AGO 1993-009.

• Court: Connecticut

Connecticut Attorney General Opinions 1993. AGO 1993-009. 1993Opinion No. 1993-009Steven Weinberger, DirectorRetirement DivisionOffice of the State Comptroller55 Elm StreetHartford, CT 06106 Dear Mr. Weinberger: This is in response to your letter of April 1, 1993 to this office in which you ask whether an active state employee who is currently a member of the State Employees Retirement System is barred from collecting a pension from the Judge's Retirement System while serving as a state employee. The particular factual background to your question is as follows: On November 3, 1975, Nicholas Cioffi was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court. He resigned from the bench on January 31, 1991 and commenced service in the executive branch as Commissioner of Public Safety. As Commissioner of Public Safety he is a member of the State Employees Retirement System and receives credit for his time as Commissioner toward a hazardous duty retirement in that System. On the date he resigned from the bench, Commissioner Cioffi had earned a vested right to a benefit from the Judge's Retirement System, which will commence payments to him on November 3, 1995. Your question asks if his active service as an executive branch employee, or membership in the State Employees Retirement System, in any way bars or delays payment to Commissioner Cioffi of his judicial pension. At the outset, we would note that this issue will not become ripe unless Commissioner Cioffi continues employment as an executive branch employee up to and beyond November 3, 1995. With that in mind, for the reasons set forth below, the answer to your question is no. This office has previously addressed a similar question from the State Employees Retirement Commission. In ___ Conn. Op. Atty. Gen. ___ to J. Edward Caldwell, Secretary, State Employees Retirement Commission (January 30, 1984), this office rendered an opinion that absent a specific statutory prohibition, a state's attorney who retired under the State's Attorneys Retirement System was entitled to collect both his retirement income and his judicial salary once he was appointed a judge. The opinion states:

[T]he statutes governing the State's Attorneys Retirement System do not contain a limitation upon the ability of a retired member to be employed by the State while receiving a pension from the State's Attorneys

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