Changes Sought in Retirement Policy

A group of veteran Los Angeles County firefighters and sheriff’s deputies urged a state Senate committee Tuesday to endorse legislation that would enable the county to repeal its mandatory retirement policy and allow employees over 60 to return to work.

County officials say they must enforce the retirement rule because of state law, and that they need the state’s permission to alter it. The Board of Supervisors decided to seek legislation to do just that after several veteran firefighters and sheriff’s deputies lodged complaints.

Thirty-four firefighters and sheriff’s deputies will be required to retire by the end of this year, and 130 more will have to quit by the turn of the century.

Police and firefighters unions--the policy’s primary proponents--say that mandatory retirement rules are necessary to ensure a physically able work force. But some of the retirees told the Senate Committee on Public Employment and Retirement that they have been forced out so that younger colleagues can be promoted.

“I never realized that I would be penalized for doing my job,” said Carol Painter, 60, a former sheriff’s commander. “It came as a shock that I had lost all control of my career and would be forced out.”