WELCOME
TO BREA
The BNL RETIRED EMPLOYEES' ASSOCIATION was established to
represent
retiree interests and benefits; build closer community ties between
Brookhaven
National Laboratory and its neighbors; create a newsletter providing
communication
with retired employees; encourage
activities for social interaction in
the
retirement community and establish volunteer efforts to assist in fund
raising
for the benefit of charities and local communities.
Surf to "OTHER SITES": links to BNL
information, Government sites, retiree organizations at other labs, and
other
resources of interest to BREA members.
Minutes of BREA
Business meetings.
BREA Newsletters.
Comments on this Web site are welcome! Just send an email.
BREA officers were elected at the BREA meeting on January 8, 2008.
President: Arnie Peskin
Vice President: Bob Marr
Secretary: Dave Cox
Treasurer: Ken Morhing.
Click here for contact information.
That
is the leading question on the front page of the October 8, 2007 BREA Newsletter.
Elliot
Auerbach addressed this question at the request of the BREA Board; in
addition
to the article he has provided an Excel
spread sheet which can be downloaded, allowing one to modify the
computation using differing assumptions about earnings, future
inflation
rates, etc. As an alternative to the spread sheet one can access
a table of results that has
been provided
by Joyce Tichler using Elliot's spreadsheet.
Suffolk
County Legislator Steven Stern, who is also Chairman of the
Veterans
and Senior Committee spoke on the work of "The Suffolk
County-Wide
Senior Citizen Task Force". Stern's Task Force is addressing issues
important to Seniors, including affordable housing, accessible
transportation and the increasing needs for long-term care.
The
BREA Executive Board convenes monthly meetings to develop BREA plans
and
policies. Minutes of these meetings
are
published on this web site (in pdf format). The meetings are open to
any
members wishing to attend. The President should be told if you
are
planning to attend and if you have any particular issue that you would
like to
raise in order to reserve space on the agenda and at the table.
The
meeting place is usually in a Berkner Hall conference room, (usually
room D) or
in the Research Support Building, at noon.
Scheduled Dates: (second Tuesday -unless noted)
Tuesday, July 8, Research Support
Building, Conference Room 2.
Vote on new
Constituion to be held.
August no meeting scheduled
Tuesday, September 9, Berkner Room D
Tuesday, October 14, Berkner Room D
Tuesday, November 18, Berkner Room D (Third Tuesday, second
Tuesday is a
holiday)
Tuesday, December 9, Berkner Room
The
November 2008
meeting (Third Tuesday) can easily be changed.
Please
check Bulletin for on site events.
Be sure to check the BERA EVENTS page for special events and activities.
For
recent BREA news, as well as an "historical record", Minutes of BREA Business meetings and Newsletters are posted on this web
site. These files are in "pdf" format, Adobe's Acrobat Reader
for pdf files can be obtained free by using this link.
Many
people have been confused about the new Medicare Part D Prescription
Drug plan
and their current coverage from BSA/BNL. Human Resources (aka
Personnel)
strongly recommends that retirees NOT enroll in a Part D plan. An
ad-hoc
committee from BREA, consisting of Graham Campbell, Barney MacAlary,
and Eliott
Auerbach has been looking into this and agree with HR.
Click here for the
BREA
Report and here
for
Benefits office communication. (Both documents in "pdf" format.)
Please note that the Benefits Office states that recipients should save
this
notice as it might be needed if you change plans. It is intended
to
retain a copy on this web site.
BNL
has released a "Draft
Workforce Restructuring Plan" which "was developed to
ensure the Laboratory will be able to minimize worker and community
impacts
during a major workforce restructuring, while retaining employees with
the
skills, knowledge and experience to support the current and future
missions of
the Laboratory." There was a two week time period for submitting
comments; BREA did so in a letter from
President
Joyce Tichler to DOE Site Manager, Michael Holland. Joyce's
letter
focused upon the absence of any explicit statement concerning retiree
benefits. The essence of Holland's
reply was that the benefits for already retired employees would not
affected by the restructuring plan but "would be addressed ... at the
time
of a closure decision".
BREA
member Frank Federman addressed the above topic in a presentation at
BNL April
8, 2005. "While retirement for many people marks the end of a
journey; there is a significant financial journey beyond the point of
retirement". The discussion focused on the retiree's new goals and the
choices available to enable their realization.
Federman provided a set of documents, posted here in pdf format:
an introductory page, a biographical note, an outline of his
presentation, a
bibliography and an "Asset Correlation" table. (Adobe's
Acrobat Reader for pdf files can be obtained free by using this link)
BREA
Organizational Information and News
HEALTH BENEFITS CHANGES ANNOUNCED
October
25, 2004
LINKS TO BREA NEWSLETTERS CAN BE FOUND
HERE!
RECENT BREA EVENTS
BNL and BREA Information Sources and
Mailing
Lists
WEB Sites of Interest to BREA Members
Any
BREA member who wishes to may contribute comments,
articles, pictures, etc. Please contact the acting Web
Caretaker,
anything in computer compatible form, or close to it, and in reasonably
good
taste will be accepted.
The
careful reader will note that many documents available on this, and
other, web
sites are in Adobe's "Portable Document Format", pdf. Adobe's
Acrobat Reader for pdf files can be obtained free by using this link
,
further information can be obtained from the Adobe web
site.
July 5, 2008