Opinion ID: 606356
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: history of the georgia state trooper retirement law

Text: 4 The ADEA imposes different restrictions on law enforcement officer mandatory retirement requirements, depending on their nature and the date of their enactment. It is therefore necessary to review the history of the Georgia law in order to evaluate the legality of the provision at issue in this case, O.C.G.A. § 47-2-223(c). The state trooper retirement policy is mandated under the Georgia Employees Retirement System (ERS), O.C.G.A. §§ 47-2-1 through 47-2-334, a comprehensive statute establishing retirement requirements and benefits for state workers. As first enacted by the Georgia legislature in 1949, the ERS permitted state troopers to retire with pension benefits at age 56 and required all covered workers, including troopers, to retire by age 75. 1949 Ga. Laws 138, 146, 162. The 1949 law provided that starting in 1956, the mandatory retirement age for all workers would be lowered to 70. Id. In 1970 the provision pertaining specifically to state police officers was amended to require that, as of 1975, all troopers retire by age 55. However, the 1970 amendment also provided that for troopers who had entered the force prior to December 31, 1960, the Director of the Department of Public Safety was vested with the discretion to waive the mandatory retirement rule in order to permit such troopers to complete 25 years of creditable service and thereby qualify for superior retirement benefits. 1970 Ga. Laws 26, 29-30. Finally, in 1978 the law was amended again, expanding the class of troopers for whom mandatory retirement might be waived to include all those who entered the force prior to December 31, 1965. 1978 Ga. Laws 1440, 1441. 5