THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS - - PDF document

THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS

PRESENTATION TO THE COMMITTEE ON HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION, INFRASTRUCTURE & TELECOMMUNICATIONS OF THE THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS OF THE UNITED STATES Update from The Waste Management Authority Regarding the Hazardous Duty Retirement Status of Wastewater Employees

The Earle B. Ottley Legislative Chambers

• St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

November 7, 2019 at 9:00 a.m.

Presentation to the Committee on Housing, Transportation, Infrastructure & Telecommunications 33rd Legislature of the Virgin Islands November 7, 2019 Page 2

Good morning, Honorable Marvin A. Blyden, Chairman, of the Committee on Housing, Transportation, Infrastructure & Telecommunications, Committee Members, other distinguished Senators present in the chambers and the listening audience. I am Cathy M. Smith, the General Counsel of the Government Employees Retirement System (“GERS”). Also, with me today is Ishmael A. Meyers, the Deputy General Counsel. Administrator Austin Nibbs is unable to be in attendance today. The GERS appreciates this opportunity to give testimony regarding the status of Wastewater Employees with the Waste Management Authority in the Early Retirement Program. On December 29, 1986, the Legislature passed Act 5226 which added 3 VIC § 702 (y) to the Definitions which applies to Tier I members. Title 3 VIC § 702 (y) provides: “Eligible employee working with chlorine, sewage or carcinogens” means any person employed by the Government of the United States Virgin Islands certified by such department's chief executive officer or his designee as having worked continuously and directly for a period of at least five years with chlorine, sewage

• r a carcinogen as defined by the Second Annual Report on Carcinogens

published by the Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, dated December 1981, as revised for the purposes of this subchapter

• nly.

Act 5226 also amended Title 3, Section 705 subsection (d) and (e), and Section 706, subsection (b) of the Virgin Island Code was amended by inserting the following language: “eligible employee with the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, eligible employee working with chlorine, sewage or carcinogens.” Further, Act 5640 also provided that eligible employees for early retirement under Act No. 5226, also be eligible to retire under Act No. 5522, provided they were members of the retirement system between 1965 and December 16, 1986, and be allowed to make retroactive payments over a period of ten years after their election to participate in the Early Retirement Program. 3 VIC §705 (d) which applies to Tier I members provides: “Any member who has completed thirty years of credited service may retire on a full-service retirement annuity notwithstanding his age, without reduction of

• annuity. Additionally, any member who is age fifty (50) years with ten (10) but

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less than thirty (30) years of service may retire on a service annuity which shall be reduced by .325 of one percent for each month, or fraction thereof, that the member's age is less than sixty (60) years. A police officer, eligible employee with the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, eligible employee working with chlorine, sewage or carcinogens, firefighter, including a firefighter employed by the Virgin Islands Port Authority, Virgin Islands marshal and probation officer of the Superior Court, internal affairs agents, to include but not limited to the Director and Assistant Director and agents of the Internal Affairs Bureau of the Virgin Islands Police Department, peace officer as defined in Title 5, section 3561, Virgin Islands Code, emergency medical technician, a radiology or x-ray technician employed by the Department of Health or the Virgin Islands Hospitals

• r corrections officer who has completed twenty (20) years or more of credited

service as a police officer, eligible employee with the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, eligible employee working with chlorine, sewage or carcinogens, firefighter, including a firefighter employed by the Virgin Islands Port Authority, Virgin Islands marshal and probation officer of the Superior Court, peace officer as defined in Title 5, section 3561, Virgin Islands Code, emergency medical technician, a radiology or x-ray technician employed by the Department of Health or the Virgin Islands Hospitals, or corrections officer, or combination thereof, may retire notwithstanding his age without reduction of annuity.” 3 VIC, Chapter 28A, better known as Tier II, was enacted on November 2, 2005. It should be noted that 3 VIC § 751 Definitions which applies to Tier II members did not include the language included in 3 VIC § 702 (y), which defines those employees eligible to participate in the Early Retirement Program. However, 3 VIC § 754 (c) and (f)(2) provides: (c ) A police officer, eligible employee with the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, eligible employee working with chlorine, sewage or carcinogens, firefighter, including a firefighter and police officer employed by the Virgin Islands Port Authority, Virgin islands marshal and probation officer of the Superior Court, or corrections officer, are eligible to receive a retirement annuity at age 60 and upon completion of 10 years of service, or age 58 with 25 years of service. (f)(2) in the case of a police officer, eligible employee with the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, eligible employee working with chlorine, sewage or carcinogens, firefighter, including a firefighter or police officer employed by the Virgin Islands Port Authority, Virgin Islands marshal and probation officer of the

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Superior Court, or corrections officers, prior to age fifty-five years and after at least ten years of credited service, and who has not received a refund of accumulated contributions, is entitled to receive a deferred service annuity payable upon attainment of age sixty-five or fifty-eight years, as the case may be. 3 VIC § 702 (y), §705 subsection ( d) and (e), and § 706, subsection (b), clearly provides that employees of the Waste Management Authority having worked continuously and directly for a period of at least five years with chlorine, sewage or a carcinogen as defined by the Second Annual Report on Carcinogens published by the Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are eligible to retire, at age fifty (50) years with at least ten (10) years of service and may retire on a service annuity without a reduction of their annuity. However, in order to qualify for such benefits, the Waste Management Authority’s Chief Executive Officer must have certified those eligible employees and transmitted said list to the

• GERS. To date, no Chief Executive Officer of the Waste Management Authority has ever

certified an employee of that organization as having worked continuously and directly for a period of at least five years with chlorine, sewage or a carcinogen as defined by the Second Annual Report on Carcinogens and therefore eligible for early retirement. Additionally, while 3 VIC § 754 (c) and (f) provide for employees of the Waste Management Authority having worked continuously and directly for a period of at least five years with chlorine, sewage or a carcinogen, absent the definition 3 VIC § 751 Tier II Wastewater Operators have been unable to participate in the Early Retirement Program. In early 2009, the GERS had conversations with the then Waste Management Authority’s Chief Executive Officer, May Cornwall Adams about the necessity to designate those eligible Tier I employees of the Waste Management Authority having worked continuously and directly for a period of at least five years with chlorine, sewage or a carcinogen as defined by the Second Annual Report on Carcinogens published by the Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services employees in accord with the statute. GERS also discussed with

• Ms. Adams the need for the Waste Management Authority to submit legislation to add the

definition to 3 VIC § 751. However, it was not done, and Ms. Cornwall left the agency. No subsequent Chief Executive Officer of the Waste Management Authority has approached the GERS to discuss this matter. Further, it should be noted that without such a designation, the Wastewater Operators have been paying the regular contribution rate instead of the hazardous duty rate. Currently, very few Wastewater Operators at the Waste Management Authority participate in the Early Retirement Program, because those eligible Tier I employees were never designated by their Chief Executive Officer. The Wastewater Operators under the Department of Public Works had been designated to the GERS by the Commissioner as those eligible employees working with chlorine, sewage or a carcinogen and eligible for hazardous retirement. Therefore,

Presentation to the Committee on Housing, Transportation, Infrastructure & Telecommunications 33rd Legislature of the Virgin Islands November 7, 2019 Page 5

upon the creation of the Waste Management Authority, Wastewater Operators formerly of the Department of Public Works who transferred to the Waste Management Authority and who qualified under Act 5226 hazardous retirement were grandfathered into the Early Retirement Program.

• Mr. Chairman, this concludes our testimony.

We are available to respond to any questions. Thank you.