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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF IOWA
No. 58 / 04-1730 Filed June 2, 2006 ALLAN T. THOMS, Appellant, vs. IOWA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM and EMPLOYMENT APPEAL BOARD, Appellees. ________________________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Robert J. Blink, Judge.

Appeal from district court judgment affirming administrative agency's determination of retiree's pension benefits. AFFIRMED.

Alice E. Helle and Douglas E. Gross of Brown, Winick, Graves, Gross, Baskerville and Schoenebaum, P.L.C., Des Moines, for appellant.

Gregg A. Schochenmaier, Des Moines, for appellees.

2 CADY, Justice. In this judicial review proceeding, an Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS) pensioner who retired, returned to work, and retired again claims he was entitled to have his retirement benefits calculated by adding the years of his original employment to the years of his reemployment. Instead, IPERS calculated the amount of his benefits by separately determining his benefits based upon his original

employment and adding them to the benefits calculated from the period of his reemployment. The district court affirmed the Employment Appeal Board decision that affirmed a decision by an administrative law judge (ALJ) that found IPERS properly determined the benefits. On our review, we affirm the district court. I. Background Facts and Proceedings

Allan Thoms was a State employee covered by IPERS. In 1994, at age fifty-six, he retired from his State employment after 14.75 years of service. He began receiving monthly IPERS benefits of $570.78 in July 1994. In April 1995, he returned to IPERS-covered employment. His

retirement benefits were suspended after his earnings exceeded the limitation in Iowa Code section 97B.48A (1995). 1 Thoms worked for the
1That

section provided:

If, after the first day of the month in which the member attains the age of fifty-five years and until the member's sixty-fifth birthday, a member who has a bona fide retirement under this chapter is in regular full-time employment during a calendar year, the member's retirement allowance shall be suspended for as long as the member remains in employment for the remainder of that calendar year. However, effective January 1, 1992, employment is not full-time employment until the member receives remuneration in an amount in excess of seven thousand four hundred forty dollars for a calendar year. Effective the first of the month in which a member attains the age of sixty-five years, a retired member may receive a retirement allowance after return to covered employment regardless of the amount of remuneration received.

3 State for an additional 6.5 years, and retired again on October 26, 2001. He then applied for retirement benefits. On January 30, 2002, IPERS notified Thoms by letter that his final wages had been credited to his account, and his reemployment termination notice had been processed. IPERS gave Thoms the choice of a lump-sum refund or monthly benefits for the remainder of his life. Thoms requested monthly benefits, which were subsequently

recalculated to be $1441.83. This amount was based upon his original monthly benefit of $570.78, added to the monthly benefit of $871.05 derived from his period of reemployment. Thoms appealed the recalculation of benefits, asserting his "benefit should be recalculated to take into account his additional years of service, additional earnings and increased age at the time of his `reretirement,' with a single recalculated retirement allowance being paid." See Iowa Code

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