Record of Testimony

This is my story about COLAs, suspended for over 12 years, and how it affected me.

"Pension Reform" was an ex-post-facto shafting of already-retired public employees. In my case, I retired a year short of 35 in order to ensure that I qualified for the 3% COLA, since I worked for Human Resources and anticipated that changed were coming.

When this so called pension reform happened, I had to return to work, working two part time jobs. I had decided to retire at 30 years, planning my future on my pension.

How WEP, loss of COLA and the SS offset affected this retiree

Regarding the 3 percent COLA all RI State Employee Retirees had before 2011, when the "Retirement Security Act" was passed.

I am the only member of my class I have suffered significant damage from the breaches

Submitted via online webform

Hi, my name is Kevin Cash. I am a public school teacher within the Burrillville School District. I am currently in my 32nd year of employment with Burrillville.

Dear Mr. Diossa

Dear Treasurer Diossa,



I am reaching out in the hopes of receiving the return of a COLA as soon as possible. I have been flatlined for over a decade now. Also, I have been a widow for 8 years and as you can see, I do not have the luxury of his income or Social Security.

I retired from teaching in 2016. At that time, I was using money from the sale of my home to supplement my reduced pension. Now that I am using money from my IRA, it is dwindling quickly, as I have to deduct 15% for my taxes. i.e. If I need $10,000, I need to withdraw $11,500 from my account.