Fresh off outstanding contract settlements on Metro-North and Long Island Railroads, TCU National Vice President Artie Maratea and his team delivered yet another monetary victory.
When a retired employee came to the TCU Manhattan office two years ago to question why withholdings on his sick buy back check were so large, NVP Maratea and National Representative William DeCarlo noticed that MTA had deducted a three percent pension contribution. Both knew that sick buy backs were not pensionable earnings. That spurred them to a detailed review of MTA policy on other non-pensionable earnings, and sure enough, they discovered that pension deductions were being applied improperly to a variety of payments, such as mileage reimbursements, boot allowances and unused personal days.
They proceeded to file a claim on behalf of all TCU members. MTA has just determined that the claim was correct, and that over 5,000 Long Island and Metro-North active and retired employees, not only TCU members, had suffered improper deductions. The MTA is now in the process of refunding the monies deducted in error, with interest, to all affected employees.
“Once again TCU leads the way in putting real money in the pockets of union members,” said TCU President Bob Scardelletti.
