Court Opinion

ID: 9723255
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 10:08:51.719142+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:46.088401
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
Royse, J.
The original opinion in this case was handed down without oral argument. Because of the importance of the questions presented by appellee’s petition for a rehearing, we ordered an oral argument. Upon a thorough re-consideration of the matters presented by this appeal I am unable to agree with the majority opinion.
I am in complete accord with that portion of the original opinion (90 N. E. 2d 518, 520, 521) which adopts the reasoning of the Supreme Court of Illinois in the case of Raines v. Board of Trustees of Illinois State Teachers’ Pension and Retirement Fund (1937), *453365 Ill. 610, 7 N. E. 2d 489, 490, in holding the benefits provided by the Act here under consideration are annuities. The facts in the Raines case were practically analogous to those in this case. In that case the Illinois Supreme Court stated the facts as follows:
“Appellant is seventy-three years of age. He taught in the public schools at Freeport, Illinois, for over thirty years and retired in 1927, at the age of sixty-four. Prior to his retirement, he paid all the amounts into the fund provided for by the act and complied with all its provisions. Since then, he has received the annuity of $400 provided for in such cases prior to the 1935 amendment of section 26 (Laws 1915, p. 656, § 26, Smith-Herd Ill. Stats., c. 122, § 604). After the amendment he paid into the fund the sum of $200 and interest as required by its terms and requested appellee to certify his name and take the other necessary steps to increase his annuity from $400 to $600 as provided by the amendment. The request was refused and he instituted this proceeding. Upon appellee’s motion the trial court dismissed the petition.”
In reversing the trial court the Supreme Court of Illinois said:
“The relations between voluntary contributors and the sovereign being contractual, it follows that the rights created are not measured by the rights of pensioners. They are similar, and amount, in effect, to insurance contracts providing annuities upon maturity of the contract or policy of insurance. The basis of such annuities is the same as the basis of any other contract. The consideration is the offer of the sovereign, the acceptance of the offer, and performance of its terms. It is a familiar principle that the Legislature possesses all powers not prohibited by the limitations of the Constitution. Among such powers is the power to contract, where the contract is not within any constitutional inhibition or against public policy. The right of the State to contract for the payment *454of annuities to its officers and employees under prescribed conditions is not challenged and has been repeatedly upheld. No reason is observed why the parties to such a contract may not make provision for an optional increase of the annuity by providing for additional contributions to the fund. Under contracts based on optional voluntary contributions, the contributors have a substantial interest in the fund by virtue of the amounts paid in under the terms of the contract. The benefits to be derived are not gratuities from public funds for past services, and therefore an increase in such benefits in consideration of further contributions does not violate the constitutional provision prohibiting extra pay for past services. The fact that the contributions may be smaller than the payments required by insurance companies under experience and mortality tables to mature policies for similar amounts does not detract from the contractual relation. The question of the wisdom of such rates is not within the province of the courts, but is a matter for the consideration of the Legislature.
“Appellant is within the clear, unmistakable terms of the amendment. To construe it otherwise would be to hold that it means only such persons as shall retire after reaching the age of seventy years and serving twenty-five years as a teacher. This would be in conflict with the provision giving the teacher the right to retire at the age of fifty which the statute has not changed. The amendment is specifically applicable to those who have arrived at the age of seventy as well as to those who hereafter reach that age. Appellant is entitled to a place on the annuity roll under the amendment.”
For the reasons hereinafter stated, I believe the sound reasoning of that case should be applied in this case.
The retirement fund from which the annuity benefits which are the subject of this action are paid, was established by the Legislature in 1941. Acts 1941, ch. *455107, §§ 1, 8, (§60-241, §60-248, Burns’ 1943 Replacement) .
Section 5 of the Act, supra, (§ 60-245), provided for contributions. It is in part as follows:
“Each field examiner and each of such other employees as are members of the retirement plan shall pay a contribution for each year of credited service accruing after July 1, 1941, in the amount of one hundred eight dollars ($108) per year for each field examiner, and in the amount of fifty-four dollars ($54.00) per year for each such other employee. Such contributions shall be paid in monthly instalments on or before the last day of each month. In addition to the above payments, each field examiner shall pay the amount of twenty dollars ($20.00) for each year of service prior to July 1, 1941, not to exceed the total of five hundred dollars ($500) for prior service of any such field examiner and other employees shall pay ten dollars ($10.00) for each year of service prior to July 1, 1941, not to exceed the total of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for prior service for any such other employee. This contribution for prior service shall be paid in ten (10) equal monthly instalments the first of which shall be due and payable July 1, 1941. Any field examiner or other employee failing to pay such contribution within thirty (30) days after any instalment is due and payable shall forfeit all right to the benefits provided in this act until such delinquent payment or payments are made together with a penalty of five dollars ($5.00) for each month said payments remain delinquent, said penalties to be construed as an earning and an accretion to the annuity savings account.”
