Grzeszczyk v. Connecticut State Employees Retirement Commission

Citations

• 209 Conn. App. 313

Syllabus

Pursuant to statute (§ 7-439g (a)), no retirement option of a member of the municipal employees retirement fund shall be effective until the member has retired, and, in the event the member dies prior to the effective date of commencement of benefits, any election of an option shall be deemed cancelled. Pursuant further to statute (§ 7-440 (h)), if a member of the municipal employees retirement fund who has elected a retirement option but who has not completed the age and service requirements for retirement dies, his contributions to the fund shall be paid to the beneficiary named by the member. The plaintiff, whose nephew, E, had been a municipal employee of the city of New Britain and who contributed to the municipal employees retirement fund, sought, after E's death, to have the defendant Connecti- cut State Employees Retirement Commission pay her a refund of the retirement contributions E made to the fund. E initially had submitted Form CO-931 designating his brother, J, as the beneficiary of any retire- ment benefits. E subsequently left municipal employment before attaining the retirement age of fifty-five. More than one year later, he applied for an early retirement benefit, which was administratively denied. In connection with his application for the early retirement bene- fit, E filed Form CO-1203, designating the plaintiff to receive any refund, if applicable, of his retirement contributions. Following E's death before his fifty-fifth birthday, the defendant paid a refund of his contributions to J, pursuant to E's Form CO-931. The plaintiff thereafter filed an application to receive a refund, which the defendant denied. The plaintiff subsequently sought a declaratory ruling from the defendant regarding the application and interpretation of § 7-440 (h) and requested that she be deemed E's beneficiary and receive a refund of his contributions. Following the defendant's issuance of a declaratory ruling finding that E's Form CO-1203 was invalid pursuant to § 7