2020 Georgia Code
Title 47 - Retirement and Pensions
Chapter 2 - Employees' Retirement System of Georgia
Article 9 - Miscellaneous Provisions
§ 47-2-333. Attempts to Defraud the Retirement System by False Statements or Falsified Records; Adjustments of Erroneous Payments
- Any person who shall knowingly make any false statements or shall falsify or permit to be falsified any records of the retirement system in an attempt to defraud the system shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500.00, imprisonment not exceeding 12 months, or both.
- If any change or error in the records of the retirement system results in any member or beneficiary receiving from it more or less than he would have been entitled to receive had the records been correct, the board of trustees shall have the power to correct such error and to adjust the payments as far as practicable and in such manner that the actuarial equivalent of the benefit to which such member or beneficiary was correctly entitled shall be paid.
(Ga. L. 1949, p. 138, § 10.)
OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Former member cannot claim increase by law authorizing additional benefits.
- Primary "object" or purpose of the language in Ga. L. 1951, pp. 394 and 396 (see O.C.G.A. § 47-2-70(c)) is to prevent a former member presently receiving a retirement benefit from claiming increased benefits as a result of an amendment to the law authorizing such additional benefits to existing members; this was not intended to prevent a former member from obtaining service credits or benefits which the member was rightfully entitled to prior to the member's retirement, but which the member never received by virtue of an honest mistake or error in the member's records. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-58.
Correct records for claimed creditable armed forces' service.- Board of trustees has the statutory authority to correct the board's records and extend to a former member the appropriate amount of claimed creditable service for service in the armed forces of the United States. 1977 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 77-24.
