Articles about Your Retirement that may be useful to Massachusetts retirees.
Our weekly updates are back after a short August hiatus. Remember, we include a video update from me within these emails. Click on the photo or the link below to watch/listen to the latest news and information. My goal is to keep our members well informed.
This week the focus is the Primary Election here in Massachusetts. While Election Day is Tuesday, September 1, vote by mail and early voting have been ongoing throughout August. In a recent survey we conducted, more than 70% of Mass Retirees members indicated that they intended to vote by mail.
For Assistance, Please Call Numbers Located on Membership Card
Friday, June 26, 2020: The phone system in our Beacon Hill office is temporarily offline and will remain down through Monday. While our technicians work to restore service, Mass Retirees members can directly contact our team by calling the numbers located on the back of your membership card.
Ibis Program can help seniors to identify COVID-19 symptoms and get access to telehealth
JUNE 23, 2020: BOSTON, MA - The Retired State, County and Municipal Employees Association of Massachusetts ("Mass Retirees") and Senscio Systems, a Massachusetts-based health technology company that specializes in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for chronic health management announced a new partnership today.
Well Prepared to Weather Storm
APRIL 24, 2020: Learning from the 2008 Financial Collapse and Great Recession that followed, Massachusetts’ 104 public pension systems are financially stable and secure. Not a single system in the Commonwealth is in financial hardship or stands in danger of not being able to meet pension obligations to retirees.
Unemployment Assistance
The Baker Administration announced this week that the online filing system for those who have been unable to work due to the COVID-19 pandemic is now open. The benefits fall under the new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program and is separate from the regular unemployment insurance program.
APRIL 15, 2020: As of today, retirees have begun receiving their one-time stimulus payments that were part of the $2 trillion dollar package passed by Congress in late March. Those retirees with direct deposit on file with either the IRS or the Social Security Administration started seeing their payments show up this week in their accounts.
Stimulus payments will continue to be made over the coming weeks by the federal government.
Answering Member Questions
Public retirees were among the 469,000 Mass. residents who filed unemployment claims with the Mass. Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) over the past 3 weeks. With the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and economic decline, that number will unfortunately continue to grow at least for now.
Members, who have lost a job during the crisis, have reached out to us with their questions on applying for unemployment. Anticipating much of the same this month, we’ve listed below the most frequently asked questions.
Final Approval by Governor Expected Soon
APRIL 3, 2020: Late Thursday, the Legislature passed special legislation that waives the legal limit on public retirees working in government jobs here in Massachusetts. Governor Charlie Baker is expected to sign this special act as soon as today, which will waive both the hour and earnings limits for superannuation retirees in 2020.
MARCH 25, 2019: This week, retired and active state employees began to receive ballots to cast a vote to elect your representative to the state's Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM) Board. Mass Retirees Executive Vice President Paul Shanley is the current elected member and is seeking reelection as your representative. Our Association has endorsed Paul and fully supports his reelection to this very important position.
Since 1968 the Retired State, County and Municipal Employees Association has been the leading voice for Massachusetts public retirees and their families. Join with our 52,000 members as we continue the fight.
