the plaintiff as administratrix of his estate is not entitled to enforce the payment of any sum due to the plaintiff’s intestate as an allowance from the State employees’ retirement system.
So ordered.
Concurring Opinion
For reasons which I have given in a concurring opinion in Roach v. State Board of Retirement, ante, 41, I am constrained to concur in this opinion.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Frances H. C. McCarthy, Administratrix, vs. State Board of Retirement
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
- Published