§ 15-5-204 — Pensions; amounts; qualifications; when paid; disability benefits; disqualifications; examinations; disallowance; actions; adjustment; rehiring

(a) Any person qualifying may retire from active service
and receive a monthly pension of seventy-five percent (75%) of
the maximum monthly salary of a fireman first class. Any benefit
increases which may occur shall not subsequently be withdrawn.
This benefit accrues to any paid fireman who has completed
twenty (20) years of active service in regularly constituted
fire departments of any cities, towns, counties or fire
protection districts and to any paid fireman suffering from a
mental or physical disability rendering him unfit for active
duty. Any paid fireman covered under this article may continue
service beyond twenty (20) years and receive an additional
benefit of one and one-half percent (1.5%) of the maximum salary
of a fireman first class for each year of service beyond twenty
(20) years.
(b) Any fireman with less than ten (10) years of service
upon terminating his employment for any reason shall receive in
a lump sum a refund of all the money he has contributed to the
firemen's pension account. Refund of such contributions
extinguishes all rights to any benefits under this article.
(c) After ten (10) years as a full time paid fireman, any
fireman upon terminating his employment for any reason may have
his choice of:
(i) A refund, in a lump sum, of all the money he has
contributed into the firemen's pension account, less one-half
percent (1/2%) for bookkeeping costs; or
(ii) Upon the twentieth anniversary of the date of
his employment as a full time paid fireman he may draw a monthly
pension computed as follows:
Number of years service x 75% of the maximum
monthly salary of a fireman first class
_______________
(d) No fireman is entitled to draw a disability pension if
the primary cause of the mental or physical disability which
renders him unfit for active duty is alcoholism, substance abuse
or addiction or an injury incurred as a result of the commission
of a crime of a voluntary nature, or a mental or physical
condition which existed at the time of his employment.
(e) The board may require firemen applying for or drawing
a disability pension to submit periodically to a physical or
mental examination by a physician it selects and to furnish
relevant information it requests. If the physician's report, or
other evidence available to the board, shows that the fireman is
not qualified for the disability pension, or that he is fit for
active duty, the board shall disallow or discontinue the payment
of the monthly disability pension. Examining physicians selected
by the board shall be paid from the account in accordance with
existing worker's compensation schedules for examinations.
(f) Any applicant or beneficiary of the firemen's pension
account aggrieved by a disallowance or discontinuance of pension
benefits has a right to commence an action in the district court
of the county in which the applicant resides, naming the board,
as custodian of the firemen's pension account, as the party
defendant, to have his rights to pension benefits determined
before a judge of the district court.
(g) Any pension benefit, survivor benefit or disability
benefit received by an eligible individual under this article,
and the fireman for whom the benefit is generated has been
retired for a period of not less than one (1) year, shall not be
increased after April 1, 2022.
(h) The board shall adopt rules to allow service for any
period of time, after commencement of participation under this
article, which an employee spends in active military or other
emergency service of the United States as required by the
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, 38
U.S.C. 4301 et seq.
(j) Rehiring a paid fireman retired under this article
shall be in accordance with the Wyoming Retirement Act, W.S. 9-
3-415(g) through (j).