Sec. 4.2008. Survivorship Benefits for All Tier 5 Members, Except Former Tier 2 Members Who Transferred to Tier 5.
(a) Pension for Qualified Surviving Spouse/Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner.
(1) Tier 5 Plan Member’s Service-Connected Death. The Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner of a Tier 5 Plan Member who shall die by reason of injuries received or sickness caused by the discharge of the Plan Member’s duties while a Department Member, shall be paid for life a monthly pension in an amount which shall be equal to 75% of the deceased Plan Member’s Final Average Salary.
For the purposes of the benefit provided in this subsection (a)(1), a Plan Member has died by reason of injuries received or sickness caused by the discharge of the Plan Member’s duties if there is clear and convincing evidence that the discharge of the Plan Member’s duties were the predominant cause of the Plan Member’s death.
(2) Tier 5 Plan Member’s Nonservice- Connected Death. The Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner of a Tier 5 Plan Member who shall have five or more Years of Service and who shall die while a Department Member, by reason of injuries or sickness other than injuries received or sickness caused by the discharge of the Plan Member’s duties, shall be paid for life a monthly pension in an amount which shall be equal to 30% of the deceased Plan Member’s Final Average Salary, or, if the Plan Member, at the time of death, was then eligible to receive a pension on account of Years of Service, 40% of the deceased Plan Member’s Final Average Salary.
(3) Retired Tier 5 Plan Member’s Death While on a Service Pension. The Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner of a Retired Tier 5 Plan Member, who shall die while the Retired Member is receiving a pension pursuant to Section 4.2004, shall be paid, for life a monthly pension in an amount which shall be equal to 60% of the pension received by the deceased Retired Plan Member immediately preceding the date of the Retired Member’s death. The benefit described in this subsection (a)(3) may be modified as provided in subsection (b) of this section.
(4) Retired Tier 5 Plan Member’s Death While on a Service-Connected Disability Pension. The Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner of a Retired Tier 5 Plan Member, who shall die while the Retired Member is receiving a service-connected disability pension pursuant to Section 4.2006, shall be paid for life a monthly pension in an amount which shall be equal to 60% of the pension received by the deceased Retired Plan Member immediately preceding the date of the Retired Member’s death, unless the death of the Retired Plan Member occurs within three years after the effective date of the Retired Member’s pension and is due to service-connected causes, in which case, the qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner shall receive, or in a case where an option has been elected pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, may elect to receive, 75% of the Retired Member’s Final Average Salary, as modified by the cost of living adjustments made pursuant to Section 4.2016 of this Tier 5 since the date of retirement of the Retired Plan Member. The benefit described in this subsection (a)(4) may be modified as provided in subsection (b) of this section.
(5) Retired Tier 5 Plan Member’s Death While on a Nonservice-Connected Disability Pension. The Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner of a Retired Member, who shall die while the Retired Member is receiving a nonservice-connected disability pension pursuant to Section 4.2006, shall be paid for life a monthly pension amount which shall be equal to 60% of the pension received by the deceased Retired Plan Member immediately preceding the date of the Retired Member’s death. The benefit described in this subsection (a)(5) may be modified as provided in subsection (b) of this section.
(6) Nonservice-Connected Death of Tier 5 Plan Member with Less than Five Years of Service. In the event the Tier 5 Plan Member dies of nonservice-connected causes before having completed five Years of Service, the Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner of the deceased Tier 5 Plan Member, or the deceased Member’s Minor or Dependent Children if there is no Qualified Spouse or Qualified Domestic Partner, or the deceased Member’s Dependent Parents if there is no Qualified Surviving Spouse, Qualified Domestic Partner, Minor or Dependent Children, shall be entitled to the Basic Death Benefit described in subsection (a)(7) below.
(7) Basic Death Benefit and Election. The Basic Death Benefit shall consist of: (a) the return of a deceased Plan Member’s contributions to the Plan with accrued interest thereon; subject, however to the rights created by virtue of the Plan Member’s designation of a beneficiary as otherwise provided in this Tier 5; and (b) if the deceased Plan Member had at least one Year of Service, the deceased Plan Member’s Final Average Salary multiplied by the number of completed Years of Service, not to exceed six years; provided that said amount shall be paid in monthly installments of one-half of the deceased Plan Member’s Final Average Salary.
A Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner, or a guardian acting on behalf of the Minor or Dependent Children of a deceased Plan Member if there is no Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner, or Dependent Parents if there is no Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner and no Minor or Dependent Children entitled to a pension pursuant to any of the provisions of this section, where benefits are based upon the Plan Member’s death in active service, may in lieu of the pension provided and before the first payment of such pension, elect to receive the Basic Death Benefit.
