CopyCited 1 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2012 WL 4094804, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 15718
...Appellant seeks review of a final order of the State Board of Administration (SBA) that denied appellant’s request for renewed membership in the Florida Retirement System (FRS) upon concluding appellant was a retiree who was ineligible for reenrollment in the FRS pursuant to section 121.122(2), Florida Statutes (2010)....
...Appellant terminated his employment on November 16, 2006. On March 29, 2007, appellant took a total distribution from his Investment Plan account after being advised he could leave the funds in the Investment Plan and not take a distribution. In 2009, section 121.122(2) was enacted to prohibit retirees who return to work with an FRS-covered agency on or after July 1, 2010, from participating in the FRS....
...he FRS because he was a retiree who came back to FRS-covered employment after July 1, 2010. Appellant filed an “FRS Investment Plan Request for Intervention” with the SBA, requesting he be allowed to renew his membership in the FRS on the ground section 121.122(2) did not apply to him because he did not qualify as a “retiree” when he took a total distribution from his Investment Plan account. In response, the SBA issued a denial letter, concluding appellant qualified as a “retiree” and was ineligible for reenrollment in the FRS pursuant to section 121.122(2). After appellant filed a timely petition for hearing, a hearing officer held an informal hearing and issued an order recommending the SBA issue a final order denying appellant’s request for relief on the ground section 121.122(2) applied to Investment Plan members who retired by taking a distribution and did not return to employment until on or after July 1, 2010....
...his or her account. §§
121.091 &
121.591, Fla. Stat. (2010). Under both plans, an employee must terminate all FRS-covered employment in order to receive a benefit. §§
121.091 &
121.591, Fla. Stat. (2010). In 2009, the legislature created section
121.122(2), which provides: “A retiree of a state-administered retirement system who is initially reemployed on or after July 1, 2010, is not eligible for renewed membership.” Ch. 2009-209, § 12, at 2134, Laws of Fla. Appellant asserts the SBA erred when it concluded he was a retiree who was precluded from renewed membership in the FRS under section
121.122(2)....
...ted employment and has taken a distribution as provided in s.
121.591, except for a mandatory distribution of a de minimis account authorized by the state board.” Reading all of these related provisions together, the SBA asserts the prohibition of section
121.122(2) applies to appellant because he retired by taking a total distribution from his Investment Plan account and did not return to FRS-covered employment until after July 1, 2010....
...This court will defer to an agency’s interpretation of a statute that it is charged with administering unless that interpretation is contrary to the plain meaning of the statute or is clearly erroneous. Huberty,
46 So.3d at 1146 . We defer to the SBA’s interpretation of section
121.122(2), which we conclude is not contrary to the plain meaning of the statute and is not clearly erroneous. Assuming he was a retiree under section
121.122(2), appellant asserts the statute could not apply retroactively to him, who retired prior to its effective date, without impairing his vested right to renewed membership in the FRS when he returned to FRS-covered employment....
...At most, he had an expectant or contingent right insofar as his right to renewed membership in the FRS depended on the continued existence of that right if he ever returned to FRS-covered employment at some point in the future. Even if retirees had a right to renewed membership in the FRS prior to the 2009 enactment of section 121.122(2), the legislature had the inherent authority to unilaterally alter that right as it applied to retirees who returned to state service after the amendment....
...of Ret.,
408 So.2d 1033, 1037 (Fla.1981) (recognizing that a future legislature is not precluded from “prospectively altering benefits which accrue for future state service.”). Absent the existence of a vested right to renewed membership in the FRS, appellant cannot assert the application of section
121.122(2) impaired his contractual rights under article I, section 10 of the Florida Constitution; constituted an improper taking of property under article X, section 6 of the Florida Constitution; or violated any other constitutional limitation....
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CopyPublished | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 827, 2016 WL 275274
...Administration (SBA) denying her request for renewed membership in the Florida
Retirement System (FRS) as an elected officer under section
121.052, Florida Statutes
(2013). The SBA concluded that Judge Campbell was a retiree who was ineligible for
reenrollment in the FRS pursuant to section
121.122(2)....
...However, the SBA determined that Judge Campbell was a "retiree" as defined by
section
121.4501(2)(k) because she is "a former member of the investment plan who
has terminated employment and taken a distribution of vested employee or employer
contributions." Section
121.122(2) prohibits "[a] retiree of a state-administered
retirement system who is initially reemployed in a regularly established position on or
after July 1, 2010," from reenrolling in the FRS....
...-2-
determination and concluded that Judge Campbell was ineligible to reenroll as a
member of the FRS elected officer’s class upon receiving her commission in 2013
because she had not returned to FRS-covered employment before July 1, 2010. See §
121.122(2)....
...The statute clearly and unambiguously prohibits
members who received benefits prior to July 1, 2010, from reenrolling in the FRS should
they again obtain employment with an FRS-covered employer after that date, even if
they are elected officers. See §§ 121.122(2), .053(3)(a), .4501(2)(k); Megiel-Rollo v.
Megiel, 162 So....
