No Credit for Civilian Service Under Post December 19, 1990, Tier 3 CO-20 Retirement Plan (Re: 20 Year Early Service Retirement)

The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Read, determined that a corrections officer, a post December 19, 1990, member of the Tier 3 CO-20 New York City Department of Corrections (DOC) retirement plan established by Retirement and Social Security Law 504-a, was not entitled to an additional pension benefit based upon his three years as a non-uniformed civilian employee of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Therefore, the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS) properly did not consider the civilian service for the DEP in calculating the corrections officer’s pension benefit:

… [F]or post-December 19, 1990 Tier 3 CO-20 plan members, unlike the other participants in Tier 3 CO-20 plans established by chapter 936, only allowable correction service (i.e., uniformed service) counts towards eligibility for 20-year early service retirement … . Matter of Kaslow v City of New York, 2014 NY Slip Op 02324, 4-3-14