(b) Optional Pensions for Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner. At any time before the first payment of a service pension, a service- connected disability pension, or a nonservice-connected disability pension, the Plan Member may elect to receive, in lieu of the Member’s pension as provided in Section 4.2004 or Section 4.2006, the actuarial equivalent at that time of such pension and of the pension for the Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner as provided in subsection (a) of this section, by electing an optional pension payable throughout the balance of the Member’s life, with the provision that upon the Member’s death such optional pension shall be continued to the Plan Member’s Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner in the proportional amount designated by the Plan Member at the time of election of the option provided by this section.
The amount of such optional pension shall be so calculated that the liability of the Fire and Police Pension Plan at the date of retirement under the optional pension shall be equal to the liability of the Fire and Police Pension Plan at the same date under the pension awarded in accordance with the provisions of Section 4.2004 or Section 4.2006 and of the survivorship pension provided by subsection (a) of this section. For the purpose of this section, the liability of the Fire and Police Pension Plan is defined as the present value, in accordance with tables adopted by the Board, of the pensions or optional pensions calculated by approved actuarial methods, and recommended by the Board’s actuary. In determining the actuarial equivalent of the pension for a Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner as provided pursuant to subsections (a)(3), (4), and (5) of this section, the equivalent of a 60% survivorship pension shall be used in all cases.
The optional amounts, calculated in accordance with the foregoing paragraph, shall provide a range of optional values such that the amount to be paid to the Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner of the Plan Member shall range from 60% to 100% of the pension payable to the Plan Member, varying by increments of 5%.
If a Retired Tier 5 Plan Member, previously retired on a disability pension pursuant to the provisions of Section 4.2006, should be reinstated to active duty upon termination of the Member’s disability, the election to receive the optional pension as herein provided, shall be deemed canceled as of the effective date of such reinstatement.
A Retired Tier 5 Plan Member, previously retired on a disability pension pursuant to the provisions of Section 4.2006 and whose pension has subsequently been adjusted as provided for in Section 4.2006, shall have the right to cancel any option previously elected by the Member pursuant to the provisions of this subsection.
The Board shall by rule provide for a method in which the election to receive an optional pension shall be exercised.
(c) Additional Pension Amounts. Whenever any Tier 5 Plan Member or Retired Tier 5 Plan Member shall die and leave surviving the Member, in addition to a Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Domestic Partner (either being a Qualified Survivor for the purposes of this subsection), a Minor Child or Children or a Dependent Child or Children of the deceased member and the Qualified Survivor, then such Qualified Survivor shall be paid an additional monthly pension in an amount which shall be equal to 25% of the pension the Qualified Survivor would be entitled to pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) of this section while there is one Minor Child or Dependent Child, 40% while there are two Minor Children or Dependent Children or a combination thereof, and 50% while there are three or more Minor Children or Dependent Children or a combination, and such additional monthly pension shall be the exclusive property of such Qualified Survivor and not the property of any such Minor Child or Dependent Child.
Whenever any Plan Member or Retired Plan Member shall die and leave surviving the Member in addition to a Qualified Survivor, a Minor Child or Children or a Dependent Child or Children who are not the child or children on the Qualified Survivor, then the guardian or guardians of the estate or estates of any such Minor Child or Children or Dependent Child or Children shall be paid a monthly pension in an amount which shall be equal to 25% of the pension the Qualified Survivor would be entitled to pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) of this section while there is one Minor Child or Dependent Child, 40% while there are two Minor Children or Dependent Children or a combination, and 50% while there are three or more Minor Children or Dependent Children or a combination.
Whenever any Plan Member or Retired Plan Member shall die and leave surviving the Member, in addition to a Qualified Survivor, a Minor Child or Children or a Dependent Child or Children of the deceased member and the Qualified Survivor and a Minor Child or Children or a Dependent Child or Children not the child or children of the Qualified Survivor, then a monthly pension shall be paid in an amount which shall be equal to 25% of the pension the Qualified Survivor would be entitled to pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) of this section while there is one Minor Child or Dependent Child, 40% while there are two Minor Children or Dependent Children or a combination, and 50% while there are three or more Minor Children or Dependent Children or a combination. The amount of such monthly pension shall be divided by the number of Minor Children or Dependent Children and shall be adjusted accordingly whenever any Minor or Dependent Child shall cease to be such. The Qualified Survivor shall be paid the portion of such monthly pension which shall be applicable to the number of the Qualified Survivor’s Minor Children or Dependent Children and the same shall be the Qualified Survivor’s exclusive property. The guardian or guardians of the estate or estates of the Minor Children or Dependent Children who are not those of the Qualified Survivor shall be paid the portion of such monthly pension which shall be applicable to such Minor Children or Dependent Children and the same shall be the exclusive property of such children.
