SEC. 12.102. HEARING OFFICER.
§ 12.102
The Retirement Board employs a hearing officer, selected through Board procedures, to hold public hearings and decide applications for retirement or death allowances. Either the applicant or the Retirement System may request a rehearing within 30 days on specified grounds (abuse of power, fraud, unsupported decision, or newly discovered evidence), and the hearing officer's decision becomes final 30 days after a rehearing petition is denied or after a new decision is issued; the Board may not amend or modify this final decision but may seek judicial review.
When someone applies for a retirement or death benefit, a hearing officer hired by the Retirement Board holds a public hearing and decides whether to approve or deny the application. If you disagree with the decision, you have 30 days to ask for another hearing, but only for specific reasons: the hearing officer broke the rules, fraud happened, the evidence doesn't support the decision, or you found important new evidence that you couldn't have found before. Once 30 days pass after your rehearing request is turned down (or after a new decision), the original decision is final and cannot be changed by the Board—though the Board can decide to take it to court for review.
- Complex:The section involves multiple timelines (30 days for rehearing petition, 30 days after denial or new decision), cross-referenced legal standards (abuse of power, fraud, evidentiary justification), and the interplay between the hearing officer, applicant, Retirement System, and Board—requiring careful reading to understand the procedural flow.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
Any application for retirement or death allowance made pursuant to this Charter shall be heard by a hearing officer employed under contract by the Retirement Board and selected by procedures set forth in its rules, which shall include rules setting forth the qualifications and selection procedure necessary to appoint a qualified and unbiased hearing officer. Following public hearing, the hearing officer shall determine whether such application shall be granted or denied. All expenses related to processing and adjudicating such applications shall be paid from the Trust Fund.
At any time within 30 days after the service of the hearing officer's decision, the applicant or any other affected party, including the Retirement System, may petition the hearing officer for a rehearing upon one or more of the following grounds and no other:
1. That the hearing officer acted without or in excess of the hearing officer's powers;
2. That the decision was procured by fraud;
3. That the evidence does not justify the decision; or
4. That the petitioner has discovered new material evidence which could not, with reasonable diligence, have been discovered and produced at the hearing.
The decision of the hearing officer shall be final upon the expiration of 30 days after the petition for rehearing is denied, or if the hearing is granted, upon the expiration of 30 days after the rendition of the decision. Such final decision shall not be subject to amendment, modification or rescission by the Board, but shall be subject to review by the Board only for the purpose of determining whether to seek judicial review.