20160-20164
GOVERNMENT CODE
SECTION 20160-20164
20160. (a) Subject to subdivisions (c) and (d), the board may, in its discretion and upon any terms it deems just, correct the errors or omissions of any active or retired member, or any beneficiary of an active or retired member, provided that all of the following facts exist: (1) The request, claim, or demand to correct the error or omission is made by the party seeking correction within a reasonable time after discovery of the right to make the correction, which in no case shall exceed six months after discovery of this right. (2) The error or omission was the result of mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect, as each of those terms is used in Section 473 of the Code of Civil Procedure. (3) The correction will not provide the party seeking correction with a status, right, or obligation not otherwise available under this part. Failure by a member or beneficiary to make the inquiry that would be made by a reasonable person in like or similar circumstances does not constitute an "error or omission" correctable under this section. (b) Subject to subdivisions (c) and (d), the board shall correct all actions taken as a result of errors or omissions of the university, any contracting agency, any state agency or department, or this system. (c) The duty and power of the board to correct mistakes, as provided in this section, shall terminate upon the expiration of obligations of this system to the party seeking correction of the error or omission, as those obligations are defined by Section 20164. (d) The party seeking correction of an error or omission pursuant to this section has the burden of presenting documentation or other evidence to the board establishing the right to correction pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b). (e) Corrections of errors or omissions pursuant to this section shall be such that the status, rights, and obligations of all parties described in subdivisions (a) and (b) are adjusted to be the same that they would have been if the act that would have been taken, but for the error or omission, was taken at the proper time. However, notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this section, corrections made pursuant to this section shall adjust the status, rights, and obligations of all parties described in subdivisions (a) and (b) as of the time that the correction actually takes place if the board finds any of the following: (1) That the correction cannot be performed in a retroactive manner. (2) That even if the correction can be performed in a retroactive manner, the status, rights, and obligations of all of the parties described in subdivisions (a) and (b) cannot be adjusted to be the same that they would have been if the error or omission had not occurred. (3) That the purposes of this part will not be effectuated if the correction is performed in a retroactive manner. 20161. Notwithstanding any other provision of this part or of Section 13943.2 or 16302.1 to the contrary, the following shall apply: (a) When there has been a payment of death benefits, a return of accumulated contributions, a contribution adjustment, or a deposit of contributions, this system may refrain from collecting an underpayment of accumulated contributions if the amount to be collected is two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or less. (b) When there has been a payment of death benefits, a return of accumulated contributions, a contribution adjustment, or a deposit of contributions, and there is a balance of fifty dollars ($50) or less remaining posted to a member's individual account, or an overpayment of fifty dollars ($50) or less was received, this system may dispense with a return of accumulated contributions. (c) When there is a positive or negative balance of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or less remaining posted to a member's individual account, or the balance exceeds two hundred fifty dollars ($250) but the difference to the monthly allowance unmodified by any optional settlement is less than five dollars ($5), this system may dispense with any recalculation of, or other adjustment to, benefit payments. (d) The dollar amounts specified in subdivisions (a) and (c) shall be adjusted in accordance with any changes in the dollar amounts specified in Section 13943.2. 20163. (a) If more or less than the correct amount of contribution required of members, the state, or any contracting agency, is paid, proper adjustment shall be made in connection with subsequent payments, or the adjustments may be made by direct cash payments between the member, state, or contracting agency concerned and the board or by adjustment of the employer's rate of contribution. Adjustments to correct any other errors in payments to or by the board, including adjustments of contributions, with interest, that are found to be erroneous as the result of corrections of dates of birth, may be made in the same manner. Adjustments to correct overpayment of a retirement allowance may also be made by adjusting the allowance so that the retired person or the retired person and his or her beneficiary, as the case may be, will receive the actuarial equivalent of the allowance to which the member is entitled. Losses or gains resulting from error in amounts within the limits set by the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board for automatic writeoff, and losses or gains in greater amounts specifically approved for writeoff by the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, shall be debited or credited, as the case may be, to the reserve against deficiencies in interest earned in other years, losses under investments, and other contingencies. (b) No adjustment shall be made because less than the correct amount of normal contributions was paid by a member if the board finds that the error was not known to the member and was not the result of erroneous information provided by him or her to this system or to his or her employer. The failure to adjust shall not preclude action under Section 20160 correcting the date upon which the person became a member. (c) The actuarial equivalent under this section shall be computed on the basis of the mortality tables and actuarial interest rate in effect under this system on December 1, 1970, for retirements effective through December 31, 1979. Commencing with retirements effective January 1, 1980, and at corresponding 10-year intervals thereafter, or more frequently at the board's discretion, the board shall change the basis for calculating actuarial equivalents under this article to agree with the interest rate and mortality tables in effect at the commencement of each 10-year or succeeding interval. 20164. (a) The obligations of this system to its members continue throughout their respective memberships, and the obligations of this system to and in respect to retired members continue throughout the lives of the respective retired members, and thereafter until all obligations to their respective beneficiaries under optional settlements have been discharged. The obligations of the state and contracting agencies to this system in respect to members employed by them, respectively, continue throughout the memberships of the respective members, and the obligations of the state and contracting agencies to this system in respect to retired members formerly employed by them, respectively, continue until all of the obligations of this system in respect to those retired members, respectively, have been discharged. The obligations of any member to this system continue throughout his or her membership, and thereafter until all of the obligations of this system to or in respect to him or her have been discharged. (b) For the purposes of payments into or out of the retirement fund for adjustment of errors or omissions, whether pursuant to Section 20160, 20163, or 20532, or otherwise, the period of limitation of actions shall be three years, and shall be applied as follows: (1) In cases where this system makes an erroneous payment to a member or beneficiary, this system's right to collect shall expire three years from the date of payment. (2) In cases where this system owes money to a member or beneficiary, the period of limitations shall not apply. (c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), in cases where payment is erroneous because of the death of the retired member or beneficiary or because of the remarriage of the beneficiary, the period of limitation shall be 10 years and shall commence with the discovery of the erroneous payment. (d) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), where any payment has been made as a result of fraudulent reports for compensation made, or caused to be made, by a member for his or her own benefit, the period of limitation shall be 10 years and that period shall commence either from the date of payment or upon discovery of the fraudulent reporting, whichever date is later. (e) The board shall determine the applicability of the period of limitations in any case, and its determination with respect to the running of any period of limitation shall be conclusive and binding for purposes of correcting the error or omission.