State ex rel. Ryan v. State Teachers Retirement Sys.

• Decision Date: 23 December 1994
• Docket Number: No. 94-1412,94-1412
• Citation: 71 Ohio St.3d 362,643 N.E.2d 1122
• Parties: , 96 Ed. Law Rep. 692 The STATE ex rel. RYAN v. STATE TEACHERS RETIREMENT SYSTEM et al.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Page 362

71 Ohio St.3d 362

643 N.E.2d 1122, 96 Ed. Law Rep. 692

The STATE ex rel. RYAN v. STATE TEACHERS RETIREMENT SYSTEM et al.

No. 94-1412.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted Nov. 29, 1994.

Decided Dec. 23, 1994.

On July 22, 1955, respondent School Employees Retirement Board ("SERBD"), the statutory administrator of respondent School Employees Retirement System ("SERS"), passed Resolution No. 104-4, which purported to, inter alia, deny membership in SERS to students enrolled in employing schools, except that optional membership on an individual basis was also provided. Relator, Mary M. Ryan, was employed as a switchboard operator by the Cleveland School District for one hundred and forty-nine days from October 1955 through June 1956, at West High School in Cleveland. During her employment, Ryan was a student at the school.

On October 1, 1957, SERBD passed Resolution No. 126, which rescinded Resolution No. 104-4, and made membership in SERS compulsory for school employees (except students currently enrolled) "whose employment during a year extends beyond a period beginning with the first date of employment and ending on the same date of the third month following the month of first employment." Ryan, no longer a student at the high school, was employed by the Cleveland School District for forty-one days in July and August of the 1959-1960 school year as a playground supervisor.

There is no SERS member record for Ryan and no employer or employee contributions were ever received on behalf of Ryan by SERS. Where SERS membership was not required but was optional, no waiver or exemption forms were provided to an employee if that employee did not desire membership. In addition, SERS considered it incumbent on employees to whom membership was optional under applicable resolutions to complete and file with SERS a member record and make contributions if the employee wanted to establish membership in SERS. Neither Resolution No. 104-4 nor Resolution No. 126 was ever filed in the office of the Secretary of State under the applicable version of R.C. 111.15.

Ryan is currently employed by the Berea City School District and is a member of respondent State Teachers Retirement System ("STRS"). In June 1993, Ryan requested the Cleveland School District to certify her prior nonteaching employment with it to STRS on a form provided by STRS's statutory administrator, respondent State Teachers Retirement Board ("STRB"). The form was entitled "Certification of Non-teaching Public School Service in Ohio on Which No Contributions Were Sent to School Employees Retirement System." Ryan planned to retire at the conclusion of the 1993-1994 school year. In November 1993, the Cleveland School District certified 1.222 years of service credit for Ryan's prior nonteaching employment.

STRS reviewed the certification and forwarded the matter to SERS, which determined that Ryan was exempt from membership in SERS during her 1.222 years of service with the Cleveland School District. By correspondence dated January 31, 1994, STRS sent Ryan a cost statement that indicated that she could purchase credit for her "waived/exempted service" pursuant to R.C. 3307.22. In March 1994, Ryan requested that STRS compute the cost to purchase her service with the Cleveland School District under R.C. 3307.411 instead of 3307.22 because she had never exempted herself from membership in SERS during that employment. STRS responded by specifying that SERS certified her 1.222 years of service with the Cleveland School District as exempt service because SERS "considers all student employment as Waived/Exempt service." STRS rejected Ryan's request to purchase her Cleveland School District service pursuant to R.C. 3307.411.

In July 1994, Ryan initiated this action, requesting that a writ of mandamus be issued ordering (1) SERS and SERBD to certify to STRS that Ryan's service with the Cleveland School District was not service for which she had exempted herself from membership, and (2) STRS and STRB to determine the cost to Ryan of purchasing 1.222 years of service credit under R.C. 3307.411, provide her with a statement setting forth the total cost of purchase, and permit purchase in accordance with the R.C. 3307.411 computation. After respondents filed answers to the complaint, this court issued an alternative writ. 70 Ohio St.3d 1423, 638 N.E.2d 86.

The cause is now before this court upon the evidence and briefs submitted by the parties.

John D. Ryan, Cleveland, for relator.

