§ 555 — Ordinary disability retirement

§ 555. Ordinary disability retirement. a. Application for an ordinary\ndisability retirement allowance for a member may be made by:\n 1. Such member, or\n 2. The head of the department in which such member is employed, or\n 3. Some person acting on behalf of and authorized by such member.\n aa. At the time of the filing of an application pursuant to this\nsection, the member must:\n 1. Have at least ten years of total service credit, and\n 2. Actually be in service upon which his or her membership is based,\nor, have been discontinued from service, either voluntarily or\ninvoluntarily, for not more than ninety days, providing the member was\ndisabled prior to such discontinuance.\n An application for disability retirement shall not be disapproved on\nthe basis of a deputy sheriff having failed to engage directly in\ncriminal law enforcement activities that aggregate fifty per centum of a\ndeputy sheriff's service during a period preceding the filing of the\napplication provided the failure to do so was the result of the\ndisability alleged in the application and further provided the deputy\nsheriff was certified as so engaged in criminal law enforcement\nactivities by the county sheriff for the calendar year preceding the\nonset of the disability.\nAfter the filing of such an application, such member shall be given one\nor more medical examinations. If the comptroller determines that the\nmember is physically or mentally incapacitated for the performance of\nduty and ought to be retired for ordinary disability, he or she shall be\nso retired. Such retirement shall be effective as of a date approved by\nthe comptroller.\n b. Upon retirement for ordinary disability one of the following\nretirement allowances shall be payable:\n 1. If a member has attained age sixty when such retirement becomes\neffective, his or her retirement allowance shall be equal to that which\nhe or she would receive in the case of superannuation retirement.\n 2. If the member has not attained age sixty when such retirement\nbecomes effective, his or her retirement allowance shall consist of:\n (a) An annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of his or her\naccumulated contributions at the time of his or her retirement, plus\n (b) A pension which is the actuarial equivalent of the\nreserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to which he or she may then be\nentitled, if any, plus\n (c) A pension computed in accordance with whichever of the following\nprovides the greater benefit:\n (1) A pension which, together with the member's annuity and the\npension-providing-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any, shall equal\nninety per centum of one-seventieth of his or her final average salary\nmultiplied by the number of years of his or her total service credit,\nwhich formula shall be used only if the retirement allowance so computed\nexceeds one-quarter of his or her final average salary. If the\nretirement allowance so computed shall amount to one-quarter or less of\nthe member's final average salary, his or her pension shall be computed\nupon the basis of the total service which he or she would have rendered\nif he or she continued in service until he or she attained age sixty so\nas the resulting retirement allowance computed by resort to this formula\nshall not exceed one-quarter of the member's final average salary.\n (2) A pension which together with the member's annuity and the\npension-providing-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any, shall equal\none-sixtieth of his or her final average salary multiplied by the number\nof years of his or her total service credit, which formula shall be used\nonly if the retirement allowance so computed exceeds one-third of his or\nher final average salary. If the retirement allowance so computed shall\namount to one-third or less of the member's final average salary, his or\nher pension shall be computed upon the basis of the total service which\nhe or she would have rendered if he or she continued in service until he\nor she attained age sixty so far as the resulting retirement allowance\ncomputed by resort to this formula shall not exceed one-third of the\nmember's final average salary.\nFor the purpose only of determining the amount of a pension pursuant to\nany of the above formulae, the annuity shall be computed as it would be:\n (aa) If not reduced by the actuarial equivalent of any outstanding\nloan, and\n (bb) If not increased by the actuarial equivalent of any additional\ncontributions, and\n (cc) If not reduced by reason of the member's election to decrease his\nor her annuity contributions to the retirement system in order to apply\nthe amount of such reduction in payment of his or her contributions for\nold-age and survivors insurance coverage.\n c. If the member, at the time of the filing of an application under\nthe provisions of subdivision a of this section, is eligible for a\nservice retirement benefit, then and in that event, he or she may\nsimultaneously file an application for service retirement in accordance\nwith the provisions of section three hundred seventy of this chapter,\nprovided that the member indicates on the application for service\nretirement that such application is filed without prejudice to the\napplication for ordinary disability retirement.\n d. An application for an ordinary disability retirement allowance may\nbe filed, as otherwise provided herein, simultaneously with or after the\nfiling of an application for an accidental disability retirement\nallowance, providing a member meets the requirements of this section. If\nthe comptroller shall deny the application for an accidental disability\nretirement allowance, he or she shall then determine the application for\nan ordinary disability retirement allowance. If the comptroller shall\ngrant the application for an accidental disability retirement allowance,\nthe application for an ordinary disability retirement allowance will be\ndeemed to have been withdrawn.\n