§ 203-41. Disability Retirement Allowance.

No Active Member with fewer than five years of Creditable Service with the Retirement System shall be eligible for disability benefits pursuant to this Section. Any Active Member having completed 5 years of Creditable Service with the Retirement System on or after April 1, 2013, who is disabled by reason of an accidental or non-accidental cause may be retired by the Board upon the application of the Member or the head of his department not less than 30 and no more than 180 days next following the date of filing such application, on a disability retirement allowance, provided the medical director after a medical examination of such Member shall certify that such Member is mentally or physically incapacitated for the further performance of duty, and such incapacity is likely to be permanent, and such Member should be retired; provided further, where the findings of the medical director are disputed, the Board may employ not more than two additional competent disinterested physicians to make a physical examination of such applicant and report their medical findings to the Board. In all disputed cases the decision of the Board shall be final.

Pursuant to the rules adopted by the Board, the Board may waive the requirement that a Member be an Active Member, provided that it can be proved that the disability existed before the Member's contributing service was terminated.

The death of a Member who has applied for retirement due to disability prior to final determination by the Board under this section shall not affect the right of the applicant to a disability retirement, and the Board shall proceed to act upon the application for disability retirement as though the individual were still alive and shall take subsequent action following that determination as though the individual had died immediately after having been granted disability retirement.

(a)

Upon retirement for disability on or after January 1, 1978, a Member shall receive a Service Retirement Allowance if the Member has attained the age of 60, or at any age with 30 years of Creditable Service; otherwise the Member shall receive a disability retirement allowance which shall consist of:

(i)

An annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of Accumulated Contributions at the time of Retirement; and

(ii)

A pension which together with the annuity shall provide a total disability retirement allowance equal to 90 percent of the Average Highest Compensation by the number of years of Creditable Service; provided that, if the total disability retirement allowance so obtained does not exceed one-quarter of the Average Highest Compensation, the formula shall be 90 percent of the sum obtained by multiplying 2.20 percent of the Average Highest Compensation by the number of years which would be creditable if service continued to age 60; but the total retirement allowance in such case shall in no event exceed one-fourth of the Average Highest Compensation.

(iii)

In no event shall the disability retirement allowance provided for herein be less than $90 per month in the case of Employees having 25 years of service, or an amount per month equal to the sum of $3.60 multiplied by the number of full years of Creditable Service in the case of Employees having less than 26 years of Creditable Service.

(iv)

In no event shall the disability retirement allowance provided for herein, exceed the limit established by Section 415 of the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C.A. 415, as amended.

(b)

Persons who retired on disability retirement prior to January 1, 1978, shall receive a disability retirement allowance which shall consist of the amount determined in accordance with the calculation formula in effect at the time of the Member's disability retirement.

(c)

A Retirant who is earning service credit as an Employee, and who is concurrently receiving a Service Retirement Allowance from the Retirement System, is not eligible to apply for a disability retirement benefit pursuant to this Section.

(C.O. 203-18; a. Ord. No. 189-1958, eff. June 27, 1958; a. Ord. No. 283-1959, eff. Oct. 2, 1959; a. Ord. No. 315-1960, eff. Oct. 8. 1960; a. Ord. No. 16-1966, eff. Feb. 18, 1966; a. Ord. No. 33-1968, eff. Jan. 24, 1968; a. Ord. No. 120-1968, eff. Apr. 19, 1968; a. Ord. No. 72-1969, eff. Mar. 21, 1969; a. Ord. No. 116-1972, eff. Mar. 1, 1972; a. Ord. No. 468-1973, eff. Oct. 17, 1973; a. Ord. No. 539-1973, eff. Dec. 12, 1973; a. Ord. No. 25-1974, eff. Jan. 16, 1974; a. Ord. No. 474-1977, eff. Jan. 1, 1978; a. Ord. No. 300-1979, eff. Aug. 4, 1979; a. Ord. No. 545-1983, eff. Dec. 23, 1983; a. Ord. No. 540-1990, eff. Dec. 19, 1990; Emer. Ord. No. 379-2008, eff. Nov. 19, 2008; Emer. Ord. No. 083-2013, § 2, eff. April 10, 2013; a. Ord. No. 336-2016, § 1, eff. Nov. 26, 2016)