If a member of the fire department shall die before or after retirement by reason of an injury received in, or illness caused by the performance of his or her duty, a death allowance, in lieu of any allowance, payable under any other section of the Charter or by ordinance, on account of death resulting from injury received in or illness caused by the performance of duty, shall be paid, beginning on the date next following the date of death, to his or her surviving spouse throughout his or her life or until his or her remarriage. If the member, at the time of death, was qualified for service retirement, but he or she had not retired, the allowance payable shall be equal to the retirement allowance which the member would have received if he or she had been retired for service on the date of death, but such allowance shall not be less than 50 percent of the final compensation earnable by said member immediately preceding death. If death occurs prior to qualification for service retirement, the allowance payable shall be equal to the compensation of said member at the date of death, until the date upon which said member would have completed at least twenty-five (25) years of service in the aggregate and attained the age of fifty (50) years, had he or she lived and rendered service without interruption in the rank held by him or her at death, and after said date the allowance payable shall be equal to the retirement allowance said member would have received if retired for service on said date, based on the final compensation he or she would have received prior to said date, had he or she lived and rendered service as assumed, but such allowance shall not be less than 50 percent of such final compensation. If he or she had retired prior to death, for service or for disability resulting from injury received in, or illness caused by the performance of duty, the allowance payable shall be equal to the retirement allowance of the member, except that if he or she was a member under Section 8.588 and retirement was for such disability, and if death occurred prior to qualification for the service retirement allowance, the allowance continued shall be adjusted upon the date at which said member would have completed at least twenty-five (25) years of service in the aggregate and attained the age of fifty (50) years, in the same manner as it would have been adjusted had the member not died.
If there be no surviving spouse entitled to an allowance hereunder, or if he or she dies or remarries before every child of such deceased member attains the age of 18 years, then the allowance which the surviving spouse would have received had he or she lived and not remarried shall be paid to his or her child or children under said age, collectively, until every such child dies or attains said age, provided that no child shall receive any allowance after marrying or attaining the age of 18 years. Should said member leave no surviving spouse and no children under the age of 18 years, but leave a parent or parents dependent upon him or her for support, the parents so dependent shall collectively receive a monthly allowance equal to that which a surviving spouse otherwise would have received, during such dependency. No allowance, however, shall be paid under this section to a surviving spouse following the death of a member unless he or she was married to the member prior to the date of the injury or onset of the illness which results in death.
The amendments to this Section A8.588-4, approved by the electorate on November 2, 2004 shall apply to any work-related death that occurs on or after November 2, 2004, and to any qualified survivor who, on November 2, 2004, is receiving a continuation allowance under this section due to the work-related death of a member on or after January 1, 1989. Any increase in the continuation allowance payable to such a qualified survivor by virtue of the amendments to this section approved by the electorate on November 2, 2004 shall be prospective only, beginning November 2, 2004.
(Amended November 1996; November 2004)