Sec. 501.  Definitions.

For the purpose of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meaning ascribed to them in this section unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context:  (Added, 1937.)

“Accumulated Contributions”:  Shall mean the total of the amounts paid into the fund, together with regular interest thereon, by deduction from the member’s salary as provided in Section 507 and such additional amounts paid by the member as authorized under this section.  (Amended, 1953.)

“Annuity”:  Shall mean payments for life derived from the accumulated contributions of a member as provided in this article.  (Added, 1937.)

“Beneficiary”:  Any person receiving or entitled to receive, any benefit provided by this article.  (Added, 1937.)

“City Service” or “Service”:  Shall mean only those periods during which a member received compensation from the City as an employee or during which he not only received Workmen’s Compensation benefits (Div. IV, Labor Code) for temporary disability on account of any injury or illness arising out of and in the course of his employment with the City but for which he also made contributions to the fund as provided in this article.  (Amended, 1953.)

“Compensation Earnable”:  Shall mean the full salary, wage or compensation established for any position or office in the City service for the particular period involved in any calculation required; provided, however, that in the case of any retirement allowance heretofore granted where any such salary, wage, or compensation is in excess of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) per month, compensation earnable shall mean that portion thereof not exceeding sixty per cent (60%) of the highest salary, wage, or compensation established for any office or position to which appointment may be made under Section 109 of this Charter.  (Amended, 1957.)

“Continuous Service”:  As applied to prior service means all prior City service regardless of interruptions in such service; and as applied to service as a member it shall mean uninterrupted City service except that discontinuance of such service of a member for any cause whatever, followed by re-entrance into the City service within three years from the date of such discontinuance, shall not be considered as a break in the continuity of service.  (Added, 1937.)

“Dependent Parent”:  Shall mean only a person whom the Board of Administration, upon investigation and after a hearing in the matter, shall find is the parent of a member to or for whom the member, during the last year of his service, contributed at least one-half (1/2) the necessary living expenses.  (Added, 1953.)

“Employee”:  Shall mean every person in the employ or service of the City of Los Angeles in any capacity or rank whatever at a regular salary, wage or compensation, and regardless of whether the position held by any such person is classed as an office or employment.  (Amended, 1947.)

“Final Compensation”:  Shall mean the average annual compensation earnable by a member for City service during the last five years of City service or during any other five consecutive years of City service which such member shall designate.  (Amended, 1953.)

“Member”:  Any person included in the membership of the Retirement System under the provisions of Sec. 502. In addition to periods of City service for compensation, such membership shall continue during such temporary period or periods in which a member is not receiving compensation, as the Board of Administration may by rule determine.  (Amended, 1953.)

“Prior Service”:  The City service of an employee, as defined herein, at any time before the 1st day of July, 1937; provided, that no credit for such service shall be allowed to any person entering City service after the 1st day of July, 1947, except in the case of a former member returning to such service and resuming membership in the Retirement System.  (Amended, 1947.)

“Regular Interest”:  Shall mean interest credited to the individual account of each member as provided in this article.  (Amended, 1953.)

“Reserve Basis”: A system which provides for the accumulation and maintenance of a fund which will at all times be equal to the difference between the present value of the obligations assumed and the present value of the money to be received for paying such obligations, where such present values are estimated in accordance with accepted actuarial methods and on the basis of an assumed rate of interest and the mathematical probabilities of the occurrence of such contingencies as affect both the payment of the assumed obligations and the receipt of money with which they are to be paid.  (Added, 1937.)