Part-time veterans' nurses getting full pensions
By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI Associated Press Writer
Posted: 11/11/2008 12:54:21 PM EST

PITTSBURGH—For Mary Ann Mackin, a retired nurse, this Veterans Day has new meaning: It marks the official end of a 20-year battle with the U.S. government over pensions for nurses who cared for the nation's veterans.
In August, the Merit Systems Protection Board, a quasi-judicial agency within the federal government, sided with 158 nurses who wanted to retroactively receive full pensions for part-time work they performed over four decades for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The order became official late last month when the government chose not to appeal the ruling.
Mackin, who began her fight for a full pension in 1989, chose Veterans Day to gather with other VA nurses in her attorney's Pittsburgh conference room to pop a bottle of champagne and toast their success.
"I couldn't give up. I just couldn't give up, because I just felt it was unjust," the 73-year-old Mackin said as Pittsburgh's annual Veterans Day parade passed on the downtown streets below.
One after another, a half-dozen retired nurses and the 20 or so listening in on a conference call from places as far away as Madison, Wis., Tucson, Ariz., and Lexington, Ky., thanked Mackin for her persistence—and the attorneys who backed them.
"We don't know how long it's going to be before we get our money, but we're a happy bunch," said Mary Klepek, 75, of Gaithersburg, Md., who retired in 1993 after working as a veterans' nurse for 28 years.
Mackin estimates there are at least 75 other nurses nationwide who could enjoy increased benefits based on the board's decision. Timothy O'Brien, one of the attorneys who represented the nurses, said it is unclear exactly how much money the women will receive, but believes it will be thousands of dollars.
Mackin began working in the psychiatric ward of Pittsburgh's Highland Drive Veterans Hospital in 1958, following through on the advice of her father, a World War I veteran who told her the government treats its workers best.
Mackin, whose 19-year-old brother was killed in Germany during World War II, worked part-time for the hospital after agreeing to work for no one else and to be on-call whenever needed. In return for that exclusivity, the nurses would receive full-time pension credit for part-time work.
In April 1987, however, the law was changed in an attempt to punish doctors who were abusing the pension system.
The petite, silver-haired woman retired in 1997, after nearly 38 years of working long shifts and being woken on cold winter nights to fill in. She started retirement with a 25 percent reduction in her benefits, and remained determined to win what she believed she and her colleagues rightfully deserved.
In 2002, Mackin thought the fight had ended when Congress passed legislation meant to rectify the issue. The government, however, argued the legislation was not retroactive and refused to pay.
The October decision ended the argument. The government has 20 days to recalculate the nurses' pensions and pay them.
"I had to fight for this. I had no idea if I could support myself if he passed away," Mackin said, pointing to her husband, John, 76.
"I was also fighting for these other nurses ... who were single and living on almost nothing," Mackin said.
She recounted the story of a nurse who was forced to move from New York to North Carolina because her pension was not enough to support her, the blind mother she was caring for and her daughter.
"I mean this was justice for all, not just for me," she said