Maffei

To encourage career public service, the Legislature has created a system in which an employee can go from one job in the public sector to another with little effect on the employee’s retirement benefits. (See Gov. Code, § 31830.) This system of reciprocity between retirement systems makes it possible, for example, for an employee to defer retirement in the first job and then retire from both jobs simultaneously and have the retirement allowance for both jobs be based on the employee’s highest compensation for either.

Here, plaintiff Mary C. Maffei, in 1990, resigned her employment with the County of Sacramento (County), where she had been a member of the Sacramento County Employees’ Retirement System (SCERS), and took a job as a teacher in the San Juan Unified School District, where she became a member of the State Teachers’ Retirement System (STRS). In 1999, the Legislature created reciprocity between SCERS and STRS. (Gov. Code, § 31840.8.) Maffei, who has not yet retired, asserts she is entitled to the benefit of the reciprocity legislation. We agree and affirm.

Background

The facts here are simple and undisputed. Maffei worked for the County for 13 years. During…