Fulton County School Dist. v. Sanders

• Decision Date: 03 October 1978
• Docket Number: 33970,Nos. 33967,s. 33967
• Citation: 248 S.E.2d 670,242 Ga. 298
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Parties: FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT et al. v. SANDERS et al. SANDERS et al. v. FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT et al.

Page 670

248 S.E.2d 670

242 Ga. 298

FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT et al. v. SANDERS et al.

SANDERS et al. v. FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT et al.

Nos. 33967, 33970.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Submitted Sept. 1, 1978.

Decided Oct. 3, 1978.

Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, James P. Groton, Thomas A. Cox, Atlanta, for appellants in No. 33967.

Frank & Leavenworth, Stephen L. Frank, John Tye Ferguson, Atlanta, for appellees in No. 33967.

Frank & Leavenworth, Stephen L. Frank, Atlanta, for appellants in No. 33970.

Thomas A. Cox, James P. Groton, Charles T. Lester, Jr., John Tye Ferguson, Atlanta, for appellees in No. 33970.

Smith, Cohen, Ringel, Kohler & Martin, Warren C. Fortson, Bruce H. Beerman, Atlanta, Heard, Leverett & Adams, E. Freeman Leverett, Elberton, amici curiae.

NICHOLS, Chief Justice.

Under the equal protection clauses of the State and Federal Constitutions, Miss Sanders, a school teacher, challenges the decision of her employer, the Fulton County School System, compelling her to retire at age 65.

The trial court upheld the local retirement law as against these challenges but then ordered the school system to offer teaching contracts to Miss Sanders until she attains age 70 or until her employment is terminated for cause. The court's order further provides that Miss Sanders shall make no more contributions to, and shall acquire no additional rights under, the retirement fund after attaining age 65, and that her retirement rights shall be computed as of the date she attained age 65 but not paid until she ceases active employment with the school system. In Case No. 33967, the school system appeals from the portions of the order requiring the school system to offer employment to Miss Sanders until she attains age 70 or is removed for cause. In Case No. 33970, Miss Sanders cross appeals from the portion of the order that rejected her equal protection challenges. She contends that she is entitled to continue making contributions to the pension fund until, and to have her pension computed at the time of, her retirement, and is entitled to the benefit of any new rights afforded to others under the system until the date of her retirement.

Able counsel for the litigants and for the parties amicus curiae have furnished this court with briefs comprehensively treating the many issues which arise in instances where a person's employment is terminated simply and solely because of the attainment of a specified age, rather than for cause or for medical reasons. These briefs have been of considerable assistance to the court in analyzing the issues.

The relevant facts and contentions are these: Miss Sanders filed this action upon being informed that pursuant to the laws governing the Fulton County local retirement system, and for no other reason, her employer was insisting that she retire at the end of the school year during which she attained age 65. See Ga.L.1957, pp. 2574, 2576. Her case is narrowly based upon the ground that, as a Fulton County teacher, she was required to join the local retirement system, which mandates retirement at age 65, whereas teachers employed in school systems covered by the Teachers' Retirement System of Georgia are not forced into retirement by law until they attain at least age 70. See Code Ann. § 32-2905(1)(b).

Miss Sanders does not challenge the right of various governmental entities to establish separate and independent retirement systems providing for differing retirement benefits. In her words, "Only that provision of the Fulton County Pension Law which restricts the 'inalienable right' of Fulton County Teachers to work is challenged herein." She insists that although "the state may have a legitimate interest in establishing distinct pension plans for teachers in distinct counties . . . no similar rationale exists for treating state teachers distinctly with regard to the required age of their retirement." Her equal protection argument is best summarized by her assertion that "Georgia teachers are entitled to be treated as one class by the State legislature with respect to their retirement age."

Although a number of recent cases, such as Gault v. Garrison, 569 F.2d 993 (7th Cir. 1977) and Palmer v. Ticcione, 576 F.2d 459 (2d Cir. 1978), have involved challenges to statutes providing for mandatory retirement at a certain age, Miss Sanders insists that "the only known case which presents the identical constitutional issue as that involved in this action" is Bradley v. Vance, 436 F.Supp. 134 (D.C.D.C.1977), juris. noted in 436 U.S. 903, 98 S.Ct. 2230, 56 L.Ed.2d 400, in which the district court held that the federal statute mandating retirement at age 60 denied equal protection to federal foreign service personnel because no rational basis was offered by the federal government for treating such employees differently from federal civil service employees who are forced by law to retire at age 70.

This court has concluded that the retirement age classification at issue in the present case is "rationally related" to the furtherance of a legitimate state interest. Massachusetts Bd. of Retirement v. Murgia, 427 U.S. 307, 96 S.Ct. 2562, 49 L.Ed.2d 520 (1976). The General Assembly is free to make classifications so long as they are not arbitrary and unreasonable. Smith v. Abercrombie, 235 Ga. 741, 744, 221 S.E.2d 802 (1975). In applying the "rational basis test," if any state of facts reasonably can be conceived that would sustain the classification, then the existence of that state of facts at the time the law was enacted will be assumed and the law will be upheld. McCullers v. Williamson, 221 Ga. 358, 366, 144 S.E.2d 911 (1965); Lindsley v. Natural Carbonic Gas Co., 220 U.S. 61, 31 S.Ct. 337, 55 L.Ed. 369 (1911); Massachusetts Bd. of Retirement v. Murgia, supra....