2005 Arizona Revised Statutes - Revised Statutes §38-850  Assurances and liabilities; fund manager discretion; overpayments; underpayments

A. Nothing contained in the system shall be construed as a contract of employment between an employer and any employee, or as a right of any employee to be continued in the employment of an employer, or as a limitation of the rights of an employer to discharge any of its employees, with or without cause.

B. No employee shall have any right to, or interest in, any assets of the fund upon termination of his employment or otherwise, except as provided from time to time under the system, and then only to the extent of the benefits payable to such employee out of the assets of the fund. All payments of benefits as provided for in the system shall be made solely out of the assets of the fund and neither the employers, the fund manager, nor any member of the board shall be liable therefor in any manner.

C. Benefits, employee contributions or employer contributions, including interest, earnings and all other credits, payable under this system shall not be subject in any manner to anticipation, alienation, sale, transfer, assignment, pledge, encumbrance, charge, garnishment, execution or levy of any kind, either voluntary or involuntary, prior to actually being received by the person entitled to the benefit, contribution, earning or credit, under the terms of the system, and any attempt to anticipate, alienate, sell, transfer, assign, pledge, encumber, charge or otherwise dispose of any such right hereunder shall be void. The fund shall not in any manner be liable for, or subject to, the debts, contracts, liabilities, engagements or torts of any person entitled to such rights hereunder. This subsection does not preclude arrangements for the withholding of taxes from benefit payments, arrangements for the recovery of benefit overpayments, arrangements for the transfer of benefit rights to another plan or arrangements for direct deposit of benefit payments in an account in a bank, savings and loan association or credit union if the arrangement is not part of an arrangement constituting an assignment or alienation.

D. Neither the employers, the fund manager, the fund manager's administrator, assistant administrators and employees or any member of a local board guarantees the fund in any manner against loss or depreciation, and none of them shall be liable for any act or failure to act, which is made in good faith pursuant to the provisions of the system. The employers shall not be responsible for any act or failure to act of a local board or any of its members or for any act or failure to act of the fund manager. A local board and the individual members of a local board shall not be responsible for any act or failure to act of any employer or the fund manager.

E. The fund manager, in its discretion, may make payment to a person entitled to any payment under the system who is under a legal disability in any one or more of the following ways:

1. Directly to such person.

2. To his legal guardian or conservator.

3. To his spouse or to any other person charged with his support to be expended for his benefit.

F. If, through misstatement or computation error, benefits are underpaid or overpaid, there is no liability for any more than the correct benefit sums under the system. Overpayments may be deducted from future payments under the system, and underpayments may be added to future payments under the system. A member or other benefit recipient may elect to repay in a lump sum any overpayment in lieu of receiving reduced benefits under the system.

G. Nothing in this section exempts employee benefits of any kind from a writ of attachment, a writ of execution, a writ of garnishment and orders of assignment issued by a court of record which are the result of a judgment taken for arrearages for child support or for a child support debt or restitution or fines imposed in accordance with section 38-849, subsection A.