Shafer v. State Employes' Retirement Board

NIGRO, Justice,

concurring and dissenting.

I concur in the result reached by the majority, but I write separately because I do not interpret 71 Pa.C.S. § 5304(c)(3) as requiring the existence of an employer/employee relationship in order to purchase “creditable nonstate service” retirement credit.

The express language of 71 Pa.C.S. § 5304(c)(3) requires “service as an administrator, teacher, instructor, in the field of education for any agency or department of the government of the United States.... ” It is undisputed that Appellee’s function at Ain Shams University in Egypt during the 1978-1979 school year was as a teacher. His role as a teacher, thus, clearly fulfills the statutory requirement of “service” in the field of education.

*338Where appellee’s claim fails, however, is the added requirement under 71 Pa.C.S. § 5804(c)(3) that service is “for any agency or department of the government of the United States____” The facts in this case suggest the beneficiary of the “service” was Ain Shams University rather than a United States Government Agency or Department. I thus join in the result reached by the Majority.