Terminating the Employment Relationship

received “regular compensation” in the position from which the employee was disabled. However, the amount of retirement benefits the member is entitled to receive during that period shall not be more than the difference between what the member earned in their regular position from which the member became disabled and the amount earned by the member in the temporary position. 243 However, the retirement of a member who has been granted or is entitled to sick leave shall not become effective until the expiration of such sick leave with compensation unless the member consents to retirement at an earlier date. If it is determined that the member’s application was delayed by administrati ve oversight or by inability to ascertain the permanency of the member’s incapacity until after the date following the day for which the member last received regular compensation, such date will be deemed to be the date the application was filed. 244

Puckett v. Board of Retirement of the County of Orange 245 A firefighter for the county applied for disability retirement with the county retirement board. While his application was pending, he worked at a lower paying position with the county as a mechanic’s helpe r. The board approved his application, but set the effective date for commencement of his retirement payments as the date after which the board approved the application, a date two years after he filed the application. The board reasoned that he was not entitled to disability retirement allowance for the period in which he worked as a mechanic’s helper. The employee filed a petition for writ of mandate to compel payment of a disability allowance during the period of his alternative employment. The court of appeal agreed that the firefighter was entitled to a disability allowance starting from his last date in paid status as a firefighter. However, the amount of the allowance could not be more than the difference between his compensation at his alternative position and the higher salary at his former position. Katosh v. Sonoma County Employees’ Retirement Assn. 246 An employee, as a result of disability, stopped working on June 26, 2000. She filed an application for service-connected disability retirement on February 6, 2002. Because her health insurance lapsed during her time off from work, and in order to re- activate her enrollment, she returned to “in pay status” with the county for a two week period ending October 27, 2004 using a combination of sick and vacation leave in order to re-enroll her in the health insurance. The board ultimately approved that application, but set the effective date of retirement as October 28, 2004, the day after her last day on the payroll. The employee filed a petition for writ of mandate in superior court to compel an earlier retirement date. The trial court denied the petition and the court of appeal affirmed. The court noted that Government Code section 31724 requires that the effective date of a disability allowance may not be earlier than the day

Terminating the Employment Relationship ©2022 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 69