LA County Mandatory Retirement Clarification Bill Introduced

LA County Mandatory Retirement Clarification Bill Introduced

The Senate Public Employment & Retirement Committee has introduced CPF-backed legislation, SB 538. This bill seeks a technical clarification permitting the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) to receive the necessary physical certification of a Los Angeles County safety member upon returning from disability leave before making a determination as to whether the member is subject to the county's mandatory retirement age provisions, even if that leave extends beyond the month in which the member turns the mandatory retirement age of 60.

Through various provisions, counties that operate retirement systems established under the County Employees' Retirement Law of 1937 (aka '37 Act), such as Los Angeles County, may require their safety members to retire once they reach a certain age. Pursuant to resolutions adopted by the Los Angeles county board of supervisors in previous years, the county's safety members are permitted to work beyond the mandatory retirement age provided that a physician, employed or approved by the county, certifies that he or she, based on specified standards, is capable of performing their assigned duties.

Although Los Angeles County is permitted to allow its safety members to work beyond the mandatory retirement age in specified situations, Section 31662.6 of the Government Code has unintentionally bound LACERA to retire a county safety member when he or she is on temporary disability beyond "the first day of the calendar month next succeeding that in which he or she attains age 60" and therefore, is unable to timely receive the medical certification needed for determining "fitness for duty."

SB 538 was introduced on February 25 and was referred to the Senate Public Employment & Retirement Committee where it was considered on April 13th and passed unanimously. SB 538 was heard on the Senate Floor on April 23 and passed with no "no" votes. It is now awaiting a committee assignment in the Assembly.