A. Nothing contained in the system shall be construed as a contract of employment between an employer and any employee, or as a right of any employee to be continued in the employment of an employer, or as a limitation of the rights of an employer to discharge any of its employees, with or without cause.

Terms Used In Arizona Laws 38-850

  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
  • Board: means the board of trustees of the system, who are the persons appointed to invest and operate the fund. See Arizona Laws 38-842
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Employee: means any person who is employed by a participating employer and who is a member of an eligible group but does not include any persons compensated on a contractual or fee basis. See Arizona Laws 38-842
  • Employers: means :

    (a) Cities contributing to the fire fighters' relief and pension fund as provided in sections 9-951 through 9-973 or statutes amended thereby and antecedent thereto, as of June 30, 1968 on behalf of their full-time paid firefighters. See Arizona Laws 38-842

  • Fund: means the public safety personnel retirement fund, which is the fund established to receive and invest contributions accumulated under the system and from which benefits are paid. See Arizona Laws 38-842
  • Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • Local board: means the retirement board of the employer, who are the persons appointed to administer the system as it applies to their members in the system. See Arizona Laws 38-842
  • Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
  • System: means the public safety personnel retirement system established by this article. See Arizona Laws 38-842
  • Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
  • Writ: means an order or precept in writing issued in the name of the state or by a court or judicial officer. See Arizona Laws 1-215

B. No employee shall have any right to, or interest in, any assets of the fund on termination of his employment or otherwise, except as provided from time to time under the system, and then only to the extent of the benefits payable to such employee out of the assets of the fund. All payments of benefits as provided for in the system shall be made solely out of the assets of the fund, and the employers, the board and any member of the board are not liable for payment of benefits in any manner.

C. Benefits, employee contributions or employer contributions, including interest, earnings and all other credits, payable under this system shall not be subject in any manner to anticipation, alienation, sale, transfer, assignment, pledge, encumbrance, charge, garnishment, execution or levy of any kind, either voluntary or involuntary, prior to actually being received by the person entitled to the benefit, contribution, earning or credit, under the terms of the system, and any attempt to anticipate, alienate, sell, transfer, assign, pledge, encumber, charge or otherwise dispose of any such right hereunder shall be void. The fund shall not in any manner be liable for, or subject to, the debts, contracts, liabilities, engagements or torts of any person entitled to such rights hereunder. This subsection does not preclude arrangements for the withholding of taxes from benefit payments, arrangements for the recovery of benefit overpayments, arrangements for the transfer of benefit rights to another plan or arrangements for direct deposit of benefit payments in an account in a bank, savings and loan association or credit union if the arrangement is not part of an arrangement constituting an assignment or alienation.

D. The employers, the board of trustees, the board of trustees’ administrator, deputy or assistant administrators and employees and any member of a local board do not guarantee the fund in any manner against loss or depreciation, and none of them shall be liable for any act or failure to act, that is made in good faith pursuant to the provisions of the system. The employers are not responsible for any act or failure to act of a local board or any of its members or for any act or failure to act of the board of trustees. A local board and the individual members of a local board are not responsible for any act or failure to act of any employer or the board of trustees.

E. The board, in its discretion, may make payment to a person entitled to any payment under the system who is under a legal disability in any one or more of the following ways:

1. Directly to such person.

2. To his legal guardian or conservator.

3. To his spouse or to any other person charged with his support to be expended for his benefit.

F. If, through misstatement or computation error, benefits are underpaid or overpaid, there is no liability for any more than the correct benefit sums under the system. Overpayments may be deducted from future payments under the system, and underpayments may be added to future payments under the system. A member or other benefit recipient may elect to repay in a lump sum any overpayment in lieu of receiving reduced benefits under the system.

G. This section does not exempt employee benefits of any kind from a writ of attachment, a writ of execution, a writ of garnishment and orders of assignment issued by a court of record that are the result of a judgment taken for arrearages for child support or for a child support debt or restitution or fines imposed in accordance with section 38-849, subsection A.