On Monday, March 17, we took an important step toward Pension Justice when the Senate Budget Committee and the Senate Education Committee passed S-2078 and S4223 out of their respective committees.

Both bills are now only one step away from landing on Gov. Murphy's desk. Once the full Senate passes these bills, educators throughout New Jersey will have won a small but important first step in the journey toward Pension Justice.

Under current law, membership in the TPAF ceases if an employee has a break in service of more than two years. This includes individuals who take extended leaves to raise children or care for family members in need. Upon their return, they are automatically placed into Tier 5, even if they had previously earned many years of credit in a higher tier. This is a severe pension reduction, a punishment for prioritizing family for a relatively short period of time in the middle of their public service careers. The burden of this penalty falls most heavily on women, who make up the large majority of public school employees and are more likely to take extended leaves to care for children or other family members. The legislation currently under consideration would fix that problem in TPAF. S-2078 will fix this loophole, allowing educators to care for their families without fear of losing out in the long run.

Also under current law, NJEA members enrolled in tier 4 or tier 5 of the pension system no longer qualify for ordinary disability retirement. Instead, they have to apply for a long-term disability (LTD) plan through Prudential. For the first 12 years of its existence, members in Tiers 4 and 5 who qualified for the LTD plan were enrolled in the retiree health benefits plan. This past year, the state department determined that members enrolled in the Prudential LTD no longer qualify for health care because they are not retired and cannot receive retiree benefits. This abrupt change only impacts a small number of members, but, to those that these impacts, the effect has been catastrophic. It needs to change. S4223 would change this unfairness and restore justice to disability retirement for those that need it.

Contact your representatives in the NJ State Senate today. Tell them the time for Pension Justice is NOW. Tell them to pass S2078 and S4223.