death benefits

Section 7 governs accidental (work-related) disability retirement under Chapter 32. It applies when a member is permanently unable to perform job duties due to a personal injury or hazard sustained in the performance of their duties. The benefit equals 72% of the member's regular compensation (subject to a 75% total cap), plus an annuity based on accumulated deductions and an additional allowance for dependent children. The section includes strict timelines for filing notice of injury, requires Regional Medical Panel certification, provides for proration when injury occurred in a different governmental unit, and includes provisions for mutual aid situations where members are injured while assisting another jurisdiction.

Section 9 establishes the accidental death benefit — a pension payable to the survivors of a member who dies as the direct result of a work-related injury or hazard sustained while in the performance of duties. The benefit equals 72% of the member's regular compensation and is paid first to a surviving spouse, then to dependent children, and then to totally dependent parents or siblings if no spouse or children are eligible. Additional allowances for dependent children are also payable, subject to COLA adjustments in systems that have accepted the supplemental dependent allowance. Boards must verify the causal connection between the member's death and the workplace injury, and a strict notice requirement applies.

Section 11 governs the return of accumulated total deductions to members who are not entitled to a retirement allowance, and the distribution of those deductions to beneficiaries upon a member's death before retirement. It establishes the 60-day payment timeline, a reduced interest rate (3%) for members who leave with fewer than 120 months of service after January 1, 1984, and procedures for the IV-D child support agency to intercept refunds when a member owes child support arrears. The section also addresses dormant accounts — transferring unclaimed deductions to the Pension Reserve Fund after 10 years — and establishes the rights of claimants to recover such transferred amounts.

Section 12 governs the retirement option elections available to members at the time of retirement. Members may choose from three options: Option (a) — a full life annuity with no survivor benefit; Option (b) — a slightly reduced cash-refund life annuity that guarantees return of accumulated deductions to beneficiaries; and Option (c) — a reduced joint-and-last-survivor allowance that continues two-thirds of the payment to an eligible named beneficiary after the member's death. The section also establishes Option (d), the member-survivor allowance that provides an Option (c)-equivalent benefit to a qualifying spouse or eligible beneficiary if the member dies before retirement. Spousal consent requirements and detailed rules for beneficiary designation and option changes are also included.

Section 12A allows a surviving beneficiary who may be entitled to accidental death benefits under Section 9 to receive interim payments under Option (d) of Section 12 or Section 12B while the accidental death benefit application is being processed. This prevents a surviving spouse or dependent from going without income during the potentially lengthy determination period. Once Section 9 benefits are approved and the first payment is made, the interim Option (d) or Section 12B payments cease and the first Section 9 payment is reduced by the aggregate of interim amounts already paid.

Section 12B provides additional monthly survivor allowances for the children of a deceased member-in-service, payable to a surviving spouse for the benefit of eligible children. For a member with at least two years of creditable service and at least one year of marriage who dies in service leaving a qualifying spouse and minor children, an additional allowance of $120/month for one child plus $90/month for each additional child is payable (subject to COLA adjustments under Section 102). These allowances are paid alongside the member-survivor allowance under Option (d) of Section 12, and continue until each child reaches age 18 (22 if a full-time student) or is otherwise no longer eligible.

Section 12C extends the survivor benefits of Section 12B to the widow and children of a deceased employee who had completed two years of creditable service and had been married for at least one year but who — though eligible — failed or elected not to become a member of the retirement system. To qualify, the surviving family must pay into the annuity savings fund an amount equal to the deductions that would have been withheld during the employee's career, plus accumulated interest. This provision ensures that non-member eligible employees' families are not permanently foreclosed from survivor benefits when the failure to enroll was a matter of election rather than ineligibility.

Section 19 provides broad protections for retirement system funds and member benefits, exempting them from taxation (including state income taxes), bankruptcy proceedings, and attachment by creditors. Assignments of retirement rights are generally prohibited, with narrow exceptions allowing written authorizations to withhold amounts for health insurance premiums, federal and state income taxes, and support orders. The section preserves the right to attach or assign benefits to satisfy court-ordered child support or spousal support obligations under several Massachusetts chapters.

Section 58B allows veterans eligible to retire under section 58 to elect a reduced pension that, upon their death, provides two-thirds of that lesser amount to a surviving spouse or eligible beneficiary (child, parent, sibling) for life, with actuarial equivalency calculations supervised by PERAC.

Section 65C allows retired judges to elect a reduced lifetime retirement allowance so that upon their death, their surviving spouse receives two-thirds of that lesser allowance for life; it also provides surviving spouse benefits when judges die before resigning, and sets rules for when these benefits apply or terminate.

