The public employee pension law defines “regular compensation” as the wages earned by an employee for services performed in the course of their employment. For teachers, “regular compensation” includes salary that is “payable under the terms of an annual contract for additional services.” The MTRS regulations specify that for additional services to count as regular compensation for retirement, both the services and the corresponding remuneration must be explicitly stated in the annual contract such as a collective bargaining agreement.
In Cliggott v. Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System, Docket No. CR-23-0342 (2024), a teacher, contested the MTRS’s decision to exclude stipends received for additional services from her regular compensation for retirement purposes. The additional services, which included being a member of the District Instructional Leadership Team (DILT) and serving as an equity specialist, were compensated through stipends. However, these stipends were not included in her annual contract under the collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
The central issue was whether these stipends qualified as “regular compensation” for retirement purposes under the additional service provision of the law.
Although a side letter was later signed to recognize these stipends retroactively, the court ruled that the stipends could not be considered part of Cliggott's regular compensation because they were not included in the original CBA at the time she performed the work. The ruling relied upon precedent set by Kozloski v. Contributory Retirement Appeal Board, 61 Mass.App.Ct 783 (2004). The bottom line is that side agreements executed after the fact are not sufficient to modify an employee’s regular compensation for retirement purposes. As a result, the MTRS’s decision to exclude the stipends from Cliggott’s retirement compensation calculation was affirmed.
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