Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 840 CMR - PUBLIC EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION › Title 840 CMR 10.00 - Standard Rules for Disability Retirement › Section 10.23 - Disability Application of a PERAC Employee

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
In the event that an employee of PERAC files an application for
				termination retirement, accidental disability retirement, or ordinary
				disability retirement the State Retirement Board shall follow the following
				procedures for processing said application.
(1) No electronic submissions in regard to
			 the PERAC Employee should be sent to PERAC at any point in this
			 process.
(2) PERAC will act solely
			 as the Employer, with no more or less rights than any other Employer. No
			 documents should be sent to PERAC which would not be sent to any other
			 Employer.
Medical Panels for Disability
. The
				State Board of Retirement (SBR) should process the disability application and
				determine whether or not to request a medical panel. The medical panel request
				should not be forwarded to PERAC. The SBR should request that the Department of
				Industrial Accidents or the Human Resources Division assemble the Panel from a
				list of doctors contained in PERAC's vendor list. The completed Medical Panel
				Reports should be sent directly to the SBR and not to PERAC. PERAC will be
				entitled to see the Medical Panel Reports only to the extent that it requests
				to do so in its role as the Employer. The Medical Panel Doctors shall be
				notified by the SBR not to involve PERAC in this process. If clarification is
				needed it should be requested directly by the SBR. If a new panel is necessary
				the same process should be followed.
Disability Review Process
. In PERAC's
				own Section 21(1)(d) review process, two attorneys must approve each
				application. PERAC will agree to cede its Section 21(1)(d) review authority to
				two attorneys chosen by the SBR. The two attorneys should not be employees of
				the State Treasurer but should be attorneys familiar with the retirement
				system. The Executive Director of PERAC will write a letter ceding PERAC's
				authority for review to the two attorneys selected by the SBR.
Records
. PERAC is required to maintain
				a database of all disability retirees in the Commonwealth, to process
				overearnings statements and to conduct Comprehensive Medical Evaluations
				(CMEs). If a retirement is granted, PERAC shall, as soon as the benefit has
				been finally approved, be provided a paper copy of the PERAC employee's case
				file from the SBR for 91A and CME purposes. The member's disability file shall
				not be stored electronically, except that limited information, sufficient to
				permit the tracking of 91A matters and the scheduling of future CMEs, shall be
				added to the database.
In the event a retirement allowance is not granted, PERAC shall
				be provided a paper copy of the file from the SBR in order to fulfill its duty
				to maintain records of all disability applicants in the Commonwealth.
The PERAC employee's file shall be maintained only in paper
				form until 25 years have passed or until the death of the PERAC employee,
				whichever event shall first occur. Any documentation generated by PERAC as a
				result of the 91A or CME process will also be maintained in paper form. Upon
				the passage of 25 years from the date of receipt of the documents or the death
				of the PERAC employee, whichever event shall first occur, the employee's file,
				and all subsequent documents generated shall be put into the PERAC
				database.