Flint

Sacramento County Employees’ Retirement Association (Association) appeals from a judgment directing it to grant respondent a service-connected disability retirement as sought in her petition for writ of mandate. We will affirm the judgment.

Facts and Procedural Background

Respondent Helen M. Flint was employed in 1956 as a staff nurse for Sacramento County. In September 1977, she left her position with the county. Respondent filed an application for a service-connected disability retirement on May 24, 1978. After a hearing on November 12, 1980, the Sacramento County Board of Retirement (Board) granted her a disability retirement pension, but concluded her disability was nonservice-connected. Following respondent’s timely appeal, the Board granted a rehearing on June 29, 1983, but again refused to grant the service-connected disability retirement.

Respondent filed a petition for a writ of mandate. At the hearing on the petition, the Association’s counsel conceded that if respondent’s retirement application were governed by the law as it existed prior to the amendment of Government Code section 31720, a sufficient basis for a service-connected disability existed. The…