(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person who has been retired for service may be reemployed by the county or district from which he or she has been retired. Upon reemployment, the member’s retirement allowance shall be discontinued. The retirement allowance may be reinstated upon the discontinuance of reemployment, as specified in this section.
(b) (1) For purposes of this section, “original period of employment” means the period of service with the county or district upon which the member’s original retirement allowance was based.
(2) For purposes of this section, “period of reemployment” means the service subsequently rendered by the member after he or she has been reemployed by the county or district.
(c) During the period of reemployment, the member shall accrue retirement service credit at the same tier or benefit level which was applicable to the member during his or her original period of employment. The member’s contribution rate shall be based on the same age at entry, and the same statutory formula, which was used in calculating the member’s contribution rate during his or her original period of employment.
(d) Upon termination of the member’s period of reemployment for other than death or disability, the member shall begin receiving a monthly service retirement allowance which is the sum of all of the following:
(1) The monthly retirement allowance the member had been receiving immediately prior to the time the member was reemployed by the county or district.
(2) Any cost-of-living increases that would have been added to the monthly retirement allowance if the member’s allowance had not been discontinued by reason of reemployment.
(A) A retirement allowance based on the amount of service credit the member accrued during the period of reemployment. This additional retirement allowance shall be calculated using the same benefit formula and tier upon which the member’s original retirement allowance was calculated, but shall be based on the member’s age upon termination of the period of reemployment and the member’s final compensation during that period.
(B) The retirement allowance otherwise payable under this section to a member whose allowance prior to reinstatement was paid pursuant to an election under Section 31810 shall be reduced as provided in that section. However, for a member reinstated pursuant to Section 31680.4 prior to attaining age 62, the reduction required by Section 31810 shall be the amount that is the actuarial value of the increase in the allowance from the date of retirement to the date of reinstatement.
(e) If, after reemployment pursuant to this section, the member becomes disabled and is granted a service-connected or non-service-connected disability retirement by the board, the member’s disability retirement allowance shall be the greater of either of the following:
(1) The disability retirement allowance the member would have been entitled to receive if all of the member’s service during his or her original period of employment and subsequent period of reemployment had been continuous.
(2) The service retirement allowance the member would have been entitled to receive if the member had not become disabled and had voluntarily terminated his or her period of reemployment.
(f) (1) If the member dies during his or her period of reemployment, and leaves an eligible survivor or survivors entitled to receive a survivor’s allowance, the allowance shall be the same amount that it would have been if all of the member’s service during his or her original period of employment and subsequent period of reemployment had been continuous. If a lump sum death benefit is payable to the member’s designated beneficiary instead of a survivor’s allowance, the member’s accumulated retirement contributions for purposes of computing the death benefit shall be the sum of the contributions made by the member during the period of reemployment, plus interest credited thereon, and the excess, if any, of the member’s total contributions during the original period of employment, including interest credited thereon, over the total amount of retirement benefits paid to the member between the member’s original retirement from the county or district and the member’s reemployment pursuant to this section.
(2) Upon or after service retirement, the continuance shall be paid upon the member’s death to the respective elected beneficiaries from each of the separate retirement period elections.
(g) This section shall not apply to an employee who receives an additional retirement benefit as an inducement to retire early.
(h) This section shall not be operative in any county until the board of supervisors of that county, by resolution adopted by a majority vote, makes this section applicable in that county.
(Added by Stats. 1993, Ch. 291, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1994.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018