Q: I read in New York Teacher where the United Federation of Teachers negotiated a 55/25 retirement incentive with the city of New York, and that they expected the state Legislature to approve the package. I am not aware of individual unions negotiating retirement incentives with districts before they go to the Legislature. If UFT is successful in the Legislature, does this bode well for a statewide 55/25 incentive for NYSUT this year?

A: Although the UFT is an individual union in NYSUT, its members do not belong to the State TRS. They belong to the New York City TRS, so their situation is unique. It is a one-union (district) public retirement system. Our state fund is comprised of many unions and districts.

We don't know at this point if it bodes well for members of the state TRS. Keep in mind the UFT agreement does not give its members a cost-free 55/25. The optimum benefit (a NYSUT-backed bill that was passed by the Legislature in 2006 and vetoed by Gov. Pataki) would alter Tiers 2, 3 and 4 to 55/25 without any cost to members.

NYSUT will be re-introducing that bill in the upcoming legislative session and lobbying again for its passage.

You might wish to contact your state legislators and urge them to support the NYSUT bill.

Q: What happens to my pension if I quit or resign? I've been in TRS for 25 years but am not yet 55 years old.

A: Your pension will be vested, or on hold, until you are age-eligible. Your best avenue for official information on your specific case is to contact the TRS at (800) 348-7298, ext. 6100, and set up an interactive video consultation in your geographic area. You'll receive answers to your questions and printouts of pension estimates for retirement.

Q: My husband and I are both Tier 3 members. He has one more year until retirement, I have three. While we were both students at a SUNY campus, we worked at the Food Service Center for three years and received paychecks from the SUNY college. My husband substituted 22 days in three school districts after graduation in May of 1976. These amounts would easily place him in Tier 2. Now that we are trying to establish prior service credit, there appears to be no documentation or records of any of this work. We have requested and received certified records from the Social Security Administration that do not even list the college or the school districts as ever employing us. We deserve the credit. Where do we go from here?

A: First of all, keep in mind prior service does not include any tier movement, it only affords more service toward retirement credit. As for the food service work, have you checked to find out if the center was actually run by the college? In some state schools those services were privatized and actually run by a private entity. In those instances, members were unable to receive prior service credit.

Unfortunately, if Social Security has no record of this employment, the entity for which you worked was probably not taking Social Security deductions from your pay. If you cannot verify the service via Social Security or the entity for which you worked, there may be no other way to document the service. TRS is obliged, under the prior service law, to verify the employment before affording additional service credit.

You might wish to contact the TRS at (800) 348-7298, ext. 6250, and see if the system can suggest any additional avenues for you to pursue.