FROM: Debby Cherney, Chief Executive Officer
SUBJECT: Alameda County Deputy Sheriff's Association v. Alameda County Employees Retirement Association - California Supreme Court decision - Implementation of Exclusions Required by the Alameda Decision.
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt SBCERA Resolution No. 2020-6 regarding the implementation of exclusions required by the Alameda decision.
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BACKGROUND:
On July 30, 2020, the California Supreme Court issued its decision in the matter of Alameda County Deputy Sheriff's Assn v. Alameda County Employees' Retirement Association, Cal Supreme Court Case No. S247095 ("Alameda"). On August 6, 2020, the SBCERA Board adopted Resolution No. 2020-5 ("Resolution 2020-5").
Resolution 2020-5 noted two types of pay codes that had been previously identified by the SBCERA Board as subject to exclusion from compensation earnable, depending on the outcome of the Alameda case. Resolution 2020-5 noted that the Alameda decision concluded that the modification to the definition of Compensation Earnable in Government Code section 31461, enacted as a result of PEPRA and related statutory changes to the County Employees Retirement Law ("CERL") is constitutional, and that CERL retirement boards may not be contractually bound or estopped by settlement agreements, board resolutions, or other similar actions, from implementing those amendments. The Alameda decision further determined that CERL retirement boards may not include items in compensation earnable that section 31461 requires them to exclude. The "PEPRA Exclusions" as defined by Resolution 2020-5 include standby pay, on call, and call back pay ("payments for additional services rendered outside of normal working hours, whether paid in a lump sum or otherwise").
The Board, in adopting Resolution 2020-5, directed staff to comply with Alameda's directives regarding mandatorily excluded pay items which includes the PEPRA Exclusions noted above, effective with the Augus...
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