Former member shall include both a City employee who ceases to be a member upon separating from City service and a City employee who continues to be employed by the City, but ceases to be a member of the Retirement System. For purposes of this section, former member shall not include a retired member who is receiving any retirement allowance provided in this Article.
(a) Refund of Contributions. A former member shall be paid his or her accumulated contributions upon written demand made to the Board of Administration. Contributions, however, shall not be refunded to a former member who is employed in any capacity by the City unless such a refund is permitted under federal law. After a former member’s contributions have been refunded, he or she shall have no right to any benefits provided by the Retirement System.
(b) Contributions Remain in the Fund. A former member may permit his or her accumulated contributions to remain in the fund.
A former member whose contributions remain on deposit and who qualifies for deferred service retirement may apply to retire as provided in Section 4.1006. If such former member fails to file a written retirement application prior to attaining age seventy and a half (70 1/2), the Retirement System, pursuant to rules to be adopted by the Board of Administration, shall make such mandatory minimum distributions as are required by the Internal Revenue Code.
If a former member does not have sufficient years of continuous service so as to be entitled to a deferred service retirement and fails to request a refund of contributions pursuant to Subsection (a), above, within ten (10) years from the date his or her membership terminated or from the date he or she was last employed by the City, whichever occurs later, the former member’s accumulated contributions shall be forfeited to the Retirement Fund, provided that he or she (1) shall be relieved from such forfeiture upon returning to membership in the System, at which time said funds shall be returned to his or her individual account pursuant to rules to be adopted by the Board of Administration, or (2) shall be relieved from such forfeiture upon the making of a valid claim therefor determined at the sole discretion of the Board of Administration. If any such former member attains age seventy and a half 70 1/2 with contributions still on deposit in his or her account, the Retirement System, pursuant to rules to be adopted by the Board of Administration, shall make such mandatory minimum distributions as are required by the Internal Revenue Code.
If mandatory minimum distributions cannot be paid to a former member for any reason, such as the person’s failure to cooperate or where the person’s whereabouts is unknown and the Retirement System has followed Internal Revenue Service procedures to locate him or her, then such funds shall be forfeited to the Retirement Fund, provided that he or she shall be relieved from such forfeiture upon the making of a valid claim therefor, determined at the sole discretion of the Board of Administration.
In the event that a former member whose contributions or other benefits have been forfeited pursuant to this subsection is deceased, any person or entity who would be entitled to the payment of the former member’s funds upon his or her death may make a claim for relief from forfeiture on the deceased’s behalf.
SECTION HISTORY
Added by Ord. No. 182,629, Eff. 7-25-13.