O.C.G.A. § 47-2-223 (2019)
Retirement benefits for those in service in Uniform Division of the Department of Public Safety
(a) For purposes of this Code section, the term ‘‘highest average compensation’’ means the member’s highest average monthly earnable compensation during a period of 24 consecutive calendar months while a member of the retirement system. (b) Anything in this chapter to the contrary notwithstanding, every person who is in service in the Uniform Division of the Department of Public Safety as an officer, noncommissioned officer, or trooper, or as an officer or agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on June 30, 1970, and every person who enters or reenters such service on or after July 1, 1970, may retire at any time after attaining the age of 55 and upon retirement such retiree shall receive the regular retirement benefits under this chapter, provided that he or she shall in any case receive a minimum monthly retirement benefit equal to 2 percent of his or her highest average compensation for each year of creditable service by filing an application therefor in a manner similar to that provided in Code Section 47-2-110.
History
(Ga. L. 1949, p. 138, § 15; Ga. L. 1970, p. 26, § 3; Ga. L. 1971, p. 685, § 2; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1440, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 555, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1104, § 2.)
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Consistent with federal retirement legislation. - O.C.G.A. § 47-2-223 is not a ‘‘subterfuge’’ within the meaning of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), § 4(j)(2), 29 U.S.C. § 623(j)(2), and thus is exempt under § 4(j) from the ADEA’s general ban on mandatory retirement rules. Accordingly, the state trooper’s forced retirement was valid. Knight v. Georgia, 992 F.2d 1541 (11th Cir. 1993). Employee not entitled to early retirement. - Because an employee of the Georgia
Peace Officer Standards and Training Council was never in the service of the Uniform Division of the Georgia Department of Public Safety, an early retirement plan under O.C.G.A. § 47-2-223(b) was never part of the employee’s contract of employment; therefore, the trial court erred by granting the employee’s motion for summary judgment. Employees’ Ret. Sys. of Ga. v. Melton, 294 Ga. App. 634, 669 S.E.2d 692 (2008), cert. denied, No. S09C0459, 2009 Ga. LEXIS 190 (Ga. 2009).
OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Mandatory retirement age may not be waived. - An agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation who has completed 25 years of creditable service towards retirement and who has reached the mandatory age limitation may not have the mandatory age restric-
tion waived by the commissioner of public safety. 1972 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 72-155. Effect of § 47-2-111. - O.C.G.A. § 47-2-111, enacted in 1993, will allow an agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation who is eligible for involuntary separation
retirement benefits to elect retirement or to continue the agent’s employment past the age of 55 and be entitled to the same projection in age and service which would
have been available when that agent was required to retire at age 55 by operation of law. 1993 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 93-12.
RESEARCH REFERENCES ALR. - Mandatory retirement of public officer or employee based on age, 81 ALR3d 811.