Astorga v. Retirement Board

Filed 2/2/16 Certified for publication 3/2/16 (order attached)

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SIX

SARA ASTORGA, 2d Civil No. B263325 (Super. Ct. No. 1468905) Plaintiff and Appellant, (Santa Barbara County)

v.

RETIREMENT BOARD OF THE SANTA BARBARA COUNTY EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM,

Defendant and Respondent.

Sara Astorga applied for retirement disability. To maintain health insurance pending the decision on her application, she elected to remain on the payroll and receive her accrued sick leave, vacation and holiday pay in small but regular increments. The Retirement Board of the Santa Barbara County Employees Retirement System (Board) approved Astorga's disability retirement application. Government Code section 317241 states that a disability retirement may not commence until the day following the last day the applicant received "regular compensation." The Board determined the effective date of her retirement was the day after she received her last sick leave, vacation or holiday payment. It rejected her argument that the effective date

1 All statutory references are to the Government Code unless otherwise stated.

should be calculated based on the day her sick leave, vacation and holiday pay balances would have been exhausted had she taken them in full rather than in smaller increments. Astorga petitioned for a writ of mandate. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1094.5.) The trial court denied the petition, concluding that the Board correctly calculated Astorga's effective date of disability retirement. We affirm. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Astorga began working for the County of Santa Barbara (County) on September 11, 1995. She ceased working on November 18, 2011 and applied for disability retirement on December 19, 2011. At that time, she was provided with a copy of the Board's Guidelines for Disability Effective Dates (Guidelines), which define "regular compensation" to mean "compensation of any kind or amount that the employer pays (a) at the member's regular rate of pay, (b) for employment in the member's regular position, and (c) for actually working, or for an absence from work." Prior to her last day of work, Astorga had taken periods of leave for which she received State Disability Insurance (SDI) payments. During the periods she received SDI, Astorga "executed a document electing to receive a portion of her accrued sick leave, overtime, holiday and vacation loan balances to be 'integrated' with her SDI payments such that the combined benefit would equal 80% of her regular pay." The document advised that "[i]ntegrating leave balances with SDI benefits may impact the effective date of a disability retirement benefit." On January 20, 2012, Astorga and the County executed a Separation Agreement confirming Astorga's election to remain on the County payroll until the effective date of her disability retirement. The Separation Agreement, which Astorga signed with the advice of counsel, provided that she would continue to receive leave balances in small but regular amounts corresponding to the amount of her health insurance payments. Astorga received compensation in some amount of vacation, holiday or sick leave pay in each pay period between November 18, 2011, and December 8, 2013. She also received donated sick and vacation leave credits from other employees on three