Fort Walton Beach Ordinance — 801 Restate General Emp Plan — reading text

27( b)(3) above shall be considered a termination of employment. Any other absence not specifically approved under the rules and regulations of the city shal1 also be considered a termination of employment. Any employee whose employment has been terminated shall, for the purposes of this plan, be deemed a new employee upon re- employment unless he has accrued a vested interest in accordance with and under provisions of section 17- 32 of this article. In no event shall any duplication of benefits occur. In order to receive credit for credited service under the provisions of this section, an employee, returning from an absence specified above must have either left his entire ,employee contributions, accrued to the date of the beginning of his absence, on deposit in the fund' during his absence or, restored to the ~fund all employee contributions, together with interest, withdrawn from the fund, plus interest at the rate currently assumed by the fund from the date of withdrawal to the date of re- employment with the city and within a period of thirty ( 30) days after the date of re- employment. Sec. 17- 28. Persons entitled to benefits; calculation of benefits; normal retirement. All firemen participating in this plan who have been in the continuous" service of the city for a period of not less than ten ( 10) years and who have reached the age of sixty ( 60), shall, at their request, be retired on a monthly pension which shall be calculated by the method prescribed in a subsequent paragraph of this section. Each person who meets these requirements shall accrue a retirement benefit commencing at normal retirement age equal to the percentage as derived from the following schedule and applied to the final average compensation averaged over the highest five ( 5) years out of the last fifteen ( 15) prior to retirement. The retirement benefit will be calculated as follows: The firefighter shall be credited with a monthly retirement benefit equal to two and one- half percent ( 2 1/ 2%) of final average monthly earnings for each year of credited service to a maximum of 100% of current earnings. Benefits shall begin on the first of the month following retirement. PaRe 41  There is a missing paragraph at this location providing for the facility of paying retirees in alternate periods other than monthly if their retirement pay is less than ten dollars ($ 10. 00) or five dollars ($ 5. 00), respectively. This was considered moot since it is now an impossibility for an employee to retire with such a benefit.*** Sec. 17- 28. 1 Early retirement; qualifications; reduction of benefits. An employee participating in this plan who has attained age fifty ( 50) and who has credited service of at least ten ( 10) years, may elect early retirement. His early retirement benefi t shall be determined in the same manner as his normal retirement benefit based on his credited service to his early retirement date, but reduced by one- fourth percent ( 1/ 4%) for each 30. 4375 days that such early retirement date precedes the employee' s normal retirement date. If an employee who has terminated under the provisions of section 17- 32 with a deferred vested accrued benefit has met the age and service requirements of this section, he may also change his election to early retirement in lieu of receiving the deferred accrued benefit at normal retirement reduced according to the method in the preceding paragraph. Such reduction shall apply against the accrued benefit as of the date of his termination. Sec. 17 - 28. 2. Disability retirement; initial qualification; continued qualUicationj recovery. Participating employees under this plan who become totally and permanently disabled for the duties of any job for which they may be suited by reason of education, training or experience either with the City of Fort Walton Beach or another employer, shall be entitled, after such disability has been validated through the method provided hereinbelow, to a benefit in an amount determined in the same manner as the normal retirement benefit based on the employee' s credited service to the date of his disability subject to the following minimum benefits: a) Line of Duty - If the disability results from an accident occurring in the line of duty, the disability benefit shall be no less than fifty percent 50%) of the employee' s monthly compensation on the date of disability. b) Not in Line of Duty - If disability results from an accident occurring other than in the line of duty, the disability benefit shall be no less than forty percent ( 40%) of the employee' s monthly compensation on th,e date of disability. Pa~ e 42  c) Sickness - If the disability results from sickness" and provided the employee has completed at least two ( 2) years of credited service, the disability benefit shall be no less than forty percent ( 40%) of the employee' s monthly compensation as the date of disability. The disability benefit shall be payable monthly commencing with the first day of the month following establishment of total and permanent disability and shall terminate with the last monthly payment due preceding the earliest of the following da tes: 1) The date of death of the employee. 2) The date the is determined employee to be no longer totally and permanently disabled, or 3) The employee' s normal retirement date. Upon occurrence of events ( 1) or ( 2) above, the disability benefit shall cease. If occurrence of ( 3) above, payment of the normal retirement benefit shall commence on such date in the same amount as the normal retirement benefit as if it had been calculated on the day of disability based on service accrued to that pQint and average compensation computed by the method used in determining the normal retirement benefit. All months during which disability benefits have been paid shall be applied in satisfaction of the guarantee of 120 payments certain under the normal retirement option. No alternate option may be chosen either at the beginning of disability payments or upon reaching the normal retirement date. Any person applying for disability retirement shall submit to test reQu} red by the city and shall present evidence of total and permanent disability, as defined in this article, by a competent and licensed physician of his choice. Such evidence shall consist of a statement by the physician on a form "provided by the city that the employee is totally and permanently disabled under the definitions of this article along with copies of examinations and tests to support his statement. The expense for securing the services of such physician shall be born by the employee. The employee shall also be required to state that he is totally and permanently disabled on the same form. The ci ty shall also the services of secure a competent and licensed physician who shall examine the employee applying for disability retirement, review the support material provided by the employee' s physician and perform tests which he considers necessary to make a definitive finding. He shall then' make a statement on a form provided by the city as to whether he believes the employee is totally and permanently disabled under the definition of this article. Pa~ e 43  Immediately after application for disability retirement by an employee, the trustees shall initiate an investigation to determine if the disability. occurred during employment by the city, if the disability was caused by sickness or accident and if the disability was job related. The trustees shall be assisted in the determination of the facts of each of these concerns by the plan administrator, the retained pension consultant and, if deemed necessary by the plan administrator, the city attorney. If it is conclusively determined that the proximal cause of the disability occurred prior to employment by the city or while on unpaid leave of absence or after termination of employment, the trustees shall find that no compensable disability exists and shall deny the claim for benefits. Leave of absence or termination shall not be