16 S.E.2d 579 | Ga. | 1941
1. The provision in section 6 of the act of 1937 (Ga. L. 1937, p. 738), that county employees who have served twenty-five years may voluntarily retire and receive one half of their salaries, is construed to mean that only services rendered after the effective date of the act are included in the twenty-five year period required.
2. The fund created under the terms of the above act by the deduction of three per cent. of the salaries of county employees is compensation for services rendered to the county, and its disbursement as provided by the act for disability and retirement pay is adjusted compensation for services rendered, and is not a gratuity.
3. Under the rulings just stated, the act is not subject to any of the constitutional attacks made by the petition.
The plaintiffs as employees and as citizens and taxpayers of Richmond County brought suit against Richmond County, J. N. Robinson as county treasurer, and R. P. Mayo, Frank Hooper, Frank R. Miles, Ed Mertins, J. Bland Goodwin, as commissioners of roads and revenues of Richmond County, and eight other named individuals described in the petition as employees eligible to receive *772 benefits under the act above described. The petition set out the material portions of the act approved March 30, 1937, and alleged that it is unconstitutional and void in the following respects: In empowering the county commissioners to perform the duties conferred upon them by the act, it creates a special tribunal for Richmond County that does not exist in the other counties of the State, and thus offends article 11, section 3, paragraph 1 (Code, § 2-8401) of the constitution. It violates article 1, section 4, paragraph 1 (Code, § 2-401) of the constitution, which provides that laws of a general nature shall have uniform operation throughout the State, in that it does not operate uniformly throughout the State, and the classification on population as therein provided is not a proper classification. The petitioners were not afforded an opportunity to be heard on the question of making the three per cent. deduction in their salaries, and such deductions were and are being made in violation of the due-process clauses of the State and Federal constitutions. The payments to contributing employees are unequal, and this and the exemption of the county attorney constitute violations of the equal-protection clauses of the State and Federal constitutions. The act is violative of article 7, section 2, paragraphs 1, 2, and 4 (Code, §§ 2-5001, 2-5002, 2-5005) of the constitution. It violates article 7, section 6, paragraph 2 (Code, § 2-5402) of the constitution, which defines the purposes for which the General Assembly may authorize a county to levy a tax, in that the assessment on plaintiffs' salaries constitutes a tax for the purpose of paying pensions; and such assessment is a tax on income for which provision has been made by general law (Code, § 92-3101), in violation of the constitution (Code, § 2-401). Attached to the petition is a list of all county employees, and it is alleged that the funds that can be derived from the three per cent. assessment are wholly inadequate to pay the amount provided for by the act. Also, that the act is uncertain and indefinite in that it can not be determined whether the twenty-five years service required as a condition to voluntary retirement and receipt of payments under the act refers to services rendered before or after the effective date of the act.
To a judgment sustaining a general demurrer and dismissing the action the plaintiffs brought this writ of error.
1. An interpretation of that portion of the act contained in section 6, providing that "whenever any employee (not elected by the people) of any county to which this act is applicable, shall have served for twenty-five (25) years as an employee of the aforesaid county, he shall be permitted to retire from active service on his own motion, upon one half of the pay of his or her position," is made necessary by that portion of the petition assailing this provision upon the ground that it is indefinite and uncertain, in that it fails to state whether the twenty-five year period of service shall begin at or after the effective date of the act, or whether it embraces services rendered before the effective date of the act. The quoted language of the act reveals an ambiguity in this respect, and this makes it necessary to construe the language used. It is the duty of the court in construing an ambiguous statute to give it a construction, if the language permits, that will sustain the act, rather than a construction that will render it invalid.Fordham v. Sikes,
2. A vital question and one that largely determines the constitutional assaults upon this act is whether the fund created by the three per cent. salary deduction is a gratuity or adjusted compensation for services rendered. The words "pension" and "compensation" are not synonymous. The former is ordinarily a gratuity or bounty from the government in recognition of but not in payment for past service. Dickey v. Jackson,
3. The rulings made in the preceding divisions of this opinion are controlling adversely to the petitioners on all constitutional attacks made upon the act here involved. The petition failed to allege a cause of action, and the court did not err in sustaining the general demurrer.
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur. *778