Hairston-Brown v. Public School Employees' Retirement Board

78 A.3d 720, 2013 WL 5658758, 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 429
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 18, 2013
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 78 A.3d 720 (Hairston-Brown v. Public School Employees' Retirement Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hairston-Brown v. Public School Employees' Retirement Board, 78 A.3d 720, 2013 WL 5658758, 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 429 (Pa. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinions

OPINION BY

Judge COVEY.

Dr. Dorothy June Hairston-Brown (Claimant) petitions this Court for review of the Public School Employees’ Retirement Board’s (Board) December 11, 2012 order denying Claimant’s request to credit her with one year of credited service for each of the 2004-2005 through and including 2007-2008 academic years. Claimant presents five issues for this Court’s review: (1) whether the Board abused its discretion and erred as a matter of law by failing to adopt the parties’ Stipulations of Fact (Stipulations) and, on the basis of such Stipulations, to give Claimant one year of credited seiwice for each of the years in question; (2) whether the Board’s conclusion that Claimant was not entitled to receive credited service for the 2004-2005 through and including the 2007-2008 school years for her employment with the Laboratory Charter School of Communication and Language (Laboratory) and Ad Prima Charter School (Ad Prima) was not supported by substantial evidence and an error of law; (3) whether the Board erred as a matter of law in concluding Claimant, rather than the employers, had a duty to account for the hours worked at Laboratory and Ad Prima in order to receive the correct amount of credited service for each employer; (4) whether Claimant’s procedural and substantive due process rights were violated by the Public School Employees’ Retirement System’s (PSERS) Retirement Benefits Specialist Supervisor and the Board’s Executive Staff Review Committee (ESRC) when they impermissibly commingled prosecuto-rial and adjudicatory functions with regard to the October 14, 2009 and February 18, 2011 determinations; and, (5) whether Claimant’s procedural and substantive due process rights were violated by the Board’s reversal of Claimant’s initial determination of her retirement benefits which resulted in a reduction of Claimant’s years of service, final average salary and monthly retirement benefits without prior notice and/or hearing.

Claimant was first enrolled in the PSERS in September 1967, by virtue of her employment with the Philadelphia School District (PSD). In 1983, Claimant founded Main Line Academy (Main Line), a Pennsylvania private academic school. Claimant was and continues to be Main Line’s President and Executive Director. Following her employment termination from PSD on June 29, 1993, Claimant retired from PSERS with an effective retirement date of July 1, 1993, based on $43,490.00 as a final average salary and 27.87 years of credited service.

In October 1997, Claimant incorporated Laboratory, a Philadelphia charter school, and became employed by Laboratory as its full-time salaried Chief Executive Officer. Laboratory reenrolled Claimant in PSERS effective June 1, 1998, by virtue of her Laboratory employment. In January [723]*7232003, Claimant incorporated Ad Prima, a Philadelphia charter school, and became employed by Ad Prima as its full-time salaried Chief Administrative Officer. Ad Prima reported Claimant to PSERS by virtue of her Ad Prima employment.

On March 21, 2005, Claimant incorporated the Agora Cyber Charter School (Ago-ra), a cyber charter school for Pennsylvania residents, and it was granted a charter for a period commencing July 1, 2005. Agora enrolled its employees in PSERS, but did not open a contract record for Claimant, and never reported to PSERS any salary or service information for Claimant. On November 14, 2005, Claimant and Brien Gardiner established The Cynwyd Group (Cynwyd) with the Pennsylvania Department of State as a limited liability company. Claimant had an ownership interest in Cynwyd. On May 10, 2006, Cynwyd entered into a service agreement with Agora to provide supervision, direction and management of Agora. On June 4, 2007, Claimant incorporated the Planet Abacus Charter School (Planet Abacus), a Philadelphia charter school, and it was granted a charter for a period commencing July 1, 2007. Planet Abacus enrolled its employees in PSERS, but did not open a contract record for Claimant, and never reported to PSERS any salary or service information for Claimant. On June 25, 2007, AeademicQuest was established as a Pennsylvania limited liability company, with Claimant as its President. Aca-demicQuest entered into a service agreement with Planet Abacus dated March 16, 2007, to provide educational services to Planet Abacus beginning July 1, 2007.

On or about May 21, 2008, PSERS contacted Claimant regarding her simultaneous full-time employment for Laboratory and Ad Prima as reported by both school employers to PSERS. Claimant was asked to provide a daily work schedule for the two schools beginning with the 2004-2005 through and including the 2007-2008 school years. PSERS made this inquiry because it wanted to determine that credible service was justified and that there was no overlap in service between the entities. On or about May 27, 2008, Laboratory’s Business Manager Anthony Smoot (Smoot) provided PSERS with copies of Claimant’s job duties for both Laboratory and Ad Prima and, in the accompanying letter, provided a breakdown of Claimant’s daily work schedule for both Laboratory and Ad Prima for the 2004-2005 through 2007-2008 school years. The May 27, 2008 letter set forth Claimant’s weekly hours as follows: 27 hours for Laboratory on Monday, Tuesday and Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Wednesday, Thursday, 12:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; and 26 hours for Ad Prima on Monday, Tuesday, 12:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Friday, 12:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Saturday, 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., for a total of 53 hours per week between the two schools. At the time PSERS received the information, it accepted the May 27, 2008 letter as an accurate reflection of the hours Claimant worked at Laboratory and Ad Prima during the 2004-2005 through 2007-2008 school years.

Following Claimant’s submission of a retirement application, she retired from PSERS, effective December 1, 2008. By letter dated April 23, 2009, PSERS notified Claimant of her initial retirement benefit based on a December 1, 2008 retirement date. The initial retirement letter stated that Claimant’s benefit was calculated based on her option selection and the latest salaries and service on file with PSERS. The letter further informed Claimant that it was a preliminary benefit and may not match the amount shown on the estimate PSERS prepared. The initial retirement letter advised Claimant that her gross monthly benefit would be [724]*724$14,150.11, which benefit Claimant began receiving thereafter.

In late 2008 to early 2009, PSERS senior staff members asked PSERS Retirement Benefits Specialist Supervisor Troy Peechatka (Peechatka) to review concerns about Philadelphia charter school annuitants’ returns to service and possible pension forfeiture issues as reported by articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Peechatka was directed to review all the names listed in the articles to determine if there were any PSERS annuitants. Claimant was named in the news articles. As part of his review, Peechatka reviewed information and documents from various sources, including PSERS’ own records and records from the Department of Education’s Office of Chief Counsel. Peechatka did not seek information directly from Claimant, Laboratory or Ad Prima. Based on Peechatka’s review of Claimant’s account and the information he received, he determined that, in addition to the full-time service Laboratory and Ad Prima reported for Claimant during the 2004-2005 through 2007-2008 school years, Claimant also performed services for Agora, Planet Abacus, Cynwyd, AcademicQuest and Main Line.

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Bluebook (online)
78 A.3d 720, 2013 WL 5658758, 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 429, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hairston-brown-v-public-school-employees-retirement-board-pacommwct-2013.