Part-Time Veterans Affairs Nurses and Other Medical Employees May Be Entitled to Recalculation of Pension according to Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne and Timothy P. O’Brien
Pittsburgh – The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) recently ruled that a group of 159 nurses who worked part-time for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) were entitled full-time pension benefits. Many other nurses and other part-time VA medical personnel (physician assistants or expanded-function dental auxiliaries) may also be eligible for recalculation of benefits, according to Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne, LLC (SFD&P) and Attorney Timothy P. O’Brien.
Part-time VA nurses hired in the 1950s and beyond were guaranteed full-time pensions in exchange for promising to be available day and night and agreeing not to work anywhere else. In 1986, Congress passed a law designed to exclude part-time VA doctors from receiving full-time pension credit for service that included part-time work, but wound up also excluding part-time VA nurses and other VA medical staff.
Beginning in 1989, retired VA nurse Mary Ann Mackin of Pittsburgh began a 20-year campaign for her full-time pension benefits. She sent letters and made calls to Congress and VA officials. In 2001, Congress passed legislation to provide retroactive benefits to part-time VA nurses and other medical staff. But the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) refused to apply the new law to part-time VA nurses who had retired prior to the law’s January 2002 enactment date.
In 2007, SFD&P and O’Brien filed claims with OPM on behalf of Mackin and 158 other VA nurses from around the country. They argued that the new law should apply to VA nurses who retired before January 2002. A Merit Service Protection Board Administrative Judge agreed, ordering that their pension benefits be recalculated. This ruling was upheld by the full MSPB. Some of the nurses will receive retroactive benefits in excess of $100,000.
Mackin’s attorneys believe that many other VA nurses and staff may be able to get their pensions recalculated back to the date of retirement. If you worked as a part-time VA nurse, physicians’ assistant, or expanded-function dental auxiliary, and retired between April 1986 and January 2002, you may be eligible for additional pension benefits. For more information, please contact Attorney Jonathan Cohn at (412) 281-8400 or by email at info@stemberfeinstein.com.