The purpose of this section is to establish a death benefit plan for the protection of the families of members of the Los Angeles City Retirement System who die before retirement. This plan shall be known as the Family Death Benefit Plan (FDBP), but may be referred to in this section as the Plan.
Participation in the Plan is optional, not mandatory. Members must elect to participate in the coverage provided in this section. Benefits payable under the Plan are subject to earning limitations and, accordingly, may be subject to reduction. Benefits to certain recipients may also be terminable in the event of the person’s marriage.
No payments shall be made under this section on account of the death of a member in which an optional survivorship allowance provided by Section 4.1010(a)(3) or 4.1060(a)(3) or Section 4.1080.7(a)(3) of this Chapter is selected. In the event that the optional survivorship allowance provided by Section 4.1011(f) of this Chapter is selected, benefits may temporarily be paid under this section, provided that such benefits shall terminate on the day prior to the effective date that payments begin pursuant to the provisions of Section 4.1011(f).
(a) Participation in the Family Death Benefit Plan. A member must file a written election with the Board of Administration in order to participate in the coverage provided in this section. Such election shall be made in writing and may be filed with the Board at any time after the completion of eighteen (18) months of service as a member of the Los Angeles City Retirement System.
A Plan Member may cancel participation in the Plan by filing written notice with the Board of Administration of such cancellation, and, from and after the first day of the calendar month next succeeding such filing, no contributions on account of the Plan shall be taken. No benefit shall thereafter be paid under the provisions of Subsections (b) and (c) of this section for service rendered prior to such cancellation, nor shall such former participant be again eligible to participate in the Plan until he or she has completed eighteen (18) or more months of service subsequent to the date of such cancellation.
For purposes of this section:
(1) Family Death Benefit Plan Member or Plan Member shall include only a member of the Los Angeles City Retirement System who has elected to participate in the coverage provided by this section.
(2) Death Benefit Plan Service shall include only months of service as a contributing Family Death Benefit Plan Member.
(3) Survivor shall mean the surviving spouse or surviving domestic partner of the Plan Member and shall not include any other person(s) who survives the member. For purposes of this section, domestic partner shall mean a person who has established a domestic partnership with the Retirement System, as authorized in Sections 4.1009 or 4.1059 or 4.1080.1(c) herein, or with the State of California, as authorized in Family Code Section 298.5, or a person who has established a legal union which was validly formed in another jurisdiction that is substantially equivalent to a domestic partnership, as authorized in Family Code Section 299.2; domestic partner shall not include a person who has established a domestic partnership pursuant to any other authority.
(b) Entitlement after Eighteen (18) Months of Death Benefit Plan Service. Upon the death of a Family Death Benefit Plan Member who has completed at least eighteen (18) months of Death Benefit Plan Service:
(1) The survivor of such Plan Member, having the care and custody of such member’s child or children under the age of sixteen (16), shall receive a monthly allowance as provided in Subsection (d), until such time as he or she shall marry.
(2) The survivor, natural parent or adoptive parent of a Plan Member’s child or children under the age of eighteen (18), having care and custody of such child, shall receive a monthly allowance for each child as provided in Subsection (d).
(3) In the event there are surviving children under the age of eighteen (18) who are not in the care or custody of the Plan Member’s survivor, or in the care of custody of the child’s natural or adoptive parent, there shall be paid to the legally appointed guardian of the estate of the member’s child or children a monthly allowance as provided in Subsection (d).
The allowance payable to a survivor under Paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be paid only as long as such person remains unmarried and has a child or children under the age of sixteen (16) in his or her care and custody on whose account an allowance is payable under this subsection.
The phrase “child or children under the age of eighteen (18)” shall include, in addition to a child who has not attained his or her eighteenth (18th) birthday as of the date of the Plan Member’s death, any child who, before reaching the age of twenty-two (22), has become unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death, or to be of long continued and indefinite duration. The allowance payable on account of every child shall cease when such child reach the age of eighteen (18) unless such child was, or has become, disabled as in this paragraph provided, in which case payments on account of such a disabled child shall be continued for the duration of the disability. The Board of Administration shall have the power to hear and determine all matters pertaining to the degree and the duration of any child’s disability, and the determination of said Board shall be final and conclusive.
