Eugene Water and Electric Board v. PERB

Under former ORS 237.011 (1981), a person is only eligible for the PERS benefits if they are "in the service of a public employer for a six month period," and under former ORS 237.071(2), "the employer must deduct the contributions of employees from the payroll and transmit that information to the board to create an account for the employee in the fund." 

Petitioner appealed a decision of the Oregon Court of Appeals who found Respondent eligible for PERS benefits because he worked at Eugene Water and Electric Board ("EWEB') for six months.  Petitioner assigned error to the finding that no PERS exceptions applied to Respondent. Petitioner argued that a common-law employee who works for a public employer through a temporary-staffing company and is paid by that temporary-staffing company is not "acting in service of the public employer."  Respondent argued he was entitled to PERS benefits because he fell under former ORS 237.011 (1981).  Under former ORS 237.011, a person is only eligible for the PERS benefits if they are "in the service of a public employer for a six month period," and under former ORS 237.071(2), "the employer must deduct the contributions of employees from the payroll and transmit that information to the board to create an account for the employee in the fund." In light of the statutory language and the context of the funding mechanism provisions, the Court held that the PERS benefits were intended to apply to an "employee on the public employer's payroll with a known salary for the purposes of computing PERS contribution amounts," which Respondent was not. 

The decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed; The order of the Public Employees Retirement Board is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Public Employees Retirement Board.