Until the passing of the June 2014 contract, teachers at retirement age charged under 3020-a could go through the entire hearing process without worrying about losing their benefits. If the teacher was terminated or forced to resign or retire (about 55% from the latest data), they still retained all their benefits. However, that all changed in the 2014 contract. While teachers of retirement age still retained their retiree health benefits and pension, they are in for a significant financial hit.
If a teacher goes through their 3020-a hearings and is terminated, the union negotiated contract allows the DOE to refuse to pay the teacher their lump sum retro payments from 2009-10. How much money can the DOE save by terminating the teacher? Approximately $50,000. Therefore, the DOE pushes for termination, hoping the teacher takes a deal to irrevocably retire, rather than risk losing the $50,000.
The DOE, empowered by the June 2014 contract, has pushed school administrators to contact the Office of Legal Services and start 3020-a termination charges against teachers for minor offenses or against teachers who had "developing" ratings. The DOE figures that the 3020-a charges will push teachers at retirement age to retire rather than risk losing the $50,000 owed them. I already know of three senior teachers who told me that they cannot risk being terminated even when I told them that the charges against them would probably not result in termination.
Its obvious to me that he June 2014 contract has encouraged the DOE to go after senior teachers, knowing full well that the mere threat of termination and losing $50,000 will force them to irrevocably resign rather than fight the charges against them.