Employees' Retirement System of Georgia v. Harris

The trial court erred in finding that O.C.G.A. § 47-2-3 allowed for judicial review of disability retirement applications, because that section applied to employee discharge and the plaintiff was not discharged.

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The Employees’ Retirement System of Georgia ERS appeals the trial court’s order reversing ERS’s denial of disability benefits to Dixie Harris.1 Harris was employed by the State Board of Pardons and Paroles for over 20 years, but went on leave from her job beginning June 2006. Although her job was largely sedentary, Harris suffered from physical ailments, which she claimed precluded her from performing that job. Accordingly, in October 2006, Harris applied for retirement benefits under OCGA § 47-2-123 b 1, which provides in relevant part that any member in service who has at least 15 years of creditable service may be retired on a disability allowance by the board of trustees, upon written application to the board of trustees by the member or his or her employer and upon certification by the medical board that he or she is medically or physically incapable of further performance of his or her duties in the position he or she held at the time his or her disability originated, that incapacity is likely to be permanent, and that he or she should be retired. As a part of her application, Harris submitted reports from two personal physicians, Dr. Garland Gudger and Dr. John Dorchak, stating that she was not capable of performing her job.2 Harris also submitted a functional capacity evaluation that suggested she was incapable of performing any occupation at the time due to restrictions and limitations associated with her medical conditions.

By a vote of 2-1, the ERS medical board denied Harris’s application for disability retirement, and ERS adopted the medical board’s findings. Harris sought reconsideration of this determination, submitting updated functional capacity evaluations and a co-worker affidavit in support, but the medical board again voted 2-1 to deny disability retirement.

Employees' Retirement System of Georgia v. Harris

The trial court erred in finding that O.C.G.A. § 47-2-3 allowed for judicial review of disability retirement applications, because that section applied to employee discharge and the plaintiff was not discharged.

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