“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 becomes ineligible for membership in 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. Upon written demand made to the Board of Administration, a former member of Tier 3 shall be paid his or her accumulated contributions. But contributions 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 of Tier 3 may permit his or her accumulated contributions to remain in the Retirement Fund. A former member’s individual account shall be credited with regular interest in the same manner as applies to a member’s individual account.
A former member whose contributions remain on deposit in the Retirement Fund and who is eligible for service retirement may apply to retire as provided in this article. If such former member fails to file a written retirement application prior to attaining age seventy and one-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 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 for relief, determined at the sole discretion of the Board of Administration.
If a former member’s years of service are insufficient to qualify the former member for a deferred service retirement, and the former member 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. The former member shall be relieved from such forfeiture, however: (1) upon returning to membership in the Retirement 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) upon making a valid claim for relief from forfeiture, as determined at the sole discretion of the Board of Administration. If any such former member attains age seventy and one-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.
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. 184,134, Eff. 1-22-16.