She nearly lost her home; instead, she won fight with pension board — and changed the law

LAS CRUCES - On an August afternoon, Elizabeth "Libby" Leask, 62, sat in the back yard of the home she has lived in for 13 years, looking out over the Robledo Mountain range northwest of Las Cruces.

She and her late husband had spent years remodeling the home with plans to live there the rest of their lives; but six months ago, she nearly lost the home. 

After her husband, Steven Leask, died suddenly in 2016, Leask struggled for two and a half years trying to collect the retirement benefits he had accrued as a New Mexico State University employee for 19 years.

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A single piece of paper, the required beneficiary designation Form 42, was missing from the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board records, and no photocopy could be found in Leask's records or at the university. 

"I called everybody from the governor's office, the attorney general, the TV stations, everyone on down," she recalled, after attorneys told her she likely had no case without the designation form.

Leask, who has relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, was counting on her husband's retirement benefits, estimated at nearly $1 million in value, to provide for her. Instead she was informed all she could collect was the amount of money deducted from her husband's paycheck for retirement — not the matching funds from the university, and none of the accrued interest.

Dejected, Leask put her home up for sale and prepared to move in with her daughter in California. She also faced returning full-time at her previous career painting houses.

Six months later, Leask's situation had changed, mostly for the better.

'All hell just broke loose'

After Leask's predicament was reported by the Sun-News in February, over a thousand NMSU employees contacted the ERB about their own accounts — and a great many of them found their own beneficiary designations were missing as well, despite completing the forms years ago.

They also learned that the university did not keep photocopies of the paperwork.

"All hell just broke loose," Leask recalled.

After her story became public knowledge, Leask said ERB Executive Director Jan Goodwin reached out to her and said the agency would reopen her case.

Meanwhile, in Santa Fe, the agency was flooded with phone calls and emails. 

Goodwin said her agency proceeded with an audit of all accounts missing beneficiary designations; and then, "we contacted employers who had employees who did not have a Form 42 on file so they could have their employees send us those forms."

Meanwhile, employees began filing new beneficiary designations in earnest, to the point that NMSU chief human resources officer, Gena Jones, limited communications to employees to avoid the opposite problem: duplicate filings at the ERB adding to the backlog.

Jones advised the university's employee council in an April email: "Each time a ... system-wide communication regarding Form 42 went out, employees would send in new Form 42s when it was not necessary."

With publicity, Leask's situation led to action not only at NMSU and ERB, but in the New Mexico legislature, where a 60-day legislative session was underway.

A legislative fix

The session was wrapping up and the deadline for submitting new bills had passed, but Goodwin got in touch with New Mexico Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces.

By taking a "dummy bill" that had been filed before the deadline by state Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, Steinborn was able to get a piece of last-minute legislation to the floor addressing Libby Leask's problem.

SB 664 mandated that the spouse or domestic partner of a deceased member of an ERB-sponsored retirement plan would be recognized as the beneficiary unless the member declares otherwise.

The bill passed easily during the final days of the session, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed it into law on April 2. 

Even so, Goodwin warned: "The law is not a mind-reader. If you have someone that you wish to get or not get your benefits, you have to affirmatively make those changes yourself. You can't expect other people to do that for you."

"It doesn't help me at all," Leask said of the law, but expressed satisfaction that something was done to protect other educators and their families.

"It's just for people after me that won't have to go through this," she said. "I'd just hate to think of more people going through what I did, for three years." 

Leask collected pension — with a hitch

Libby Leask said Goodwin gave no reason for ERB re-opening her case, but that she thinks negative publicity played a part.

Goodwin said that Leask produced estate planning documents that satisfied the agency she was authorized to make decisions about her husband's retirement benefits. 

At any rate, Leask was able to collect the full value of Steven Leask's pension, with one hitch. 

Before Leask's situation was publicized, the ERB had agreed to reimburse Steven Leask's estate for the amount withheld from his paycheck over nearly 20 years, without any of the lifetime benefits — a fraction of what Libby Leask expected. 

Now that Leask will collect the full value of the pension, the lump sum payment she received put her $65,000 ahead of schedule for receiving the monthly benefits. As a result, she said that for 10 years the ERB will deduct $511 from her monthly payment.

On a tight budget, she said the deduction means she cannot afford secondary health insurance to help her afford medication for her multiple sclerosis. Her primary coverage is through Medicare. 

Foregoing the medicine, she said she manages her symptoms as best as she can through regular exercise and watching her diet. "So far I'm doing okay," she said.

The pension is still enough that she doesn't need to return to work, though she has considered taking on part-time painting jobs that don't require her to negotiate ladders or scaffolding.

Employees still need to check

The ERB's Form 42 was revised in May to require notarization only if a member wants to declare a beneficiary other than their spouse. 

At NMSU, the employee council was informed by human resources in April that Form 42's would be tracked as long as they were submitted in the university's HR service center, but instructed employees to verify their records with the ERB directly.

The email also warns employees that even if they retain a photocopy, "original Form 42s are required. ... having the copy in the personnel file or not having it in the personnel file does not detract from the importance and the responsibility of employees to verify their information with NMERB."

Goodwin recommended employees with accounts at the ERB go online and make sure their accounts, including beneficiary designations, are in order — and to review it annually. 

"It sounds very dry and musty but it's important stuff," Goodwin said, "and we all owe that to ourselves and our family members and the people we love, that we include them as beneficiaries where we want them to be, and not expect a third party to make up for our lack of action."

Leask at home

At Libby Leask's home, hummingbirds swarmed feeders in a meticulously kept back yard.

She said she had thought about volunteering at Doña Ana Elementary School, near her home, but was worried flares of her MS, which come on without warning, might interfere with any ongoing commitment.

Overall, she said, her health was good and the stress since her husband's death and her pension struggle was abating.

"I can stay in our home," Leask said. "I don't have to sell. I don't have a lot of money, I won't be traveling around the world ... but I can afford to stay in my home and be comfortable, and as long as I plan I can do things."

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.

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