Section 71 provides annuities to the widow, children, and dependent parents of Metropolitan Parks Commission police officers killed or fatally injured in the line of duty, with the total not exceeding the officer's annual compensation at death, and extends these provisions to officers assigned to state police duty.

Section 88 allows accepting towns to pay up to $300/year to the widow (while unmarried) or dependent children under 16 of persons killed while aiding police or performing fire duty at the town's direction, provided no compensation is payable under section 89 for the same death.

Section 89 provides annuities to the widow, children, and dependent relatives of police officers, firefighters, forest wardens, and certain other public employees killed or fatally injured in the line of duty, with amounts generally not exceeding the deceased's annual compensation at death, and requires election between these benefits and any contributory retirement system benefits.

Section 89A extends the line-of-duty death annuity framework of section 89 to all public employees of the commonwealth and its political subdivisions (not just police and fire), upon local acceptance, providing the same annuity structure to surviving spouses, children, and dependent relatives.

Section 89B provides enhanced death benefits for surviving spouses of police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty: two-thirds of the officer's annual regular compensation (or the 12-month average, whichever is greater), plus child allowances, as an alternative to any other law's benefits; requires local acceptance.

Section 89C provides a $1,500/year annuity to the surviving spouse (while unmarried) of any city or town employee killed in the line of duty whose death occurred before any applicable benefit law was in effect, upon local acceptance.

Section 89D increases the line-of-duty death annuity for widows under section 89C from $1,500 to $2,000/year in accepting cities and towns, and supersedes section 89C in any municipality that accepts it.

Section 89E requires cities, towns, and districts using volunteer emergency service providers to offer one of three accidental death benefits for surviving spouses of call/volunteer firefighters and reserve/auxiliary police officers killed in the line of duty: an annuity of 2/3 to 100% of first-year regular compensation (with COLA), a $500,000 one-time insurance payment, or an insurance-funded annuity; benefits continue to surviving children if no spouse.

Section 95A (requiring local acceptance) requires counties, cities, and towns to grant annuities to the surviving spouse or children of officials or employees who were retired or qualified for retirement under noncontributory law with no survivor election rights, with 15+ years of full-time service, up to half of regular annual compensation or $3,000, with a minimum of $1,500.

Section 95B updates the section 95A annuity cap from $3,000 to $6,000 (or half annual compensation, whichever is less) in accepting counties, cities, and towns, and supersedes section 95A in any municipality that accepts it.

Section 100 provides that when a firefighter, police officer, or corrections officer is killed in specified line-of-duty circumstances, their surviving spouse receives a pension equal to the salary that would have been paid had the deceased continued in service (at the maximum rate for the position); upon the surviving spouse's death, surviving children under 18 (or 22 if full-time students, or disabled) receive 72% of that pension plus $312/year each.

Section 100A establishes a $300,000 one-time killed-in-line-of-duty benefit, administered and paid by the state board of retirement (subject to appropriation), for the family of any deceased public safety employee (firefighters, police officers, corrections officers, EMTs, public prosecutors, and others) killed or fatally injured in the performance of duties; this benefit is in addition to section 100 amounts and is not taxable by the commonwealth.

Section 101 provides a base annual allowance ($6,000, $9,000, or $12,000 depending on system acceptance) to the surviving spouse of a former employee who was retired for disability and had no surviving spouse benefit under their retirement option; retirement systems may adopt the higher supplemental amounts by majority board vote with legislative body approval.

The FY2026 budget enacted a 3% COLA for State and Teachers' Retirement System retirees effective July 1, 2025, triggering a corresponding increase in the supplemental dependent allowance paid under §§ 7(2)(a)(iii) and 9(2)(d)(ii). Retirement systems that have accepted these supplemental allowances must pay $1,159.08 annually per eligible child beginning July 1, 2025. Boards with questions on the calculation should contact PERAC's actuary, John Boorack.

PERAC clarifies that COLAs under G.L. c. 32, § 103(c) must be applied to Section 100 benefits paid to survivors of public safety employees killed in the line of duty. Section 100 benefits are classified as a "pension" under the statute, making them subject to COLA grants by retirement boards. Any board that has not been applying COLAs to Section 100 benefits must correct this error immediately, recalculate any unpaid COLA amounts owed to beneficiaries, and remit payment with corrections-of-errors interest going forward.

This memo supplements Memo #28/2025 on Section 100 benefits and COLAs. It clarifies two key points: first, COLAs are not "benefits" themselves but enhancements to an existing pension, so the Section 100 "alternative benefit" language does not bar COLA eligibility. Second, when calculating back COLA payments owed to Section 100 beneficiaries, boards need only go back to July 1, 1998 — prior to that date, the pre-1997 version of Section 102(a) provided for the greater of a COLA or a Section 100 increase but not both, so COLAs would have been the smaller amount.

