Attorney General Opinion No. 1999-014

Download or read book Attorney General Opinion No. 1999-014 written by Carla J. Stovall and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In order to ensure that a unified school district remains within the authority conferred under K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 72-5395, it is advisable that the school district have in place some mechanism or procedure for establishing the penalty incurred under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) or the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) by an employee who retires before the normal retirement age of 65 years. However, the existence of such a mechanism is not statutorily required. The fact that the early retirement incentive plan of a unified school district does not have such a mechanism in place does not, in and of itself, invalidate the plan. A person is deemed to reach "retirement age" when the person turns 65 years of age. While a person is entitled to receive a monthly old-age insurance benefit upon attaining the age of 62, the amount of the monthly benefit is reduced pursuant to a formula enacted by Congress. This reduction is the "penalty" referred to in K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 72-5395. The authority of the school district is limited to establishing an early retirement incentive program which reduces in whole or in part the penalty incurred under FICA or KPERS for retiring before the normal retirement age. A school district exceeds its statutory authority if it confers a benefit under an early retirement incentive program to an employee who has not incurred a penalty under FICA or KPERS for retiring early. An early retirement incentive plan which provides benefits on a sliding scale based solely on the age of the plan participants, resulting in a reduction of the benefits available to older plan participants, violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act as amended by the Older Workers' Benefit Protection Act of 1990. Cited herein: K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 72-5395; 29 U.S.C.A. section 621; 29 U.S.C.A. section 623; 42 U.S.C.A. section 402; 42 U.S.C.A. section 415; 42 U.S.C.A. section 416; Pub. L. 101-433, 104 Stat. 978 (1990).