Rowan v. Pennsylvania State Employes' Retirement Bd.
Decision Date | 15 November 1996 |
Citation | 685 A.2d 238 |
Parties | Donald M. ROWAN, Petitioner, v. PENNSYLVANIA STATE EMPLOYES' RETIREMENT BOARD, Respondent. |
Court | Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court |
Michael J. Romance, Frackville, for Petitioner.
Harold E. Dunbar, Harrisburg, for Respondent.
Before SMITH and FLAHERTY, JJ., and NARICK, Senior Judge.
Donald M. Rowan petitions for review of an order of the Pennsylvania State Employes' Retirement Board (Board) that denied his request to purchase service credit for the periods of time while he was disabled due to a work-related injury and was receiving workers' compensation benefits. Rowan contends that the Board erred in determining that he was not entitled to purchase service credit for the periods during which he received workers' compensation benefits from November 24, 1982 through June 6, 1983 and from October 14, 1983 through July 10, 1986.
Rowan first became a member of the State Employes' Retirement System (SERS) on September 9, 1955 by virtue of his employment with the Department of Transportation. On May 3, 1982, Rowan began working for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. During the course of his employment, Rowan sustained a compensable injury; he received workers' compensation benefits for the periods November 24, 1982 through June 6, 1983 and October 14, 1983 through July 10, 1986. Rowan commuted the remainder of his workers' compensation benefits on July 10, 1986, and thereafter Rowan terminated his employment with the Turnpike Commission. During the periods Rowan received workers' compensation he did not work or make any contributions to the SERS, and the Turnpike Commission did not inform Rowan that during these periods no contributions were made on his behalf to the SERS.
After leaving the Turnpike Commission, Rowan obtained employment with the Department of the Treasury and sought an administrative hearing on his request for credit for the periods during which he received workers' compensation. A hearing was held before a hearing examiner who denied Rowan's request to purchase service credit. The Board denied Rowan's appeal, concluding that no provision of the State Employees' Retirement Code (Retirement Code), 71 Pa.C.S. §§ 5101-5956, permitted Rowan to receive retirement credit for the periods he collected workers' compensation; no equitable basis existed for granting Rowan's request; the SERS had no duty to inform a Commonwealth employee on workers' compensation that the employee's employer would not make retirement contributions during the period the employee remained on workers' compensation; and Rowan failed to state a cognizable due process claim. 1
Rowan cites Wright v. State Employees' Retirement Board, 135 Pa.Cmwlth. 95, 580 A.2d 422 (1990), appeal denied, 527 Pa. 660, 593 A.2d 429 (1991), for the proposition that as a state employee, he should be entitled to purchase service credit under the Retirement Code. To support his position, Rowan relies on Shafer v. State Employes' Retirement Board, 667 A.2d 1209 (Pa.Cmwlth.1995), where a professor was allowed to purchase nonstate service credit for the period of time he spent in a foreign country, and Hunsicker v. State Employes' Retirement Board, 28 Pa.Cmwlth. 596, 370 A.2d 397 (1977), where a state employee was allowed to purchase credit for time spent in military service. Rowan maintains that to allow a state employee who serves in another state or in the military the opportunity to purchase credit for that service while denying the same right to Rowan, who would have continued to work for this state had he not been injured on the job, is totally arbitrary, extremely unfair and equitably unjust.
In contrast, the Board contends that a state employee has rights to retirement benefits only to the extent that those rights are defined in the Retirement Code. The Board cites Bittenbender v. State Employees' Retirement Board, 154 Pa.Cmwlth. 11, 622 A.2d 403, 405 (1992), where the Court stated that the SERS is entirely a creature of the legislature, and therefore "an employee has only those rights created by statute and none beyond it." (Emphasis added.) In Bittenbender the Court held that the Board cannot be equitably estopped from asserting a statutory provision to correct an error made by an SERS employee in determining benefits due a member, beneficiary or survivor annuitant. 2
Rowan contends that because the Turnpike Commission had no objection to his purchase of service credit for the periods in question, the Board is estopped from denying him this right. However, neither the Turnpike Commission nor any other state agency has the statutory authority to bind the SERS to accept a request to purchase service credit where the claimant is not so entitled. Watrel v. Department of Education, 513 Pa. 61, 518 A.2d 1158 (1986). See also Costanza v. Department of Environmental Resources, 146 Pa.Cmwlth. 588, 590, 606 A.2d 645, 646 (1992) (). Accordingly, the Board has no authority to grant equitable relief in contravention of the statutory mandates of the Retirement Code.
In view of the foregoing, Rowan's claim for retirement credit for the time he received workers' compensation benefits must be based on a specific provision of the Retirement Code. The Board correctly asserts that there is no such statutory provision. Under Section 5102 of the Retirement Code, as amended, 71 Pa.C.S. § 5102, "[c]redited service" is defined as either "[s]tate or creditable nonstate service [ 3] for which the required contributions have been made ... or for which salary deductions or lump sum payments have been agreed upon in writing." In Watrel, the Supreme Court held that once a state employee ceased to be an active member, the employee was no longer entitled to retirement credit under the Retirement Code. Similarly, in Leavey v. State Employes'...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Mariano v. City of Phila.
...no authority to grant equitable relief in contravention of the statutory mandates of the Retirement Code. Rowan v. Pennsylvania State Employes' Retirement Board, 685 A.2d 238, 240 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1996)....Martorano, 940 A.2d at 601. See also Pequea Township v. Herr, 716 A.2d 678, 686 (Pa. Cmwl......
-
Weaver v. State Employees' Ret. Bd.
...639, 644 (1993) ). The Board has no authority to grant equitable relief contrary to the mandates of the Retirement Code. Rowan v. State Emps.' Ret. Bd., 685 A.2d 238 (Pa.Cmwlth.1996). Moreover, "[t]he Retirement Code cannot be revised by the courts to achieve equitable results." Mager v. St......
-
Trakes v. PSERS
...status of workers' compensation recipients within the context of the State Employees Retirement System (SERS) in Rowan v. State Employes' Retirement Board, 685 A.2d 238 (1996). SERS and PSERS are similar statutory programs that establish retirement and disability annuity programs for state ......
-
Marinucci v. STATE EMPLOYEES'RET. SYSTEM
...no authority to grant equitable relief in contravention of the statutory mandates of the Retirement Code. Rowan v. Pennsylvania State Employes' Retirement Board, 685 A.2d 238, 240 (Pa.Cmwlth.1996). "The Retirement Code cannot be revised by the courts to achieve equitable results." Mager v. ......