SECTIONS 20160-20164 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 20160-20164

20160. (a) Subject to subdivisions (c) and (d), the board may, in
its discretion and upon any terms it deems just, correct the errors
or omissions of any active or retired member, or any beneficiary of
an active or retired member, provided that all of the following facts
exist:
(1) The request, claim, or demand to correct the error or omission
is made by the party seeking correction within a reasonable time
after discovery of the right to make the correction, which in no case
shall exceed six months after discovery of this right.
(2) The error or omission was the result of mistake, inadvertence,
surprise, or excusable neglect, as each of those terms is used in
Section 473 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
(3) The correction will not provide the party seeking correction
with a status, right, or obligation not otherwise available under
this part.
Failure by a member or beneficiary to make the inquiry that would
be made by a reasonable person in like or similar circumstances does
not constitute an "error or omission" correctable under this section.
(b) Subject to subdivisions (c) and (d), the board shall correct
all actions taken as a result of errors or omissions of the
university, any contracting agency, any state agency or department,
or this system.
(c) The duty and power of the board to correct mistakes, as
provided in this section, shall terminate upon the expiration of
obligations of this system to the party seeking correction of the
error or omission, as those obligations are defined by Section 20164.
(d) The party seeking correction of an error or omission pursuant
to this section has the burden of presenting documentation or other
evidence to the board establishing the right to correction pursuant
to subdivisions (a) and (b).
(e) Corrections of errors or omissions pursuant to this section
shall be such that the status, rights, and obligations of all parties
described in subdivisions (a) and (b) are adjusted to be the same
that they would have been if the act that would have been taken, but
for the error or omission, was taken at the proper time. However,
notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this section,
corrections made pursuant to this section shall adjust the status,
rights, and obligations of all parties described in subdivisions (a)
and (b) as of the time that the correction actually takes place if
the board finds any of the following:
(1) That the correction cannot be performed in a retroactive
manner.
(2) That even if the correction can be performed in a retroactive
manner, the status, rights, and obligations of all of the parties
described in subdivisions (a) and (b) cannot be adjusted to be the
same that they would have been if the error or omission had not
occurred.
(3) That the purposes of this part will not be effectuated if the
correction is performed in a retroactive manner.

20161. Notwithstanding any other provision of this part or of
Section 13943.2 or 16302.1 to the contrary, the following shall
apply:
(a) When there has been a payment of death benefits, a return of
accumulated contributions, a contribution adjustment, or a deposit of
contributions, this system may refrain from collecting an
underpayment of accumulated contributions if the amount to be
collected is two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or less.
(b) When there has been a payment of death benefits, a return of
accumulated contributions, a contribution adjustment, or a deposit of
contributions, and there is a balance of fifty dollars ($50) or less
remaining posted to a member's individual account, or an overpayment
of fifty dollars ($50) or less was received, this system may
dispense with a return of accumulated contributions.
(c) When there is a positive or negative balance of two hundred
fifty dollars ($250) or less remaining posted to a member's
individual account, or the balance exceeds two hundred fifty dollars
($250) but the difference to the monthly allowance unmodified by any
optional settlement is less than five dollars ($5), this system may
dispense with any recalculation of, or other adjustment to, benefit
payments.
(d) The dollar amounts specified in subdivisions (a) and (c) shall
be adjusted in accordance with any changes in the dollar amounts
specified in Section 13943.2.

20163. (a) If more or less than the correct amount of contribution
required of members, the state, or any contracting agency, is paid,
proper adjustment shall be made in connection with subsequent
payments, or the adjustments may be made by direct cash payments
between the member, state, or contracting agency concerned and the
board or by adjustment of the employer's rate of contribution.
Adjustments to correct any other errors in payments to or by the
board, including adjustments of contributions, with interest, that
are found to be erroneous as the result of corrections of dates of
birth, may be made in the same manner. Adjustments to correct
overpayment of a retirement allowance may also be made by adjusting
the allowance so that the retired person or the retired person and
his or her beneficiary, as the case may be, will receive the
actuarial equivalent of the allowance to which the member is
entitled. Losses or gains resulting from error in amounts within the
limits set by the California Victim Compensation and Government
Claims Board for automatic writeoff, and losses or gains in greater
amounts specifically approved for writeoff by the California Victim
Compensation and Government Claims Board, shall be debited or
credited, as the case may be, to the reserve against deficiencies in
interest earned in other years, losses under investments, and other
contingencies.
(b) No adjustment shall be made because less than the correct
amount of normal contributions was paid by a member if the board
finds that the error was not known to the member and was not the
result of erroneous information provided by him or her to this system
or to his or her employer. The failure to adjust shall not preclude
action under Section 20160 correcting the date upon which the person
became a member.
(c) The actuarial equivalent under this section shall be computed
on the basis of the mortality tables and actuarial interest rate in
effect under this system on December 1, 1970, for retirements
effective through December 31, 1979. Commencing with retirements
effective January 1, 1980, and at corresponding 10-year intervals
thereafter, or more frequently at the board's discretion, the board
shall change the basis for calculating actuarial equivalents under
this article to agree with the interest rate and mortality tables in
effect at the commencement of each 10-year or succeeding interval.

20164. (a) The obligations of this system to its members continue
throughout their respective memberships, and the obligations of this
system to and in respect to retired members continue throughout the
lives of the respective retired members, and thereafter until all
obligations to their respective beneficiaries under optional
settlements have been discharged. The obligations of the state and
contracting agencies to this system in respect to members employed by
them, respectively, continue throughout the memberships of the
respective members, and the obligations of the state and contracting
agencies to this system in respect to retired members formerly
employed by them, respectively, continue until all of the obligations
of this system in respect to those retired members, respectively,
have been discharged. The obligations of any member to this system
continue throughout his or her membership, and thereafter until all
of the obligations of this system to or in respect to him or her have
been discharged.
(b) For the purposes of payments into or out of the retirement
fund for adjustment of errors or omissions, whether pursuant to
Section 20160, 20163, or 20532, or otherwise, the period of
limitation of actions shall be three years, and shall be applied as
follows:
(1) In cases where this system makes an erroneous payment to a
member or beneficiary, this system's right to collect shall expire
three years from the date of payment.
(2) In cases where this system owes money to a member or
beneficiary, the period of limitations shall not apply.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), in cases where payment is
erroneous because of the death of the retired member or beneficiary
or because of the remarriage of the beneficiary, the period of
limitation shall be 10 years and shall commence with the discovery of
the erroneous payment.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), where any payment has been
made as a result of fraudulent reports for compensation made, or
caused to be made, by a member for his or her own benefit, the period
of limitation shall be 10 years and that period shall commence
either from the date of payment or upon discovery of the fraudulent
reporting, whichever date is later.
(e) The board shall determine the applicability of the period of
limitations in any case, and its determination with respect to the
running of any period of limitation shall be conclusive and binding
for purposes of correcting the error or omission.