FROM: Barbara Hannah, Chief Counsel
SUBJECT: Disability Retirement Procedures
RECOMMENDATION:
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Recommend that the Committee provide guidance on potential changes to the Procedures for Disability Retirement Applications and Formal Hearings.
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BACKGROUND:
San Bernardino County Employees Retirement Association adopted the Procedures for Disability Retirement Applications and Formal Hearings ("Rules") to govern the disability retirement process. Since the last update in September 2016, there are matters that have arisen which are not addressed in the Rules, specific Rules that may require an update, and requests from the Board to revisit specific Rules, such as the time limits for presentations. Staff requests that the Committee provide guidance to Staff to inform a redlined proposed update to the Rules for consideration by the Board at a future meeting date.
A. Formal Hearing - Expand the Subject Matter Jurisdiction.
Currently, the formal hearing is reserved exclusively for matters in which the Board has denied a benefit request by a disability retirement applicant. However, the formal hearing process could be expanded to be used for other subject matters. Specifically, staff believes that the formal hearing may be used to determine the eligibility of an applicant to apply for disability retirement where an applicant (1) has been terminated for cause or resigned in lieu of termination, or (2) in matters where the applicant has filed an untimely application.
At present, the process for rejected applications requires staff to place a staff recommendation in front of the Board for consideration of whether to adopt the staff's determination that the member is ineligible to apply for a disability retirement. The Board's decision in these cases is the final administrative decision. Staff believes, that whether an applicant has been terminated for cause or has filed an untimely application are both questions of fact, which require the present...
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