Section 6 of the Act, supra, (§ 60-246) providing for eligibility of members is in part as follows:
“All field examiners who are in the service of said department on July 1, 1941, or who are on leave of absence granted within twelve (12) months prior thereto, shall automatically become *456members of the retirement plan when provisions of sec. 5 60-24.5) of this act requiring contribuítions for prior years of service have been complied with, and all field examiners thereafter appointed shall become members and be eligible to the benefits of this act and shall be required to make contributions to the retirement fund from the date of their appointment. Other employees of the department shall be eligible for membership in the retirement plan herein set out after ten (10) years of employment: Provided, That any employee, other than field examiners, shall receive credit for all the years of service prior to July 1, 1941. After ten (10) years of employment, any employee, other than a field examiner, desiring to become a member of the retirement plan shall be given credit for such years of service upon payment of the contributions due for each year of such service earned after July 1, 1941, and in addition the payment of contributions for service credit prior to July 1, 1941, as provided in sec. 5 (§ 60-245) of this act. Arrearage for services subsequent to July 1, 1941, shall be paid within five (5) years after becoming a member with interest added at the rate of three (3) per cent per annum beginning at the time such person becomes a member.” (My emphasis).
(This section has two additional paragraphs relating to credit for leave of absence, etc., which are not pertinent to the question presented here.)
It seems obvious to me that the foregoing provision of this section is clear and unambiguous. It provides that all persons who, on July 1, 1941, were field examiners shall become members of the plan by making the contributions for prior and subsequent years of service provided for by § 5 of the Act, supra. That is to say, that by making such payments those persons become eligible for the benefits provided in § 7 (§ 60-247) of the Act.
It is equally clear the annuities provided were not given to those who were not field examiners on July 1, 1941, regardless of the number of years they had been *457in such service prior to said date. As stated in the majority opinion on rehearing, the 1945 Legislature provided a method whereby ex-field examiners who had left the service before July 1, 1941, could become eligible for these benefits.
In 1947 the Legislature amended §§ 5, 6 and 7 of the Act. The amendment to § 5 increased the contribution to be made by the field examiners from $108 to $162 per year, and for other employees from $54 to $81 per year. That is for services rendered after July 1, 1941.
The amendment to § 6 changed certain of the provisions relating to credit where a leave of absence has been taken. To me it is significant that the 1947 Legislature, in making this amendment, re-enacted the first paragraph of said § 6 with the identical language used in the original Act. It seems clear to me that this language should and does have the same meaning in 1947 that it had in 1941. This is a generally recognized rule of statutory construction. 50 Am. Jur., p. 461, §441; 59 C. J., pp. 1058, 1059, §624; Ellingham v. Dye (1913), 178 Ind. 336, 361, 99 N. E. 1. Therefore, I believe that by the 1947 amendment the Legislature clearly expressed its intent that all persons who, on July 1, 1941, were field examiners or other employees of this department, by making the increased payments provided for services subsequent to that date would become eligible for the increased annuity payments. The majority opinion on rehearing admits the Legislature had the right to do this.
By judicial legislation the majority have amended § 6, supra, to read: “All field examiners who are in the service of said department on July 1, 1941 and who remain in such service until the passage of this amendment . . . shall etc.” If this had been the intent of the Legislature I feel they would have expressed their purpose in appropriate language.
*458Finally, it seems to me the majority opinion not only ignores the well-recognized rules of statutory construction, but makes the 1947- amendment the vehicle of unjust discrimination between certain of the employees for whom its benefits were intended. For example, it is no doubt true that there were field examin-, ers with the same status as to years of service, etc. as the appellees herein who did not retire prior to the date the 1947 amendment became effective. The majority opinion, in effect, holds that such persons may, by paying the additional contribution required by the amendment, obtain the increased benefits therein provided. In my opinion such discrimination will not improve the morale of the employees of this Department.
I believe the petition for rehearing should be granted and the judgment of the Circuit Court of Marion County affirmed.
Note. — Reported in 91 N. E. 2d 845.