(a) Contribution Amounts. Each Tier 6 Plan Member shall contribute to the Fire and Police Pension Plan-Tier 6 as follows:
(1) Regular Contributions. Each Tier 6 Plan Member shall make regular contributions to the Fire and Police Pension Plan – Tier 6 by salary deduction at the rate of 9% of the amount of his or her salary, except that further contributions to the Plan shall not be required from a Tier 6 Plan Member who has served as a Plan Member more than 33 years.
(2) Additional Contributions to Support Funding of Retiree Health Benefits. Each Tier 6 Plan Member shall make additional contributions to the Fire and Police Pension Plan – Tier 6 by salary deduction at the rate of 2% of the amount of his or her salary, except that further contributions to the Plan shall not be required from a Tier 6 Plan Member who has served as a Plan Member more than 25 years. The purpose of these contributions is to provide additional employee funding for service pensions in order to support the City's ability to fund retiree health benefits. This 2% member contribution shall not be increased by ordinance.
For purposes of determining the amount of these deductions, Salary shall mean those elements of a Tier 6 Plan Member's compensation which would be included in calculating Final Average Salary. The administrative heads of the Fire Department, Police Department, Harbor Department, and Airport Department shall cause to be shown on each and every payroll of such departments all deductions that are required to be made pursuant to this subsection for Department Members who are Tier 6 Plan Members. All references in Tier 6 to contributions shall be deemed to include both regular contributions and additional contributions, unless a different meaning is clearly indicated in the context.
(3) Internal Revenue Code Requirements for Contributions by Members Who Transferred From LACERS Pursuant to Section 1704. Notwithstanding any language in subsection (a) to the contrary, a Tier 6 Plan Member who elected to transfer into the Plan and purchase his or her prior LACERS service pursuant to Charter Section 1704 and the ordinance adopted in accordance therewith shall continue to make member contributions at the rate applicable to his or her LACERS membership to the extent required by the Internal Revenue Code, provided however: (i) if this subsection (a) would otherwise require additional member contributions by such a member, such additional member contributions shall be made by the member on an after-tax basis to the extent required by the Internal Revenue Code; and (ii) provided further, if this subsection (a) would otherwise require member contributions at a rate that is lower than the rate applicable to the member's LACERS membership, the Council may, by ordinance adopted in accordance with the provisions of this Section, and pursuant to applicable provisions of the Charter and the Los Angeles Administrative Code, provide for a larger annuity benefit at the time of retirement for such a member to reflect the additional contribution amounts, as determined by the actuary and subject to all limitations of the Internal Revenue Code.
(b) Payroll Deductions and Years of Service Credit for Overtime. Whenever a Plan Member, for overtime work, shall take a period of time off with pay:
(1) deductions for pension purposes, as provided in subsection (a), shall be made from such pay but only in the same amount as that which would have been deducted from his or her salary if such period had been one of regular work; and
(2) such period shall be part of his or her Years of Service.
Whenever a Plan Member, for overtime work, shall receive a cash payment:
(1) deductions for pension purposes shall not be made from such payment; and
(2) the period of overtime work for which he or she shall receive such payment shall not be part of his or her Years of Service.
(c) Member Accounts. The Board shall maintain an individual account for contributions that are made by or for each Tier 6 Plan Member, as hereinabove provided. Regular interest shall be credited to such individual accounts as of the last day of June and December of each year at such rate as the Board may deem proper in light of the Fire and Police Pension Plan's earnings, exclusive of profits and losses on principal heretofore or hereafter resulting from sales of securities. No such interest shall be credited at any other time or to the individual account of any person who is not a Tier 6 Plan Member but such interest shall be credited to the end of the pay period preceding termination, using the last interest rate used for the preceding June or December for crediting the Plan Member's individual accounts. A former Plan Member who did not receive a refund of his or her contributions and who re-enters service and becomes a Tier 6 Plan member shall, upon re-entry, be credited with interest on his or her account as if he or she had never terminated service.
(d) Payroll Deduction. Each Tier 6 Plan Member shall be deemed to consent and agree to each deduction made as provided for herein and the payment of each payroll check to such Plan Member shall be a full and complete discharge and acquittance of all claims and demands whatever for the services rendered by each member during the period covered by such payroll, except such claims as such Plan Member has to the benefits or payments provided for in this Tier 6.
(e) Election of Refund Forfeits Right to Benefits. Upon termination of employment as a Department Member for any reason except retirement, a terminated member may elect to receive a refund of contributions, together with accrued interest. Tier 6 Plan Members or beneficiaries thereof who elect to receive a refund of contributions, forfeit the right to benefits provided in this Tier 6. A terminated member who elected to have contributions returned, but who re-enters service and again becomes a Tier 6 Plan Member, shall have the privilege of regaining the prior service credit by repaying the amount of his or her previously refunded contributions and interest and an amount calculated as interest which would have been earned between the date of original termination of status as a Tier 6 Plan Member and the date of re-entry into service as a Department Member.
(f) Payment of Benefits Forfeits Right to a Refund. After payment of any pension benefit has commenced, the Tier 6 Plan Member or beneficiaries forfeit the right to a refund of the Plan Member's contributions. Tier 6 Plan Members who are restored to active duty from a disability pension may not thereafter have contributions made by them prior to their retirement on such disability pension refunded.
(g) Assuring Full Member Contributions. The Board shall have rule-making authority to insure that the Fire and Police Pension Plan – Tier 6 receives member contributions for all periods of credited service, except that the Board shall not have authority to require contributions for service credit for military service and for periods while a Tier 6 Plan Member is receiving a disability pension, or full pay for Injury On Duty. Tier 6 Plan Members, however, may elect to make contributions for periods of Injury On Duty compensated at the rate provided by general law in order to acquire credit for Years of Service for such period. Such contributions shall be at the contribution rate herein provided and shall be based on the salary the Plan Member would have received if he or she had not occupied Injury On Duty status.
SECTION HISTORY
Added by Charter Amendment G § 1, approved March 8, 2011, effective April 8, 2011.
Amended by: Subsecs. (a)(2), (a)(3), Charter Amendment SSS §§ 18, 19, approved November 8, 2016, effective December 15, 2016.