The additional pension amounts provided in this subsection for persons other than a Qualified Survivor are to be calculated on the basis of the applicable Qualified Survivor pension provided pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, unmodified by any election that may previously have been made pursuant to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section.
Additional pension amounts are also subject to the limitation that the amount of any survivorship pension provided in this section, after the additional payments provided in this subsection are added thereto, may not exceed 100% of the Final Average Salary of the deceased Tier 5 Plan Member or 100% of the Final Average Salary of the Retired Tier 5 Plan Member, as modified by the cost of living adjustments made pursuant to Section 4.2016 of this Tier 5 since the date of retirement of the Retired Tier 5 Plan Member. In case of such excess, any additional pension amounts shall be reduced to a level where the total amount of pension is equal to such maximum.
(d) This section is intentionally left blank.
(e) Pension for Minor or Dependent Children. Whenever any Tier 5 Plan Member or Retired Tier 5 Plan Member shall die without leaving a Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner, the guardian of the estate of the Member’s Minor or Dependent Children shall be paid, until each such child shall cease to be a Minor or Dependent Child, a monthly pension equal to the pension a Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner would have been eligible to receive pursuant to subsection (a) of this section had a Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner survived such Member. Whenever any Tier 5 Plan Member or Retired Tier 5 Plan Member shall die leaving a Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner who thereafter shall die, the guardian of the estate of the Member’s Minor or Dependent Children shall be paid, until each such child shall cease to be a Minor or Dependent Child, a monthly pension equal to the pension a Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner would have been eligible to receive pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. In any of the foregoing events and if there were to be more than one Minor or Dependent Child, an equal share of such monthly pension shall be paid for and on behalf of each such child to the guardian of the child’s estate and shall be adjusted as each of them shall cease to be a Minor or Dependent Child in the manner set forth in subsection (c) of this section. If payments are made pursuant to this subsection (e), no additional pension amounts shall be paid pursuant to subsection (c) of this section.
(f) Pension for Dependent Parents. Whenever any Tier 5 Plan Member or Retired Tier 5 Plan Member shall die without leaving a Qualified Surviving Spouse or a Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner or a Minor or Dependent Child, a monthly pension shall be paid to such Dependent Parents or to the survivor of them until each such Dependent Parent shall cease to be such. Any Dependent Parent who shall cease to be such but who thereafter again shall become unable to pay the Dependent Parent’s necessary living expenses without a pension shall be entitled to have the Dependent Parent’s pension reinstated.
The total amount of a pension payable to the Dependent Parent or Parents shall be the same as that to which a Qualified Surviving Spouse or Qualified Surviving Domestic Partner would have been entitled pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.
(g) Determinations With Respect to Cause of Death and Dependency. The Board shall have the same power as that which has been given to it by Section 4.2006
(c) and (d) in order to determine:
(1) the fact whether a Tier 5 Plan Member’s death was service-connected or nonservice-connected for the purposes of Section 4.2008(a)(1) and (2);
(2) the fact of whether or not a child of a deceased Tier 5 Plan Member or Retired Tier 5 Plan Member is a Dependent Child; and
(3) whether or not any parent of a deceased Tier 5 Plan Member or Retired Tier 5 Plan Member is a Dependent Parent.
The Board also shall have the power to determine, from time to time, the fact of whether or not a child continues to be a Dependent Child, the fact of whether or not a parent continues to be a Dependent Parent and the fact of whether or not a Dependent Parent who had ceased to be such thereafter shall have become entitled to have the Dependent Parent’s pension reinstated.
(h) Medical Reports and Hearings. The power of the Board to determine the fact of whether a Plan Member’s death was service-connected or nonservice-connected, as provided in subsection (g) of this section, hereafter may be exercised by it upon the basis of a written report from one regularly licensed and practicing physician selected by it but the Board, in its discretion, may obtain such a report from more than one such physician. The determination hereinbefore referred to in this subsection may, at the option of the Board, be made without a hearing being held pursuant to the provisions of subsection (g) of this section.
(i) Distribution of Contributions. Whenever a Tier 5 Plan Member dies without leaving a person or persons entitled to receive a pension pursuant to the provisions of this section, then, and in that event, the Plan Member’s contributions to the Plan, together with such interest as may have been credited to the Plan Member’s individual account shall be paid to such person as the Plan Member shall have nominated by written designation duly executed and filed with the Board, or, if there be no such designation, then to the surviving spouse or to the Plan Member’s children in the event there be no surviving spouse, or to the Plan Member’s parents in the event there is no surviving spouse or children. In the event there is no written designation of beneficiary, surviving spouse, children or parents, then the contributions shall be paid to the executor or administrator of the estate of such deceased Plan Member, or to any other person legally authorized to collect money due the decedent.
SECTION HISTORY
Added by Ord. No. 174,367, Eff. 12-19-01.