"Clarify Local Special Separation Allowance"

Terry Mangum, President and Legislative Committee Chair
 AND
Jeff Gray, Legislative Agent

On Tuesday, June 30th, Senate Bill 986, "Clarify Local Special Separation Allowance," was approved by the House State Government/State Personnel Committee and has been referred to the House Pensions and Retirement Committee.  Then on Wednesday, July 8th, the identical House version of this bill, House Bill 816, passed the Senate Pensions & Retirement and Aging Committee.  Both of these bills were amended in Committee and now provide that any city or county can employ a retired local law enforcement officer in a part-time capacity, in a public safety position, and the officer will not forfeit receipt of the Special Separation Allowance benefit so long as the retired officer’s part-time employment does not require the officer’s participation in the Local Governmental Employees’ Retirement System.*

These bills also clarify that a retired local law enforcement officers’ Special Separation Allowance benefit cannot be terminated if the officer returns to work for the State of North Carolina or a private business employer.  After a law enforcement officer retires, the Special Separation Allowance benefit will only be terminated: 1) upon the officer’s reemployment by a local government in a capacity requiring participation in the Local Governmental Employees’ Retirement System; 2) upon the death of the officer; or 3) on the last day of the month in which the officer becomes 62 years of age.

The original intent of these bills was to clarify the law so that officers could, without question, go back to work for a local government and not loose their Special Separation Allowance benefit.  As you will recall, the counties and cities were interpreting the statute differently, and some municipalities were, by policy, allowing this to occur which further exacerbated the problem.  Limiting the re-employment to a “public safety” capacity was included to garner support. 
House Bill 816 is calendared for its Second Reading on the Senate floor on Monday evening, July 13, 2009. 

* In order to not be required to participate in the Local Governmental Employees’ Retirement System, a retired officer who goes back to work part-time must work less than 1,000 hours and must earn less than $28,080 or less than 50% of compensation, excluding termination payments, reported to the Retirement System during the 12 months of service preceding the effective date of the officer’s retirement.

If you have any questions, please contact Terry Mangum at marman@verizon.net

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A letter and request to complete a survey was sent from Senator Snow's office on June 29, 2007, concerning Senator Snow's proposed 25-year retirement.  You can view the letter and complete the survey at http://www.senatorsnow.com.

This letter has generated many questions from our membership.  This is not the bill (nor does it contain the language) endorsed by the NC FOP Board of Directors.

Senator Snow's bill does theoretically give us a 25-year retirement but it also eliminates the Special Separation Allowance.  Retaining the Special Separation Allowance has always been the position of the NC State FOP Board of Directors - ALWAYS!
 
Senator Snow has indicated that eliminating the Special Separation Allowance is the only way that the 25-year retirement bill will get passed because the League of Municipalities will support it.  The League has historically opposed the Special Separation Allowance, even before it came into existence.  So it is not surprising that the League will support any bill that eliminates the Special Separation Allowance.

There is always opposition to bills.  Are we to believe that the League of Municipalities can actually control the Senate and the fate of our 25-year retirement with the Special Separation Allowance?  The fate of our 25-year retirement bill should rest on the votes of the Senators and Representatives doing the right thing for law enforcement.

While this bill is called a 25-year retirement, it actually depends on the age of the individual when he/she begins their law enforcement career.  For example, an officer who starts at age 21 would have to work 29 years. 21 years old plus 29 years of service = 50 years old.  In this example one year of work would be eliminated, from our current 30-year retirement system, but the officer would not receive the Special Separation Allowance under Senator Snow's proposal.

What are the long term effects of this proposed bill?  While many officers currently in the system would be able to retire with 25-years of service and receive the Special Separation Allowance, Senator Snow's proposal eliminates the separation allowance for officers who are not vested with at least five years of service.  All current officers with less than 5 years of service and all future officers will not receive the Special Separation Allowance.

House Bill 1114, the House version of the law enforcement 25-year retirement (that retains the Special Separation Allowance) is still alive.  This bill contains the language that was approved by the NC FOP Board of Directors.  You can read this bill at http://www.ncleg.net.