2009 California Government Code - Section 19996.30-19996.39 :: Article 1.7. Reduced Worktime For Partial Service Retirement

19996.30.  This article shall be known and may be cited as the
"Partial Service Retirement Act."

19996.31.  It is the intent of the Legislature in adopting this
article to pursue the following objectives:
   (a) To protect the fiscal soundness of the Public Employees'
Retirement System.
   (b) To increase the number and kinds of retirement options
available to members of the system.
   (c) To enhance the quality of service to the general public by
retaining longer, on the average, the skill and expertise of our most
experienced public servants.
   (d) To reduce insofar as possible by this indirect means the
social costs attributable to inappropriate or premature severance of
connection with the labor market by retirees.
   (e) To conduct and disseminate studies determining the extent to
which the concepts embodied in this article are effective in
achieving such objectives in hopes that, if successful, the program
established under this article may be useful as a guide for extension
of the concept to other retirement systems, public and private.

19996.32.  Any state employee, or legislative employee, who is a
state miscellaneous or industrial member working standard hours on a
full-time basis, other than a university member, of the Public
Employees' Retirement System and who is eligible to retire pursuant
to Section 20953 may elect to participate in reduced worktime for
partial service retirement pursuant to this article, provided that
the participation may be modified only pursuant to Section 19996.37.

19996.33.  "Reduced worktime for partial service retirement" means
any arrangement of worktime agreeable to both the appointing
authority and the employee which aggregates no less, on a monthly
basis, than a 20 percent reduction nor more than a 60 percent
reduction from what would in that classification be considered
full-time employment, combined with the concurrent payment of
proportionally reduced compensation and proportionally reduced
retirement benefits. As used in this section, and Section 19996.37,
"appointing authority" means, with respect to legislative employees,
the Joint Rules Committee, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee,
the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, the Senate Rules Committee,
and the Assembly Rules Committee.

19996.34.  It is the policy of the state that reduced worktime for
partial service retirement shall be made available to state employees
and legislative employees eligible pursuant to Section 19996.32 who
do not desire to work standard working hours on a full-time basis.
Further, it is the intent of the Legislature that nothing in this act
shall be used to reduce the number of full-time equivalency
positions authorized to any department.

19996.35.  (a) Any employee who is being coerced, or who has been
required, by the appointing power, a supervisor, or another employee,
to involuntarily reduce his or her worktime for partial service
retirement contrary to the intent of this article, or who has been
unreasonably denied the right to participate in this program, may
file a grievance in accordance with either the applicable memorandum
of understanding or rules and regulations of the department.
   (b) Nothing in this article shall impair the employment or
employment rights or benefits of any employee.

19996.36.  In counting the number of employees any state agency
employs for purposes of any personnel ceiling, an employee employed
on a reduced worktime basis for partial service retirement shall be
counted as a fraction which is determined by dividing 40 hours into
the average number of hours that an employee works each week.

19996.37.  (a) A permanent state employee or legislative employee
who voluntarily reduces his or her worktime for partial service
retirement pursuant to this article shall, upon request and subject
to subdivision (b), be given priority for returning to a full-time
work schedule to the extent that such full-time work is available;
provided, that any employee who so voluntarily returns to full-time
work shall be ineligible for five years thereafter to again
participate pursuant to this article. The appointing authority may
require a participating employee to return to full-time employment
only if a state of emergency has been declared pursuant to Section
8558 which affects the area of the state in which the employee works.
   (b) A state employee or a legislative employee who is
participating pursuant to this article in reduced worktime for
partial service retirement may: (1) elect only once in each fiscal
year to further reduce his or her worktime; (2) elect only once in
five years to increase his or her worktime to another less than
full-time schedule.

19996.38.  If the provisions of this article are in conflict with
the provisions of a memorandum of understanding reached pursuant to
Section 3517.5, the memorandum of understanding shall be controlling
without further legislative action, except that if such provisions of
a memorandum of understanding require the expenditure of funds, the
provisions shall not become effective unless approved by the
Legislature in the annual Budget Act.

19996.39.  All persons employed in reduced worktime positions for
partial service retirement pursuant to this article, shall receive
proportionally reduced compensation and, on a pro rata basis, except
for benefits provided under the Public Employees' Medical and
Hospital Care Act, the State Employees' Dental Care Act, and the
California Dental Service program, all benefits customarily available
to full-time employees of state agencies in similar classes or
positions. With regard to benefits provided under the Public
Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act, persons employed in reduced
worktime positions for partial service retirement shall receive the
same benefits as are provided by law for employees under the same
circumstances who are employed, full time. The department may, for
purposes of administrative efficiency, treat the class of partially
retired employees as fully employed with respect to health care
benefits, provided that such administrative treatment does not impair
the level of benefits to which the class would be entitled if
treated administratively another way.