Lee Fisher, Atty. Gen., and Michael W. Gleespen, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondents State Teachers Retirement System and State Teachers Retirement Bd Lee Fisher, Atty. Gen., and Christopher S. Cook, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondents School Employees Retirement System and School Employees Retirement Bd.

PER CURIAM.

Respondents agree that Ryan does not have an adequate alternative remedy and that mandamus is the proper vehicle to determine her claims. See State ex rel. Madden v. Windham Exempted Village School Dist. Bd. of Edn. (1989), 42 Ohio St.3d 86, 88, 537 N.E.2d 646, 647 (claim by public employee of entitlement to wages or benefits granted by statute actionable in mandamus); State ex rel. Kmart v. Westlake Planning Comm. (1994), 68 Ohio St.3d 151, 158, 624 N.E.2d 714, 720 (declaratory judgment not an adequate remedy where incomplete without a mandatory injunction). Respondents dispute whether Ryan has established a clear legal right to the relief requested and a corresponding clear legal duty on their part to provide it.

Service credit is an important criterion for determining eligibility for retirement and the amount of retirement benefits, and STRS members may purchase service credit for certain state or federal employment not covered by STRS. See Buchter, Scriven & Sheeran, Ohio School Law (1993) 215-216, Sections 11.12 and 11.13. Ryan contends that she is entitled to purchase credit for her 1.222 years of nonteaching service with the Cleveland School District under R.C. 3307.411, which provides:

"(A) A member of the state teachers retirement system shall, in computing years of total service, be given full credit for time served * * * in the school employees retirement system under Chapter 3309. of the Revised Code, provided that the member pays to the state teachers retirement system the amount specified in division (B) of this section.

"(B)(1) * * * [F]or each year of service purchased under division (A) of this section, a member shall pay the amount he would have paid through regular salary deductions had he been a member of the state teachers retirement system during his prior employment, with compound interest as determined by the state teachers retirement board.

" * * *

"A member is ineligible to purchase under this section service that is used in the calculation of any retirement benefit currently being paid or payable in the future to the member."

STRS, however, refused Ryan's request to purchase service credit under R.C. 3307.411 and advised her that she could only purchase this credit pursuant to R.C. 3307.22, which provides:

"(A)(1) * * * [A] member of the state teachers retirement system with at least eighteen months of contributing service in the system, the public employees retirement system, or the school employees retirement system who exempted himself from membership in one or more of the systems pursuant to section 145.03, or 3309.23 of the Revised Code, or former section 3307.25 or 3309.25 of the Revised Code, or was exempt under section 3307.27 of the Revised Code, may purchase credit for each year or portion of a year of service for which he was exempted.

" * * *

"(B) For each year or portion of a year of credit purchased under this section, a member shall pay to the retirement system an amount determined by multiplying the member's compensation for the twelve months of contributing service preceding the month in which he applies to purchase the credit by a percentage rate established by rule of the state teachers retirement board adopted under division (F) of this section."

R.C. 3307.22 expressly allows persons who exempted themselves from membership in one of the specified retirement systems to pay for service credit at the rate established by STRB. State ex rel. Palmer v. State Teachers Retirement Bd. (1993), 90 Ohio App.3d 497, 504, 629 N.E.2d 1377, 1381. Ryan wants to purchase 1.222 years of service credit under R.C. 3307.411 rather than R.C. 3307.22, which would cost her substantially more. Respondents assert that R.C. 3307.22 applies because Ryan, a member of STRS, exempted herself from membership in SERS during her employment with the Cleveland School District pursuant to former R.C. 3309.25. The applicable version of former R.C. 3309.25 provided:

"The school employees retirement board may deny the right to become members to any class of employees who are on a temporary basis, and it may also make optional with employees in any such class their individual entrance into membership." 126 Ohio Laws 1083.

Respondents claim that Resolution Nos. 104-4 and 126 were passed pursuant to SERBD's authority under former R.C. 3309.25. If these resolutions were effective, Ryan's employment with the Cleveland School District would not have been covered by SERS. However, at the time the resolutions were purportedly adopted by SERBD, R.C. 111.15 provided:

"No rule or regulation adopted by any board, commission, department, division, or bureau of the government of the state shall be effective until the tenth day after it is promulgated by the filing of a certified copy thereof in the office of the secretary of state, except a rule or regulation of an emergency nature necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, which rule or regulation shall state the reason for such necessity and shall become effective immediately upon being promulgated as provided in this section.

"No rule or regulation of any board,...