Supreme Court denied Plaintiff's petition seeking to annul the determination of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority [MTA] and the MTA Defined Benefit Pension Plan [MTADBPP] placing Plaintiff in Tier 6 in the MTACBPP. The Appellate Division unanimously affirmed the Supreme Court's decision, without costs.
MTA had denied Plaintiff, an officer with the MTA Police Department, pension credit for his prior nonuniformed service as a traffic enforcement agent with the New York City Police Department [NYPD].
Citing Matter of Peckham v Calogero, 12 NY3d 424, the Appellate Division found that MTA's decision had a "rational basis", noting that letters from the New York City Police Pension Fund [NYCPPF] show that Plaintiff became a member of the NYCPPF when he joined the NYPD as a uniformed police officer on January 9, 2013 and the MTADBPP plan classifies members who joined MTADBPP on or after April 1, 2012, as Tier 6.
The Appellate Division opined that the MTADBPP reasonably interpreted the provision in issue to include Plaintiff's service as a uniformed officer but exclude his nonuniformed service as a traffic enforcement agent with NYPD.
Noting that NYPD had credited Plaintiff's nonuniformed service and granted him Tier 2 status in the NYCPPF, the Appellate Division observed that Plaintiff cited no statute or provision of the MTADBPP "requiring MTA to do the same".
Further, explained the court, Retirement and Social Security Law §645 does not apply in this instance because MYADBPP is not among the enumerated "public retirement system[s]" between which the statute authorizes the cross-honoring of a member's membership starting date.
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