Metro

Teachers lose retroactive pay in if they quit before 2020

A little-noticed provision in the new teachers contract blocks educators from receiving full retroactive pay for 2009 and 2010 if they quit before 2020.

James Eterno, the teachers union chapter chair at Jamaica HS, questioned why he couldn’t retire before the end of the decade and still collect all his back pay.

“I have to wait until 2020? Didn’t I already work that time? That’s pretty bad,” he said.

The nine-year contract includes two 4-percent retroactive pay hikes that don’t kick in until October 2015 — with the largest chunks being paid each October in 2018, 2019 and 2020. City officials touted the provision as a way to retain teachers. In the 2012-2013 school year, 2,144 packed it in before they were eligible to retire.

Teachers who retire before June 30, however, will receive their entire retro check immediately.

“There are people who are stepping up their retirement to make sure they get their lump sum all at once,” union activist Jonathan Halabi said, adding that
younger teachers are worried administrators will grant tenure to fewer entry-level teachers to cut costs.

United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew dismissed the critics, saying there’s usually a “bump in retirement” whenever a new contract is signed.