Retirement
Fontaine Law Office litigates many cases involving the retirement rights of public employees in Maine. The Maine State Retirement System is responsible by law to collect retirement contributions, to invest them wisely, and to distribute them in the form of retirement and disability benefits to the members.
There are many errors in this large system. The Fontaine Law Office has achieved consistent success in pointing out those errors, conducting adversary hearings, and litigating cases in court against the Maine State Retirement System when necessary. The office has been successful in several trend setting cases, changing the prior practice of the Maine State Retirement System.
In the process, the Fontaine Law Office has become expert in this field. The office has been successful in the following areas:
- Requiring employers who fail to deduct back premiums and send them to the retirement system to pay those back premiums themselves;
- Assuring that police employees get the benefit of the higher retirement section intended by the legislature;
- Assuring that Educational Technicians and school secretaries receive the same retirement protection and benefits as public school teachers;
- Securing Group Life Insurance benefits subsidized for the rest of a member’s life;
- Securing disability benefits.
The Maine State Retirement System has recently changed its name to the Maine Public Employees Retirement System. Its website is very informative. See www.msrs.org
The Fontaine Law Office is frequently retained by different unions and by individual members to secure the above rights.