Retirement: County Employees Retirement Law of 1937: benefit payments and overpayments.

(1) The County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (CERL) authorizes counties and districts to establish retirement systems in order to provide pension benefits to their employees and their beneficiaries and prescribes the rights, benefits, and duties of members in this regard. CERL defines compensation and compensation earnable for purposes of its provisions. Existing law, the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) , prescribed various limitations on public employees, employers, and retirement systems concerning, among other things, the types of remuneration that may be included in compensation that is applied to pensions. Under CERL, the board of retirement is required to comply with and give effect to a revocable written authorization signed by a retired member or beneficiary of a retired member, as described, authorizing the treasurer or other entity authorized by the board to deliver the monthly warrant, check, or electronic fund transfer for the retirement allowance or benefit to any specified bank, savings and loan institution, or credit union to be credited to the account of the retired member or survivor of a deceased retired member. This bill would also define "account of the retired member or survivor of a deceased retired member" to include an account held in a living trust or an income-only trust, as specified. This bill, until January 1, 2028, would additionally authorize the board of retirement for the County of Los Angeles to have the monthly warrant, check, or electronic fund transfer for the retirement allowance or benefit be delivered to a prepaid account, as defined, in accordance with certain procedures. Under CERL, any person entitled to the receipt of benefits may authorize the payment of the benefits to be directly deposited by electronic fund transfer into the person's account at the financial institution of the person's choice, as specified. This bill, until January 1, 2028, would authorize the board of retirement for the County of Los Angeles to permit a person entitled to receive benefit payments to have them deposited into a prepaid account, as described. This bill would also require the retirement system for the County of Los Angeles, no later than November 30, 2027, to submit a report to specified legislative committees that includes certain information regarding the implementation of these provisions. (2) Under CERL, any person who has retired may be employed and paid in a position requiring special skills or knowledge for a period of time not to exceed 90 working days or 720 hours, whichever is greater, in any one fiscal year or any other 12-month period designated by the board of supervisors. That law authorizes a county to extend, as specified, that period of time, not to exceed 120 working days or 960 hours, whichever is greater, in any one fiscal year or any other 12-month period, as specified. That law also authorizes other specified retired members to be reemployed and paid in a position requiring special skills or knowledge for a period of time not to exceed 120 working days or 960 hours, whichever is greater, in any one fiscal year. That law further authorizes this employment without reinstatement into the system, termination or suspension of their retirement allowance, or deductions to their salary as contributions to the system. Under PEPRA, a retired person is prohibited from serving, or being employed by, as specified, a public employer in the same public retirement system from which the retiree receives the benefit without reinstatement from retirement, unless an exception applies. Under PEPRA, one of those exceptions authorizes a retired person to serve without reinstatement if appointed by the appointing power of a public employer during an emergency to prevent stoppage of public business or because the retired person has skills needed to perform work of limited duration. That law limits those appointments to a total for all employers in that system of 960 hours or other equivalent limit, in a calendar or fiscal year, depending on the administrator of the system. This bill would prohibit a person who has been retired under CERL from being employed in any capacity thereafter by a county or district of the retirement system unless the person has first been reinstated from retirement or is authorized under CERL or PEPRA. The bill would prohibit a person whose employment without reinstatement is authorized from acquiring service credit or retirement rights under CERL with respect to that employment. The bill would require a retired member employed in violation of specified provisions of CERL and PEPRA to reimburse the retirement system for any allowance received during the period in violation and to pay other related amounts, as specified. The bill would also require a public employer that employs a retired member in violation of CERL or PEPRA, if the retired member is reinstated, to pay the retirement system an amount of money equal to the employer contributions that would otherwise have been paid, plus interest, for the period of time that the member was employed in violation of these provisions, and to contribute toward reimbursement for reasonable administrative expenses of the system. The bill would further authorize the board of a retirement system under CERL to assess certain fees upon an employer that fails to enroll a retired member without reinstatement, subject to certain procedural and notice requirements.