NYCERS Website - New User Interface

On September 14, 2017, the new NYCERS executive director had her first Board of Trustees meeting. The two main items on the agenda were a welcome to the new executive director and a presentation by the communications director of the new user interface to the NYCERS website, www.nycers.org. The website has been in place since 2003. NYCERS recently updated the user interface to the website.

The new interface does not add any new content to the website. In fact, the retirement calculator function now creates a server error for pensioners. There was no reason to deny pensioners access to the calculator. You may or may not find the new interface more helpful than the old one but there is no new info on the site. Instead of putting more content in the box NYCERS chose to only change the the box.

I hope the executive director picked up on this smoke. She did pick up on the smoke surrounding the IT training contracts.

Let's see how she handles appointing a new deputy executive director. The placement notification for her position made it clear that the number two position was up for grabs. Mazza has just taken a $14K pay cut and has been passed over for the second time for the executive director's job. She might not want the new executive director to succeed.

Denial of Tier 4 Pension Rights and the New Executive Director

Last January I wrote about NYCERS’s effort to force certain new correction officers, sanitation workers and DA investigators into Tier 6 who had existing Tier 4 NYCERS memberships.

Based on current inquiries for help from such members NYCERS is continuing to violate these members’ constitutional rights.

I am absolutely certain that neither the police nor fire pension funds are following this illegal procedure.

On Tuesday, September 5th, the new executive director will start working at NYCERS. I assume she will join the NYCERS pension system. If she does, NYCERS will initially enroll her as a Tier 6 member. She also has an active Tier 4 membership with NYSLERS. She has the right to transfer that membership to NYCERS, if she chooses to do so.

If she does choose to to transfer her Tier 4 state membership, it will be very interesting to see whether NYCERS correctly switches her tier status back to Tier 4. NYCERS has provided no legal rational for its illegal actions in forcing existing Tier 4 members into Tier 6.

I wonder whether the NYCERS Trustees informed the new executive director of this issue?