(c) Entitlement after One Hundred Twenty (120) Months of Death Benefit Plan Service. Upon the death of a Family Death Benefit Plan Member, who has at least one hundred twenty (120) months of Death Benefit Plan Service:
(1) If there be a survivor or children of such member eligible to receive payments under Subsection (b), such payments shall be made as therein provided;
(2) Upon reaching age sixty (60), the Survivor of such member, if he or she has not married since the member’s death and is not entitled to a Survivor’s payment under Subsection (b)(1), shall be paid a monthly pension as provided in Subsection (e).
(3) Upon reaching age fifty (50), the survivor of such member who is found to be unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death, or to be of long continued and indefinite duration, if he or she has not married since the member’s death and is not entitled to a survivor’s payment under Subsection (b), shall be entitled to receive the benefit provided in Subsection (e), with such actuarial adjustment as provided by Board rule. The Board of Administration shall have the power to hear and determine all matters pertaining to the degree and the duration of any survivor’s disability, and the determination of said Board shall be final and conclusive.
(4) In the event such member is not survived by a survivor or children, but is survived by a parent or parents who during the last year of the member’s service, had received at least one-half (1/2) of their necessary living expenses from such member, there shall be paid to each such parent a monthly pension as provided in Subsection (f); provided, however, that such payments shall not begin before the parent has reached age sixty-two (62), and no payment shall be made to a parent who has married subsequent to the member’s death. In order to qualify for this benefit, the parent(s), regardless of their age at the time of the member’s death, must within a period of six (6) months following the member’s death, file a claim with the Board of Administration for such benefit and establish to the satisfaction of said Board the fact of dependency as provided herein. Failure for any reason to file such claim within the time herein specified shall forever bar the right of such parent or parents to assert a claim to such benefits.
(d) Allowances Payable under Subsection (b). Effective December 16, 1996, and ongoing:
(1) The monthly allowance to be paid pursuant to Subsection (b)(1) herein shall be as follows:
Survivor and one child - $1,875.00
Survivor and two children - $2,186.90
(2) The monthly allowance to be paid pursuant to Subsection (b)(2) and Subsection (b)(3) herein shall be as follows:
One child - $937.50
Two children - $1,875.00
Three children - $2,186.90
(e) Allowances Payable under Subsection (c) to a Survivor. Effective December 16, 1996, and ongoing, the monthly allowance payable to a survivor, pursuant to Subsection (c), shall be as follows:
For payments beginning at age sixty (60) - $613.04
For payments beginning at age sixty-one (61) - $661.93
For payments beginning at age sixty-two (62) - $710.78
For payments beginning at age sixty-three (63) - $759.66
For payments beginning at age sixty-four (64) - $808.52
For payments beginning at age sixty-five (65) or older - $857.40
(f) Allowances Payable under Subsection (c) to Dependent Parent(s). Effective December 16, 1996, and ongoing, the monthly allowance payable to a dependent parent(s), pursuant to Subsection (c), shall be as follows:
For one dependent parent - $1,031.25
For two dependent parents - $1,875.00
(g) Board of Administration Authority. Full power and authority is hereby vested in the Board of Administration to make such changes in the conditions set forth in Subsections (b) and (c) of this section governing entitlement to, and continued payment of, the benefits therein provided, as will, from time to time, make such conditions comparable to, and in substantial accordance with, the conditions governing the respective Survivor Benefits under the Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Program.
In addition, the Board shall establish an earnings test and provide for a reduction in the payments to be made under this section, which test and reduction in payments shall be in substantial accordance with the earnings test and reduced payments on account of earning established under the OASDI Program.
It is the intent, meaning, and purpose of this subsection to provide a means whereby entitlement to and continuance of benefit payments to the surviving children, Survivor, or parents of a deceased Family Death Benefit Plan Member shall be in substantial accordance with the conditions governing entitlement to, and continuance of, the comparable survivor benefits under the OASDI Program. The rights granted to Family Death Benefit Plan Members under this Section shall be cumulative in the event that benefits become payable to children whose parents were both Family Death Benefit Plan Members at the time of their respective deaths.
