RES-2009-073 Undiminished Ret Benefits to furloughed emp who are members of Local Gov Emp Ret Syst

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~°.9s'io -moo -09 ~£S - aooG- 0~3 3 ~'~ ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS A RESOLUTION TO ELECT TO PROVIDE FURLOUGHED EMPLOYEES WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM UNDIlVIINISHED RETIItEMENT BENEFITS WHEREAS, on June 16, 2009 the Orange County Board of Commissioners approved an amendment to the Orange County Personnel Ordinance, Article IV, Section 24.0, providing for Furlough Leave, whereby an employee takes either voluntary or involuntary unpaid leave; and WHEREAS, in the Personnel Ordinance the Orange County Board of Commissioners safeguarded employee benefits who take a furlough by providing that the employee retains seniority, the County continues paying employer paid benefits and the employee continues to earn and retain all leave at the same rate as if they had not taken a furlough; and WHEREAS, the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System (LGERS), which Orange County employees are members thereof, is governed by state law and individual local government employers cannot make any changes to the formula governing their contributions to LGERS; and WHEREAS, because Orange County could not make any changes to the formula without a change in the law, the County could not safeguard its employee contributions made to the Local Governmental Employees Retirement System which in effect diminished an employee on furlough's retirement benefits; and WHEREAS, on July 31, 2009 Session Law 2009-378 (Senate Bi11658) was enacted, which provides that if a member of the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System took a fiulough on or after January 1, 2009 and before July 1, 2010, it would not diminish the employee's status in the retirement system where the local government employer has made cone-time irrevocable election; and WHEREAS, Session Law 2009-378 also provides that once an election is made, a public employee who is member of the Local Government Employees' Retirement System shall be considered in active service during any period of furlough and shall be entitled to all of the same benefits to which the employee was entitled on the workday immediately preceding the furlough; and WHEREAS, Session Law 2009-378 further provides that once the election is made a public employee would suffer no diminution of retirement average final compensation based on being on furlough, and the retirement average final compensation shall be calculated based on the undiminished compensation; and WHEREAS, Session Law 2009-378 further provides upon election the employer shall pay both employee and employer contribution to the Retirement Systems Division on behalf of the furloughed employee as though the employee were in active service; and WHEREAS, any employer who elects to cover its furloughed employees in accordance with Session Law 2009-378 shall include earnings lost due to furloughs taken after January 1, 2009 and before July 1, 2009 in the reported compensation and contributions for either July or August 2009; and WHEREAS, any contributions lost due to furloughs must be reported to the Retirement System Division within 90 days of the beginning of the period in which the compensation and contributions will be included.