AGO 1996-112.

• Case Date: January 29, 1996
• Court: Alabama

Alabama Attorney General Opinions 1996. AGO 1996-112. 1996-112January 29, 1996Honorable William M. Bouldin Attorney at Law P. O. Box 940 Russellville, AL 35653 Municipalities - Retirement Systems - Employees, Employers, Employment - FundsEmployee first hired outside City Civil Service System is covered by retirement system under facts given, and city is obligated to make payments required to fund retirement benefits.Dear Mr. Bouldin: This opinion is issued in response to your request for an opinion from the Attorney General. QUESTION Is the City of Russellville obligated to make payments to the Employees' Retirement System of Alabama covering employees who were hired and worked as temporary employees when their employment was outside the Civil Service Act applicable to the City of Russellville because they were part-time employees being hired on an annual basis? FACTS, LAW AND ANALYSIS An employee of the City of Russellville has asked that she be allowed to obtain service credit in the Employees' Retirement System for a period of employment prior to the time that she was employed under the City's Civil Service System. The City of Russellville has a "Civil Service System" established pursuant to Act No. 465 of the 1973 Legislative Session. The employee in question was hired under the Civil Service System on October 6, 1986. For three years prior to her employment under the Civil Service System she was employed as a "temporary" employee. The Employees' Retirement System has determined that this employee should have participated in the Retirement System prior to her employment under the Civil Service System. The City also has other employees who were initially employed temporarily, under the Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA), a federal program to subsidize employment training which has been repealed and replaced by another, similar program. (29 USC _ 801, PL 97-300; see also 29 USC _ 1501). On June 22, 1966, the City of Russellville passed a resolution, effective October 1, 1966, by which it elected to have its employees covered by the Employees' Retirement System under _ 36-27-6, Code of Alabama 1975. Pertinent parts of _ 36-27-6 read as follows: "(a) The governing board of any . . . city . . . may, by resolution legally adopted to conform to rules prescribed by the board of control [of the retirement system], elect...