It shall be the duty of every person receiving payments under the provisions of this section to make such reports relative to employment, earnings and marital status as the Board may determine, and failure to furnish any such report within the time and in the manner specified by said Board shall be cause for the suspension or cancellation of any further payments as said Board may, in its discretion, determine.
(h) Funding of Plan Benefits. The Board of Administration shall secure such actuarial reports and valuations as may be necessary to establish the cost of the benefits provided by this section and for the accumulation and maintenance of a fund on a reserve basis sufficient for the payment of such benefits. On the basis of such reports it shall establish and change or modify a rate of contribution for the Plan Members and a like rate for the City to the end that such cost shall be borne equally between the Plan Members and the City. Age and sex shall be disregarded in establishing such rate, which shall be expressed as a dollar amount per month per Plan Member.
Said Board shall certify the dollar amount of the Plan Member contribution to the Controller who shall deduct one-half (1/2) of such amount from the salary paid to each such member for each of two payroll periods during each calendar month and draw a payroll check for the total of the amount so deducted, which shall be paid into a special reserve account of the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement Fund to be designated Family Death Benefit Plan account.
Each Plan Member, by virtue of the election to participate in the Plan, shall be deemed to consent and agree to each such deduction, and payment of each payroll check shall be a full and complete discharge and acquittance of all claims and demands whatsoever for service rendered by such member during the period covered by such payroll. Contributions taken pursuant to the provisions of this subsection shall be in addition to the member contributions required to be taken under the provisions of Charter Section 1162, but they shall not become a part of the member’s accumulated contributions, nor shall they be refundable under any circumstances.
The Board of Administration shall include in the annual department budget, in addition to the items specified in Charter Section 1160 and for the account of said Family Death Benefit Plan account:
(1) An amount equal to the estimated total amount to be contributed by the Family Death Benefit Plan Members during such fiscal year; and
(2) In the event the benefits paid and to be paid under the provisions of this section during the preceding fiscal year shall exceed the total account paid into said account by the contributing members, the revenue derived from (1) above and the interest as provided in the next paragraph, an amount equal to such deficit.
Interest shall be credited to said Family Death Benefit Plan account at the same time, and in the same manner, as interest is credited to the other actuarial reserve accounts of the Retirement System, and the Board of Administration shall keep such record and account of the total amount paid into said account plus the interest credited thereto, as will show at any time the total amount so provided less the total amount of benefits.
No payment on account of the benefits provided in this section shall be paid from any other fund or account and every Family Death Benefit Plan Member shall, by virtue of the election to participate in the Plan, be deemed to consent and agree to this limitation of liability.
(i) Past Service Credit towards Entitlements under the Plan. Every person who shall enter or re-enter membership in the Retirement System shall be entitled to receive Death Benefit Plan Service for purposes of entitlement to benefits, as provided in this section for those periods of time subsequent to July 1, 1965, for which he or she is entitled to retirement service credit with any tier of the Retirement System, or for which he or she is making back contributions or redeposits as authorized for such retirement service credit, but for which he or she is not entitled to Death Benefit Plan Service by complying with the following conditions:
(1) He or she shall file with the Board of Administration a written election to receive all such Death Benefit Plan Service as he or she shall be entitled to, not to exceed one hundred twenty (120) months, and
(2) He or she shall make back contributions to the Family Death Benefit Plan, together with regular interest thereon, in a lump sum or in installments by payroll deductions in such manner as the Board of Administration may determine, and provided that no such credits may be given for any periods of City service rendered prior to July 1, 1965.
Should the Plan Member die prior to having complied with the conditions set forth in the prior paragraph, the Plan Member’s survivor or the guardian of the Plan Member’s minor child or children is hereby given the option to make a single payment equal to the then present value of all the amounts due under the deceased Plan Member’s election, in such manner as may be determined by the Board, and thereby become entitled to the benefits provided in this section.
SECTION HISTORY
Added by Ord. No. 182,629, Eff. 7-25-13.
Amended by: Ord. No. 184,134, Eff. 1-22-16.