Section 71-05-05-10 - Erroneous payment of benefits - Overpayments1. An "overpayment" means a payment of money by the public employees retirement system that results in a person receiving a higher payment than the person is entitled to under the provision of the retirement plan of membership. 2. A person who receives an overpayment is liable to refund those payments upon receiving an explanation and a written request for the amount to be refunded from the executive director. All overpayments must be collected using the care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent person acting in like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of like character and with like gains. If the cost of recovering the amount of the overpayment is estimated to exceed the overpayment, the repayment is considered to be unrecoverable. 3. If an overpayment of benefits was not the result of any wrongdoing, negligence, misrepresentation, or omission by the recipient, the recipient may make repayment arrangements subject to the executive director's approval within sixty days of the written notice of overpayment with the minimum repayment amount no less than fifty dollars per month. If repayment arrangements are not in place within sixty days of the date of the written notice of overpayment, the executive director shall offset the amount of the overpayment from the amount of future retirement benefit payments so that the actuarial equivalent of the overpayment is spread over the individual's benefit payment period. 4. If the overpayment was the result, in whole or in part, of the wrongdoing, negligence, misrepresentation, or omission of the recipient, the recipient is liable to pay interest charges at the rate of six percent on the outstanding balance to compensate the fund for lost earnings from the time the erroneous benefit was paid through the time it has been refunded in full. Recovered funds are first applied to interest, and if any amount is left over, that amount is applied to principal. The recipient may make repayment arrangements, subject to the executive director's approval, within sixty days of the written request for refund with the minimum repayment amount no less than fifty dollars per month. If repayment arrangements are not in place within sixty days of the date of the written notice of overpayment, the executive director shall offset the amount of the overpayment from the amount of future retirement benefit payments so that the actuarial equivalent of the overpayment is spread over the benefit payment period. 5. If an individual dies prior to fully refunding an erroneous overpayment of benefits, the public employees retirement system must make application to the estate of the deceased to recover the remaining balance. N.D. Admin Code 71-05-05-10
Effective April 1, 2002; amended effective July 1, 2006; July 1, 2010.General Authority: NDCC 32-03-04, 39-03.1-06, 54-52-04(12), 54-52-14.2
Law Implemented: NDCC 39-03.1-25