Tier 6 Refund Checks for Overcharged Members Are On the Way

Good news.

The MTA has started reimbursing Tier 6 members who were overcharged for their pensions. The checks are in the mail.

This first round of checks will be for overcharges that took place this year (2021). Reimbursements for overcharges that took place in prior years are expected to be issued in the first quarter of 2022.

TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano raised concerns earlier this year about the MTA’s pension-calculations, prompting the authority to do a comprehensive review. The review proved the concerns were on target.

Pensions are overseen by the New York State Legislature in Albany. The Tier 6 legislation mandated workers contribute 3% to 6% of their earnings through automatic paycheck deductions towards their future pensions. The legislation also limited, or capped, how much overtime could be used to calculate a retiring worker’s pension. The limit is now about $17,000 a year.

The MTA has conceded it had wrongly been making pension deductions to overtime earnings above the overtime cap.

The checks currently going out to overcharged members are for deductions on overtime earnings exceeding $17,000.  The MTA will continue to deduct Tier 6 contributions for those employees on 40 hours only for the rest of the year.  Deductions on OT earnings for those employees will not be subject to deduction for the remainder of 2021, and beyond.

The MTA has said that approximately 8,000 employees with the Tier 6 plan will be getting reimbursements with interest.