* Editor's note: there are two sections designated as § 13-157.2.
a. Definitions. The following words and phrases as used in this section shall have the following meanings unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context.
1. "Dispatcher member" shall mean a member of the retirement system who is employed by the city of New York as a fire alarm dispatcher, a supervising fire alarm dispatcher, level one, a supervising fire alarm dispatcher, level two, director of dispatch operations, or deputy director of dispatch operations.
2. "Twenty-five year retirement program" shall mean all the terms and conditions of this section.
3. "Starting date of the twenty-five year retirement program" shall mean the date of enactment of this section.
4. "Participant in the twenty-five year retirement program" shall mean any dispatcher member who, under the applicable provisions of subdivision b of this section, is entitled to the rights, benefits and privileges and is subject to the obligations of the twenty-five year retirement program, as applicable to him or her.
5. "Discontinued member" shall mean a participant in the twenty-five year retirement program who, while he or she was a dispatcher member, discontinued service as such a member and has a right to a deferred vested benefit under the provisions of subdivision d of this section.
6. "Allowable service as a dispatcher member" shall mean (i) service as a dispatcher member and all service in the following civil service titles: chief fire alarm dispatcher, administrative fire alarm dispatcher, bus operator (transit), train dispatcher (transit), firefighter, police officer, correction officer, fire marshal, probation officer, police communications technician, supervising police communications technician, principal police communications technician, police administrative aide, senior police administrative aide, emergency medical technician, advanced emergency medical technician, emergency medical service specialist level I, emergency medical specialist level II, fire prevention inspector, fire protection inspector, senior fire prevention inspector, principal fire prevention inspector, associate fire protection inspector, county detective, detective (NYPD), detective investigator, senior detective investigator, deputy sheriff, senior deputy sheriff, inspector of fire alarm boxes, radio operator, radio repair technician, supervisor of radio repair operations, taxi and limousine inspector, senior taxi and limousine inspector, triborough bridge and tunnel officer; and (ii) a member of the retirement system who is employed by the city of New York in a title whose duties require the supervision of employees whose civil service title is included in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph.
b. Participation in the twenty-five year retirement program.
1. Subject to the provisions of paragraphs five and six of this subdivision, any person who is a dispatcher member on the starting date of the twenty-five year retirement program may elect to become a participant in the twenty-five year retirement program by filing, within one hundred eighty days after the starting date of the twenty-five year retirement program, a duly executed application for such participation with the retirement system of which such person is a member, provided he or she is such a dispatcher member on the date such application is filed.
2. Subject to the provisions of paragraphs five and six of this subdivision, any person who becomes a dispatcher member after the starting date of the twenty-five year retirement program may elect to become a participant in the twenty-five year retirement program by filing, within one hundred eighty days after becoming such a dispatcher member, a duly executed application for such participation with the retirement system of which such person is a member, provided he or she is such a dispatcher member on the date such application is filed.
3. Any election to be a participant in the twenty-five year retirement program shall be irrevocable.
4. Where any participant in the twenty-five year retirement program shall cease to be employed as a dispatcher member, he or she shall cease to be such a participant and, during any period in which such person is not so employed, he or she shall not be a participant in the twenty-five year retirement program and shall not be eligible for the benefits of subdivision c of this section.
5. Where any participant in the twenty-five year retirement program terminates service as a dispatcher member and returns to such service as a dispatcher member at a later date, he or she shall again become such a participant on that date.
6. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any person who is eligible to become a participant in the twenty-five year retirement program pursuant to paragraph one or two of this subdivision for the full one hundred eighty day period provided for in such applicable paragraph and who fails to timely file a duly executed application for such participation with the retirement system, shall not thereafter be eligible to become a participant in such program.
c. Service retirement benefits.
1. A participant in the twenty-five year retirement program:
(i) who has completed twenty-five or more years of allowable service as a dispatcher member; and
(ii) who files with the retirement system an application for service retirement setting forth at what time, not less than thirty days subsequent to the execution and filing thereof, he or she desires to be retired; and
(iii) who shall be a participant in the twenty-five year retirement program at the time so specified for his or her retirement; shall be retired pursuant to the provisions of this section affording early service retirement.
2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the early service retirement benefit for a participant in the twenty-five year retirement program who retires pursuant to paragraph one of this subdivision shall be a retirement allowance consisting of:
(i) an amount, on account of the required minimum period of service, equal to the sum of (a) an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of the accumulated deductions from his or her pay during such period, (b) a pension for increased-take-home-pay which shall be the actuarial equivalent of the reserve for increased-take-home-pay to which he or she may be entitled for such period, and (c) a pension which, when added to such annuity and such pension for increased-take-home-pay, produces a retirement allowance equal to fifty-five percent of the salary earned or earnable in the year prior to his or her retirement; plus
(ii) an amount for each additional year of allowable service as a dispatcher member, or fraction thereof, beyond such required minimum period of service equal to one and seven-tenths percent of the salary earned or earnable in the year prior to his or her retirement for such allowable service during the period from the completion of twenty-five years of allowable service as a dispatcher member to the date of retirement.
d. Vesting.
1. A participant in the twenty-five year retirement program who:
(i) discontinues service as a dispatcher member, other than by death or retirement; and
(ii) prior to such discontinuance, completed five but less than twenty-five years of allowable city service; and
(iii) does not withdraw in whole or in part his or her accumulated member contributions pursuant to section 13-141 of this chapter, shall be entitled to receive a deferred vested benefit as provided in this subdivision.
2. (i) Upon such discontinuance under the conditions and in compliance with the provisions of paragraph one of this subdivision, such deferred vested benefit shall vest automatically.
(ii) Such vested benefit shall become payable on the earliest date on which such discontinued member could have retired for service if such discontinuance had not occurred.
3. Such deferred vested benefit shall be a retirement allowance consisting of an amount equal to two and two-tenths percent of such discontinued member's salary earned or earnable in the year prior to his or her discontinuance, multiplied by the number of years of allowable service as a dispatcher member.
e. Member contributions. All dispatcher members of the twenty-five year retirement program shall be required to make member contributions and additional member contributions in accordance with and subject to the same rights, privileges, obligations and procedures as govern the member contributions and additional member contributions required by subdivision d of section four hundred forty-five-e of the retirement and social security law.
For the purpose of applying, under this subdivision, such subdivision d to a dispatcher member of the twenty-five year retirement program who is subject to the provisions of this section, and is not subject to the provisions of article eleven of the retirement and social security law, the term "credited service", as used in such subdivision, shall be deemed to mean allowable service as a dispatcher member.