Edith Deleon Guerrero
SENATE President Edith Deleon Guerrero has introduced Senate Bill 23-61, which would prohibit the recovery of retirement benefit overpayments.
Over the last several months, more than 200 government retirees received letters from the NMI Settlement Fund informing them of the overpayments in their retirement benefits.
Some of these retirees sought Deleon Guerrero’s help to address their situation because the Settlement Fund intends to adjust their pension to recover the overpayments.
According to the Senate president’s S.B. 23-61, the overpayments were made by the former NMI Retirement Fund, and was not the fault of the retirees, most of whom heavily rely on their pension for food, housing and medical expenses.
For most of these retirees, Deleon Guerrero said, any adjustment or recovery of overpayments will negatively affect their standard of living. The Settlement Fund’s determination to recover the overpayments of retirement benefits “had adversely shaken the lives of retirees who are subject to the overpayments,” she added.
She said the retirees cannot afford to pay back the overpayments.
In last month’s meeting with Deleon Guerrero, one retiree, Ursula Galvan, said her monthly pension was reduced by $111, while another retiree, Eusebio Borja, said $600 was deducted from his monthly pension.
S.B. 23-61 would amend the law, to require that “there shall be no recovery of overpayments by the NMI Settlement Fund from any member, any survivors, or from the estate of any recipient of benefits who is without fault and if such recovery would be against equity and good conscience.”
The bill would also allow the retiree or beneficiary to appeal the adjustment of pension. According to the bill, the Settlement Fund can waive an overpayment “if, in the opinion of the Settlement Fund, the individual is without fault and the recovery of an overpayment is against equity and good conscience.”
