38-850

38-850. Assurances and liabilities; board of
trustee discretion; overpayments; underpayments

A. Nothing contained in the system shall be construed as a contract of employment
between an employer and any employee, or as a right of any employee to be continued in
the employment of an employer, or as a limitation of the rights of an employer to
discharge any of its employees, with or without cause.

B. No employee shall have any right to, or interest in, any assets of the fund on
termination of his employment or otherwise, except as provided from time to time under
the system, and then only to the extent of the benefits payable to such employee out of
the assets of the fund. All payments of benefits as provided for in the system shall be
made solely out of the assets of the fund, and the employers, the board and any member of
the board are not liable for payment of benefits in any manner.

C. Benefits, employee contributions or employer contributions, including interest,
earnings and all other credits, payable under this system shall not be subject in any
manner to anticipation, alienation, sale, transfer, assignment, pledge, encumbrance,
charge, garnishment, execution or levy of any kind, either voluntary or involuntary,
prior to actually being received by the person entitled to the benefit, contribution,
earning or credit, under the terms of the system, and any attempt to anticipate,
alienate, sell, transfer, assign, pledge, encumber, charge or otherwise dispose of any
such right hereunder shall be void. The fund shall not in any manner be liable for, or
subject to, the debts, contracts, liabilities, engagements or torts of any person
entitled to such rights hereunder. This subsection does not preclude arrangements for
the withholding of taxes from benefit payments, arrangements for the recovery of benefit
overpayments, arrangements for the transfer of benefit rights to another plan or
arrangements for direct deposit of benefit payments in an account in a bank, savings and
loan association or credit union if the arrangement is not part of an arrangement
constituting an assignment or alienation.

D. The employers, the board of trustees, the board of trustees' administrator,
assistant administrators and employees and any member of a local board do not guarantee
the fund in any manner against loss or depreciation, and none of them shall be liable for
any act or failure to act, that is made in good faith pursuant to the provisions of the
system. The employers shall not be responsible for any act or failure to act of a local
board or any of its members or for any act or failure to act of the board of trustees. A
local board and the individual members of a local board shall not be responsible for any
act or failure to act of any employer or the board of trustees.

E. The board, in its discretion, may make payment to a person entitled to any
payment under the system who is under a legal disability in any one or more of the
following ways:

1. Directly to such person.

2. To his legal guardian or conservator.

3. To his spouse or to any other person charged with his support to be expended for
his benefit.

F. If, through misstatement or computation error, benefits are underpaid or
overpaid, there is no liability for any more than the correct benefit sums under the
system. Overpayments may be deducted from future payments under the system, and
underpayments may be added to future payments under the system. A member or other
benefit recipient may elect to repay in a lump sum any overpayment in lieu of receiving
reduced benefits under the system.

G. Nothing in this section exempts employee benefits of any kind from a writ of
attachment, a writ of execution, a writ of garnishment and orders of assignment issued by
a court of record which are the result of a judgment taken for arrearages for child
support or for a child support debt or restitution or fines imposed in accordance with
section 38-849, subsection A.