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The Board shall issue certificates signed by its President and Secretary to the member entitled to retirement and pension, and also service increment under this part, for the amount of money ordered paid to such member out of the fund, which certificate shall state for what purpose said payment is to be made.
If, for any cause, any person contributing to the fund shall cease to be in the service of the Department of Fire and Rescue before he shall become eligible to receive any pension benefits, the total amount of the contributions paid into the fund by him shall be refunded in full without interest; provided, however, if any such person shall have had returned to him the amount contributed as aforesaid, and shall afterward re-enter the service of the Department of Fire and Rescue, he shall not be entitled to the pension benefits designated unless he shall return to the fund the entire amount withdrawn, in which event, the required period of service under this part shall be computed from the time he first entered the service of the Department of Fire and Rescue, excluding any period of time during which the member was not employed by the Department of Fire and Rescue. Absent repayment of contributions by the re-entering member, the date of his service shall commence upon re-entry to the Department of Fire and Rescue.
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.
A. Amount.
(1) Payments of pension shall not be a charge on any fund in the Treasury of the City nor any account under its control save the Firemen's Pension Fund herein provided for.
(2) Except as to service increments provided for in Subsection B of this section, the annual pension of a vested eligible member, whether for disability or by reason of age or service, shall be 50% of the greater of 1) 12 times the monthly salary (including base salary, overtime, holiday and longevity) of the member at the date of vesting under § 62-320 or retirement; or 2) the highest average annual salary (including base salary, overtime, holiday and longevity), which the member received during any five years of service preceding retirement.
(3) In the case of the payment of a pension to a member for permanent injury incurred in service, and to the family of a member killed or who dies in service, the account and commencement of the payment of the pension shall be fixed by regulations of the Board. Such regulations shall not take into consideration the amount and duration of the workers' compensation allowed by law.
(4) Payments to widows of members retired on pension or killed in the service on or after January 1, 1968, shall be the amount payable to the member which would have been payable had he been retired at the time of his death. If a member dies leaving no widow but leaving to survive him a dependent child or children under the age of 18, such child or children shall be entitled to the same benefits as a widow, as hereinbefore set forth, until such child or children reach the age of 18, marry, or die.
B. In addition to the pension which is authorized to be paid from the fund by this part, and notwithstanding the limitations therein placed upon such pensions and upon contributions, every member who shall become entitled to a pension shall also be entitled to the payment of a "service increment" in accordance with and subject to the conditions hereinafter set forth.
(1) Service increment of a member shall be the sum obtained by computing the number of whole years after having served the minimum required by this part during which a member has been employed by the City and multiplying the said number of years so computed by an amount equal to 1/40th of the retirement allowance which has become payable to such member in accordance with the provisions of this part. In computing the service increment, no employment after the member has reached the age of 65 years shall be included, and no service increment shall be paid in excess of $500 per month.
(2) Each member shall pay into the fund a monthly sum in addition to his pension contribution, which shall not exceed the sum of $5 per month and, provided that such service increment contribution shall not be paid after a member has reached the age of 65 years.
(3) Any person who is a member of the Department on July 20, 1968, who has already reached the age of 65, shall have his service increment computed on the year of employment prior to the date of reaching his 65th birthday.
(4) Service increment contributions shall be paid at the same time and in the same manner as pensions, and may be withdrawn in full without interest by persons who leave the employment of such City, subject to the same conditions by which retirement contributions may be withdrawn, or by persons who retire before becoming entitled to any service increment.
(5) All members of the Department of Fire and Rescue who are now contributors to the fund and all those employed by the City after July 20, 1968, if required to become contributors to the pension fund, shall be subject to the provisions of this part.
C. In the event that a member of the fund shall be eligible for a reduced retirement benefit based upon the twelve-year vesting detailed in § 62-320C and provided that such member shall have complied with all the conditions of § 62-320C and all other applicable conditions and requirements of this part, then in such event the reduced benefit of the member shall be calculated as detailed in this subsection. Upon reaching the date which would have been the member's retirement date had the member continued his or her full-time employment with the Department of Fire and Rescue, the member shall notify the Board, in writing, that the member desires to collect his or her pension. The amount of retirement benefits the member is entitled to receive under this section shall be computed as follows:
(1) The initial determination of the member's base retirement benefits shall be computed based upon the salary indicated on the notice to vest.
(2) The portion of the base retirement benefit due the member shall be determined by applying to the base amount the percentage of his or her years of service actually rendered bears to the years of service which would have been rendered had the member continued to be employed by the Department of Fire and Rescue until his or her minimum retirement date.
The fund shall be applied under such regulations as the Board of Managers shall prescribe for the benefit of such members of the Department of Fire and Rescue as shall receive honorable discharge therefrom by reason of the service of age or disability, widows of retired members and families of such as may be killed or who die in the service. All such pensions as shall be allowed to those who are retired by reason of the disabilities or of the service or age shall be in conformity with a uniform scale, together with service increments as hereafter provided. Benefits allowed from such fund to families of such as are killed or who die in service shall take into consideration the member's widow and his minor children under 18 years of age, if any survive.
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