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SC Supreme court rules for TERI employees The South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled that the state has until July 1 to reimburse retired state employees who returned to work under the Teacher and Employee Retention Incentive Program (TERI). The court also ruled that those same employees should not have to pay contributions to their pension plan.   Under the June 1 ruling, the state has until July 1 to pay retirees who enrolled in the TERI program prior to July 1, 2005, 6 percent interest on their contributions, as well as their contributions, to the retirement account. If the state does not meet the July 1 deadline, then it must pay an 11 percent interest on contributions.   The court also ruled that the state will have to pay the plaintiff’s legal fees, which are estimated at about $50 million, or 40 percent of a projected growth to about $125 million in the retirement funds.   The state has collected more than $30 million from retirees under the TERI program.   The June 1 ruling affirms a May 4 ruling that required the state to return, with interest, pension contributions made by employees who enrolled in the TERI Program before July 1, 2005. The state had sought a reversal on the ruling. The state also was to have stopped deducting contributions from paychecks for the employees under the old TERI program. Employees who enrolled in TERI after July 1, 2005, would continue to make contributions of 6.25 percent.   Written by Chief Justice Jean Toal, the ruling affects approximately 13,000 participants, most of them teachers, and about 140 MUSC employees that had enrolled in the program prior to July 1, 2005. About 24 MUSC employees enrolled in the TERI program after July 1, 2005 and would not be affected by the ruling.    “The good news is that they gave us back the money,” said Susan Brooks, MUSC’s director of International Programs and MUSC’s representative for the South Carolina Employees Associations. “The bad news is whether the lawyers will be paid out of the reward in the class action settlement. ”   The court made no decision on the fate of contributions paid by another 9,000 workers who retired and returned to work but did not enroll in the TERI program, choosing instead to send the issue back to a lower court.   All non-TERI working retirees and state employees who enrolled in the TERI Program after July 1, 2005 will continue to make employee contributions to the retirement systems. Currently, contributions are 6.25 percent of employees’ annual salary. This amount is scheduled to increase to 6.5 percent on July 1.     Friday, June 9, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publication at 849-1778, ext. 201.