Terminating the Employment Relationship

ii. ’37 Act If a retirement board finds that a member does not qualify for a disability retirement or that a member’s disability retirement is non-industrial in nature, the member or the employing county or district may seek reconsideration from the county retirement board if the retirement board’s rules provide for reconsideration. Otherwise, the member or the employing county or district may obtain judicial review of such action of the board by filing a petition for writ of mandate in superior court, or by joining or intervening in such action filed by the member within 30 days of the mailing of such notice. 254 7. P ROCEDURES FOR H ANDLING L OCAL S AFETY D ISABILITY R ETIREMENT A PPLICATIONS : A P RIMER FOR PERS A GENCIES PERS contracting agencies may also refer to the CalPERS Procedure Manual available on the CalPERS website for information pertaining to the handling of local safety disability retirement applications. CalPERS also provides sample resolutions as a reference. a. Should I File the Application? If an employer believes the safety employee is disabled from the performance of his/her usual duties, the employer has an obligation to file an application for disability retirement on behalf of the employee if the employee has not already done so or chosen to waive his or her right to a disability retirement. 255 An employee is believed to be disabled if the employer cannot accommodate an employee’s medical/psychological restrictions within the employee’s same classification with the same salary, benefits and real promotional opportunities. 256 An employer may not separate an employee believed to be disabled and must file an application for disability retirement if the employee is otherwise eligible for a disability retirement (e.g. the employee has the requisite number of years of service). 257 b. The Application Has Been Filed, Now What? After the disability retirement application has been filed with CalPERS, the contracting agency will receive notification from CalPERS that the agency must determine whether the local safety member is substantially incapacitated from the performance of his or her usual duties. The contracting agency must make its determination within six months from the date it received notification from CalPERS. However, if the contracting agency obtains an agreement from the local safety member to extend this time period, it may do so. 258 c. How Do I Gather Information About the Local Safety Member? An agency’s determination must be made upon “competent medical evidence” as to whether the local safety member is substantially incapacitated from the performance of his or her usual duties permanently or for an extended duration, which is expected to last at least 12 consecutive months or will result in death, or extended and uncertain duration. If the agency does not already have medical information to make the determination, it may need to ask the local safety member to The following discussion addresses the process and procedure for handling local safety member applications for disability.

Terminating the Employment Relationship ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 73