A. Every fireman or employee of the Department of Fire and Rescue who shall have served a continuous period of 20 years shall be entitled to be retired and eligible to pension, and may make application to the said Board for retirement, provided he has attained 50 years of age.
B. The term “continuous period of 20 years” shall be interpreted in such a way as to encompass the provisions of 11 Pa.C.S. §§ 14319 et seq.
C. Should a member of the plan cease to be employed as a full-time fireman for any reason prior to completing the minimum age and minimum period of continuous service requirements, but after having completed 12 years of full-time service, then such member shall be entitled to vest in a reduced pension benefit as provided for in § 62-321C of this part, subject to the following conditions, and as provided for elsewhere herein:
(1) The member must file with the Board written notice of his or her intent to vest.
(2) The member must include in the notice the date the member intends to terminate his or her service as a full-time fireman.
(3) The termination date shall be at least 30 days later than the date the member submits the notice to the Board.
(4) The member must be in good standing with the Department of Fire and Rescue on the date of the notice to vest.
(5) The Board shall indicate on the notice to vest the rate of the monthly pay of the member as of the date of the notice to vest or the highest average annual salary which the member received during any five years of service preceding the date, whichever shall be higher.
D. Military service.
(1) All members of the plan who are contributors and who called to military service subsequent to September 1, 1940, and who were not members of the plan prior to such military service, shall be entitled to have full credit for each year or fraction thereof, not to exceed five years of such service upon their payment to the fund of an amount equal to that which they would have paid had they been members during the period for which they desire credit, and their payment to such fund of an additional amount as the equivalent of the contributions of the City plus any interest the City would have been required to pay on the contributions on account of such military service.
(2) USERRA and HEART requirements. Effective December 12, 1994, any member who is absent on account of qualified military service and returns to City service within the period of time during which his reemployment rights are protected by federal law shall receive service credit, contributions, benefits and other rights provided under this subsection in lieu of the service credit, contributions, benefits or other rights to which the member would otherwise be entitled under this section, except to the extent the member would be entitled to more advantageous service credit, contributions, or benefits or more valuable rights under other provisions of this section. A member described in this subsection shall be credited with years of service for the full period of qualified military service, provided such member pays into the fund an amount equal to the contributions such member would have been required to make but for his absence on account of qualified military service, within the five-year period of time beginning on his reemployment date (or the lesser period of time beginning on such reemployment date that is three times the length of his qualified military service), and the City shall make all contributions that would have been due on account of such member contributions, and the member shall be entitled to all other rights and benefits accruing on account of such contributions and service. For purposes of this subsection, a member shall be treated as having received compensation during his qualified military service based on the rate of compensation the member would have received but for his qualified military service compensation, or if such amount is not reasonably certain, his average compensation during the twelve-month period immediately preceding his qualified military service (or, if shorter, the period of time immediately preceding his qualified military service). This subsection shall be applied in a manner consistent with Section 414(u) of the Code.
(a) Effective January 1, 2007, in the case of a member who dies while performing qualified military service, the member's surviving beneficiary shall be entitled to any additional benefits (other than benefit accruals relating to the period of qualified military service) provided herein as though the member had resumed employment with the City on the day before death and then terminated employment on account of death in accordance with Section 401(a)(37) of the Code.
(b) Effective with respect to years beginning after December 31, 2008, for purposes of applying the limits on annual benefits and contributions and for purposes of applying other applicable provisions of the Code, but not for purposes of determining benefits and contributions, "compensation" shall also include differential wage payments, as defined in Section 3401(h) of the Code, paid by the City to an employee on account of qualified military service.