State ex rel. Helman v. Gallegos, 12614
| Decision Date | 29 June 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 12614,12614 |
| Citation | 114 N.M. 414,839 P.2d 624,1992 NMCA 72 |
| Parties | STATE of New Mexico ex rel. Leonard A. HELMAN, Robert Vigil and Francis West, on behalf of themselves and the class of all persons similarly situated, Petitioners-Appellees, v. Carlos GALLEGOS, Executive Secretary, New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association; New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Board et al., Respondents-Appellants. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of New Mexico |
Public Employees Retirement Board (PERB) appeals from a judgment of the district court requiring that PERB refund 11/12ths of the purchase cost of service credit to Petitioners who paid twelve times the cost prescribed by the statute and allow the others to pay the cost prescribed by the statute. PERB claims that the district court erred by: (1) elevating the literal words of the statute above the legislative intent; (2) not concluding that Petitioners are barred from recovery under the doctrine of laches; and (3) not concluding that class members who paid for their purchases of credited service without formal protest were barred from recovering any portion of their payments.
We agree with the district court that the plain and unambiguous language of the legislation does not allow for judicial interpretation ; therefore, we will not engage in statutory construction. As a corollary to that holding, we also conclude that the Public Employees Retirement Association's (PERA) Rule 1300.10, promulgated to clarify what PERB considered statutory ambiguities, was beyond the authority of PERB and therefore void. Finally, we reject PERB's defenses of laches and voluntary payment as insupportable. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's decision.
The New Mexico Legislature has adopted, and at times revised, the Public Employees Retirement Act (Act), NMSA 1978, Secs. 10-11-1 to -140 (Repl.Pamp.1990). Throughout the period of employment, participating state government and other public employees earn service credit through mandatory employer and employee contributions to the PERA. An employee must have a certain number of years of credit to retire under the Act, the number of years required depending upon the age of the employee. The employee's pension, calculated as a percentage of the employee's final average salary, also depends on the number of years of service credit.
In order to encourage early retirement, the legislature has, at times, provided a method for employees to purchase service credit. This action involves one such provision. 1987 New Mexico Laws, Chapter 253, Section 139 (Section 139), in force during the 76th fiscal year (July 1, 1987 to June 30, 1988), allowed employees to purchase up to five years of additional service credit if they retired after purchasing the credit. Section 139 states:
Section 139. TEMPORARY PROVISION--PURCHASE OF CREDITED SERVICE.--
A member may purchase not more than five years of credited service during the seventy-fifth or seventy-sixth fiscal year subject to the following conditions:
A. the member has five or more years of credited service acquired as a result of personal service rendered in the employ of an affiliated public employer;
B. the member reinstates all forfeited credited service;
C. the purchase cost for each year of credited service purchased under the provisions of this section is an amount equal to the member's final average salary multiplied by the sum of the member contribution rate and the employer contribution rate for the coverage plan applicable to the member; and
D. the purchase cost shall be paid to the association in one payment and the member shall retire the first day of the month following payment of the purchase cost. [Emphasis added.]
Under the applicable coverage plan, an employee's "final average salary" is defined as "one thirty-sixth of the greatest aggregate amount of salary paid a member for thirty-six consecutive months of credited service." See 1987 N.M.Laws, ch. 253, Sec. 24. The use of the term "final average salary" resulted in a literal reading of Section 139 to permit an employee to purchase one year of service credit for one month's contributions.
PERB first became aware of this interpretation of Section 139 after the recodification became law, but prior to its effective date. To effectuate what it viewed as the legislative intent, PERB promulgated PERA Rule 1300.10 which went into effect the same day as Section 139. The Rule, according to PERB, was intended to clarify that service credit was to be purchased proportionately, and one year's service credit could be purchased with one year's contributions.
