Opinion No. (2000)

BILL LOCKYER Attorney General ANTHONY M. SUMMERS Deputy Attorney General THE HONORABLE WILLIAM C. KATZENSTEIN, COUNTY COUNSEL, RIVERSIDE COUNTY, has requested an opinion on the following question: May a county superintendent of schools provide a supplemental employee retirement plan that qualifies as a money purchase pension plan or a defined benefit plan under federal law to a limited number of employees as an incentive to take early retirement and in consideration for waiving certain employment-related claims against the county office of education, even where the effective date of the retirement precedes the window period for enrollment in the plan? CONCLUSION A county superintendent of schools may provide a supplemental employee retirement plan that qualifies as a money purchase pension plan or a defined benefit plan under federal law to a limited number of employees as an incentive to take early retirement and in consideration for waiving certain employment-related claims against the county office of education, even where the effective date of the retirement precedes the window period for enrollment in the plan. ANALYSIS We are informed that a county superintendent of schools…