Arizona § 38-850 - Assurances and liabilities; board of trustee discretion; overpayments; underpayments

§ 38-850. Assurances and liabilities; board of trustee discretion; overpayments; underpayments

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.

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.