Plea Deal Will Likely Result in Stripped Pension for Mclaughlin

With the conviction of former Chelsea Housing Authority Executive Director Michael McLaughlin in the books, it looks like his long-stalled retirement request with Chelsea will likely end up with most of his pension being stripped.

The Chelsea Retirement Board will meet next Thursday, Feb. 28th, and will likely discuss – and perhaps deny the petition – after more than 18 months of waiting for the results of the McLaughlin matter in court.

State Retirement Official Joe Connarton told the Record that his agency (known as PERAC) has not seen the plea agreement entered into by McLaughlin. However, he said that state law is pretty specific and would most likely require a denial of the pension request, while also returning McLaughlin’s contributions.

“The Chelsea Retirement Board has been very cooperative in this matter,” he said. “They will ultimately be the body that will deny the pension application and return Mr. McLaughlin’s contributions to him without interest. This is based on [state law]. Essentially, the plea agreement will force Mr. McLaughlin to forfeit his pension benefit.”

He did caution that – because they haven’t seen the agreement – they do not know what is in it related to pension.

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