# Shafer v. State Employes' Retirement Board

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · June 18, 1997 · 548 Pa. 320

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9644351

## Case

- **Full name:** Ronald G. SHAFER, Appellee, v. STATE EMPLOYES’ RETIREMENT BOARD, Appellant
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** June 18, 1997
- **Citations:** 548 Pa. 320; 696 A.2d 1186; 1997 Pa. LEXIS 1196
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurring in part by Nigro
- **Judges:** Flaherty, Zappala, Cappy, Castille, Nigro, Newman
- **Cited by:** 11 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9644351

## Opinion text

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.
*338 Where 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.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9644351. Public record. Not legal advice.