AGO 1951-53 No. 16.

• Case Date: April 13, 1951
• Court: Washington

Washington Attorney General Opinions 1951. AGO 1951-53 No. 16. April 13, 1951[Orig. Op. Page 1]PRIVATECOMPUTATION OF RETIREMENT PAY FOR INSTRUCTORS AT WASHINGTON STATE COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTONLeave of absence does not count in the computation of retirement pay for length of service.Honorable Marshall A. NeillNeill and AitkenLawyersFirst National Bank BuildingPullman, WashingtonCite as: AGO 1951-53 No. 16Dear Sir: We are in receipt of your letter of November 28, 1950, in which you ask our opinion as follows: "If a faculty member of the State College is granted a leave of absence for one or more years of service prior to his retirement, should the year or years spent on leave of absence count in computation of retirement pay?" The conclusion we have reached may be summarized as follows: The law in question is apparently designed to secure to retiring faculty members benefits commensurate with the annual salary paid for the last ten years of their full time service. Therefore, only full years of service and compensation should be used. As there is no requirement that such years be continuous if in the chronological order, one of such years is spent on a leave of absence, then computations should take into consideration the necessary year or years next prior to the last ten in order to establish the proper average. [Orig. Op. Page 2] ANALYSIS The retirement system in existence for faculty members and employees of the State College and the State University provides benefits and a method of financing based upon salaries. It will be noted that the members contribute towards the purchase of an annuity to become payable upon retirement as follows: "* * * not less than 5% of their salaries during each year of full time service after the first two (2) years of such service * * *" (Section 2, Chapter 223, Laws of 1947, Rem. Supp. 47, 4543-12). Further, the Regents pay towards the purchase of an annuity under the following statutory language: "In no case shall the Regents pay in any one year towards the purchase of such annuity more than half of the annual premium of any faculty member or other employee, nor an amount exceeding ten per cent (10%) of such person's salary, whichever is less." (Section 3, Chapter 223, Laws of 1947, Rem. Supp. 47, 4543-13). Benefits are computed under the provisions of section 1 (c), chapter...