This memo notifies retirement boards of the 2024 Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) available under G.L. c. 32, § 103(c). The Social Security Administration's CPI-W increase was 3.2%, but the maximum COLA a Massachusetts retirement board may grant is capped at 3.0%, effective July 1, 2024. Boards wishing to adopt the COLA must vote to do so in a properly posted public meeting before June 30, 2024, and must report their decision to PERAC through the new PROSPER portal within 30 days.

PERAC requests that all retirement boards submit actuarial data for active members, retirees, survivors, and disability retirees as of December 31, 2023, by March 31, 2024. Data should be submitted through the PROSPER portal in the standard PERAC record format. After submission, boards will receive data analysis reports in PROSPER to review and correct any errors; PERAC notes that boards scheduled for a full actuarial valuation in 2024 will have received a separate data request.

PERAC announces amendments to five regulations effective March 29, 2024. Notable changes include: updated travel rules (840 CMR 2.00) including IRS-rate mileage and prohibition on reimbursing personal accommodations; repeal of the now-obsolete $30,000 salary cap regulation (840 CMR 8.00), service-after-age-70 regulation (840 CMR 11.00), and most of the age-65-to-70 service regulation (840 CMR 12.00); and significant updates to the Miscellaneous regulation (840 CMR 15.00), including replacing notarized affidavits with signed attestations subject to 5% random audit, a new credit card usage subsection requiring PERAC-approved supplemental regulations, and a new non-disability hearing procedure. Boards must review their supplemental regulations and submit amendments to PERAC as needed.

The FY25 state budget, signed July 29, 2024, included a 3% COLA for State and Mass Teachers' Retirement System retirees, which triggers an increase in the supplemental dependent allowance for accidental disability retirees and accidental death survivors. Effective July 1, 2024, retirement systems that have accepted G.L. c. 32, §§ 7(2)(a)(iii) or 9(2)(d)(ii) must pay $1,125.36 per year per eligible child — an increase from the prior year's amount. Boards that have accepted these provisions should update their payment amounts accordingly.

This memo advises retirement boards that the FY24 budget signed by Governor Healey on August 9, 2023 includes a 3% COLA for State and Mass Teachers' Retirement System retirees effective July 1, 2023, which triggers a corresponding increase in the supplemental dependent allowance. Effective July 1, 2023, any retirement system that has accepted the supplemental dependent allowance under G.L. c. 32, §§ 7(2)(a)(iii) or 9(2)(d)(ii) must pay $1,092.60 annually per eligible dependent child. Boards that have accepted the relevant statutory provisions must update their payment amounts immediately to reflect this increase.

This memo provides a critical update to Memo #14 of 2022, informing boards that Section 149 of Chapter 126 of the Acts of 2022 (the FY2023 budget), signed July 28, 2022, protects all retirees who retired prior to July 1, 2022 from any reduction, modification, or recoupment of allowances due to the Vernava decisions. As a result, the instructions in Memo #14 regarding retired members and their beneficiaries are hereby superseded, and no retiree who retired before July 1, 2022 will lose their allowance, lose health insurance, or be required to reimburse the retirement system. All instructions in Memo #14 concerning active and inactive members who have not yet retired remain in full effect.

This memo notifies retirement boards that the FY23 budget signed by Governor Baker on July 28, 2022 included a 5% COLA for eligible State and Mass Teachers' Retirement System retirees, which triggers an increase in the supplemental dependent allowances under G.L. c. 32, §§ 7(2)(a)(iii) and 9(2)(d)(ii). Effective July 1, 2022, retirement systems that have accepted these provisions must pay an annual amount of $1,060.80 per eligible child to qualifying accidental disability retirees and accidental death survivors. Contact PERAC Actuary John Boorack with questions.

This memo sets the 2018 supplemental dependent allowance at $924.60 per eligible child per year, effective July 1, 2018, for retirement systems that have accepted the provisions of G.L. c. 32, §§ 7(2)(a)(iii), 22D, or 9(2)(d)(ii).

This memo announces that the annual supplemental dependent allowance under G.L. c. 32, § 7(2)(a)(iii) and the additional pension for dependent children under § 9(2)(d)(ii) are both set at $897.72 per eligible child, effective July 1, 2017. The adjustment applies to systems that have accepted those provisions or that accepted § 22D, under which the supplemental dependent allowance is deemed to have been accepted.

This memo clarifies the specific documents boards must include when submitting calculations to PERAC for approval, organized by retirement type: Superannuation/Option D, Accidental Disability, Ordinary Disability, Accidental Death (active member), Accidental Death (retiree), and Section 101. Boards are asked not to include extra materials beyond what is listed, as unnecessary paperwork creates filing problems; additional documents will be requested only if needed after PERAC's initial review.