From July 1, 1987, to June 30, 1988, PERB calculated the purchase cost of service credit under Rule 1300.10. After purchasing service credit under Section 139, 415 employees retired from public employment. Two of these 415 employees were Petitioners Helman and Vigil. Both Helman and Vigil paid for the service credit under written protest, claiming that the cost should be 1/12th of what they were being charged. Petitioner West also filed a written protest although he did not purchase service credit allegedly because of the high purchase cost. On January 13 1989, Petitioners filed a mandamus action seeking to compel PERB to refund 11/12ths of the cost of the service credit, and to allow Petitioner West to purchase the service credit at 1/12th of the cost. A class of 237 public employees who purchased service credit under Section 139 was certified by the court. The three named Petitioners and 128 of the 237 employees joined the instant action.
The district court concluded that:
Section 139 as written is not ambiguous, absurd, or contradictory. Therefore current New Mexico case law prohibits the Court from interpreting, resorting to legislative history, or redrafting the language to conform it to reason or common sense, even though the evidence was that the drafters of the legislation did not intend the result required by the language.
The court also concluded that PERB's Rule 1300.10 was unlawful and exceeded PERB's authority because the Rule contradicted the plain statutory formula for calculating Petitioners' cost for service credit. Finally, although the district court did not make express findings as to laches or the failure to file a written protest, it did refuse PERB's requested findings on those issues which we treat as findings against that party. See Landskroner v. McClure, 107 N.M. 773, 775, 765 P.2d 189, 191 (1988).
The district court granted a permanent writ of mandamus, entered a declaratory judgment, and ordered refunds of 11/12ths of the purchase cost to Petitioners and the class. We agree with the district court; therefore, we affirm.
Petitioners contend that an unambiguous statute does not require, and indeed does not permit, judicial interpretation. This court has previously stated that "[s]tate statutes are to be given effect as written and, where they are free from ambiguity, there is no room for construction; where the meaning of statutory language is plain, and words used by the legislature are free from ambiguity, there is no basis for interpreting the statute...." Johnson v. Francke, 105 N.M. 564, 566, 734 P.2d 804, 806 (Ct.App.1987) (citation omitted); see also State v. Jonathan M., 109 N.M. 789, 790, 791 P.2d 64, 65 (1990) (); Perea v. Baca, 94 N.M. 624, 627, 614 P.2d 541, 544 (1980) (). See generally 2A Norman J. Singer, Statutes and Statutory Construction Sec. 45.02, at 5 (5th ed. 1992) ().
While recognizing this rule, PERB forcefully argues that Section 139 is not only ambiguous but leads to absurd results and therefore requires judicial interpretation. To be sure, a court may indulge in statutory construction or interpretation if the statute in question is vague, see, e.g., State v. Roswell Indep. Schs., 111 N.M. 495, 500, 806 P.2d 1085, 1090 (Ct.App.1991), and will construe a statute to avoid an absurd result. See, e.g., id. at 502, 806 P.2d at 1092. Although we conclude that the legislation is clear and unambiguous and therefore requires no interpretation, we address PERB's arguments only to explain why they do not require a different result. We first examine whether the statute in question is ambiguous.
The determination of whether a statute is ambiguous is a question of law for the court to decide. See New Mexico State Bd. of Educ. v. Board of Educ. of Alamogordo Pub. Sch. Dist., 95 N.M. 588, 590, 624 P.2d 530, 532 (1981). PERB claims that Section 139 is ambiguous for three reasons.
First, PERB points out that, although Section 139 became effective on July 1, 1987, the beginning of the 76th fiscal year, the terms of the statute provide that a member may purchase service credit "during the seventy-fifth or seventy-sixth fiscal year." 1987 N.M.Laws, ch. 253, Sec. 139. PERB claims that this language makes Section 139 "unclear, doubtful and materially ambiguous." We fail to see how the addition of the "seventy-fifth ... fiscal year" in any way affects the computation of costs to Petitioners. Inclusion of the phrase "seventy-fifth ... fiscal year" might arguably have some effect on purchases of credit in...
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