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Any Section or part of any Section in this Charter, insofar as it should conflict with the provisions of Section A8.610 or with any part thereof, shall be superseded by the contents of Section A8.610. Section A8.610 shall be interpreted to be consistent with all federal and state laws, rules, and regulations. If any words, phrases, clauses, sentences, subsections, provisions or portions of Section A8.610 are held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a final judgment of a court, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining words, phrases, clauses, sentences, subsections, provisions or portions of Section A8.610. If any words, phrases, clauses, sentences, subsections, provisions or portions of Section A8.610 are held invalid as applied to any person, circumstance, employee or category of employee, such invalidity shall not affect any application of Section A8.6109 which can be given effect. Section A8.610 shall be broadly construed to achieve its stated purposes.
(Added by Proposition C, Approved 11/8/2011)
[A8.900 - A8.910 POLICE DEPARTMENT DEFERRED RETIREMENT OPTION PROGRAM ("DROP")]
(a) It is critical to the health, the safety, and economic vitality of the City and County of San Francisco, that the City be able to recruit new Police Officers, and retain veteran Police Officers. Recent experience has demonstrated that the City's Police Department has had difficulty recruiting qualified Police Officers, and, more significantly, has had difficulty retaining the services of veteran Police Officers.
(b) There is a highly competitive labor market for the services of Police Officers. Additionally, due to the historical hiring patterns in this Department, hundreds of Police Officers will become eligible for normal service retirement in the next three to five years. The City Police Department is already three hundred officers below the Charter mandated staffing level.
(c) In order to address this recruitment and this retention problem, through this measure the voters establish a voluntary Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) which would be offered to members of the Police Department in order to create an incentive for the retention of experienced Police Officers, and as well, to attract new Officers.
(d) Specifically, as well, the voters intend that this Charter provision, if adopted, shall be "cost neutral" to the City; that is, it shall not impose new costs upon the City as a consequence of the participation by Police Officers in the DROP.
(e) Finally, in order that the cost impact of the DROP may be assessed, this measure additionally provides that at the end of the third year after the implementation of the Program, the Board of Supervisors, pursuant to data provided by the Police Department along with an analysis by the Controller of the City and County and the consulting actuary of the Retirement Board, shall determine whether the Program has been cost-neutral, and whether in light of its achievement of the goals of the measure, it should be continued for an additional three year term, and thereafter, subject to similar evaluations.
(Added by Proposition B, Approved 2/5/2008)
(a) Sworn members of the Police Department occupying the rank of Police Officer (currently Q2—Q4) at their date of entry into the Program, shall be eligible to participate in the DROP for up to a maximum of 36 months from their date of entry into the Program, provided they otherwise meet the eligibility standards set forth in Section A8.901(c). Sworn members of the Police Department occupying the ranks of Sergeant (currently Q50—Q52) and Inspector (currently 0380-0382) at their date of entry into the Program, shall be eligible to participate in the DROP of up to a maximum of 24 months from their date of entry into the Program, provided they otherwise meet the eligibility standards set forth in Section A8.901(c).
(b) Sworn members of the Police Department occupying the ranks of Lieutenant (currently Q60—Q62) and Captain (currently Q80—Q82) at their date of entry into the Program shall be eligible to participate in the Program for a maximum of 12 months from their date of entry into the Program, provided that they otherwise meet the eligibility standards set forth in Section A8.901(c). No sworn member of the Police Department occupying a rank above that of Captain shall be eligible to participate in the Program.
(c) To be eligible to participate in the DROP, a sworn member occupying one of the eligible ranks must additionally be an active employee of the San Francisco Police Department, have at least 25 years of service as a sworn member of the Department, including any service as a member of the San Francisco Airport Police, and be at least 50 years of age at the time of entry into the Program. Additionally, a member must be a "full duty sworn officer" as that term is used in Charter Section 4.127. As a condition of participation the sworn member must agree that they shall terminate their employment through retirement at the conclusion of their participation in the Program.
(Added by Proposition B, Approved 2/5/2008)
(a) If, after a member becomes a participant in the DROP, the member shall become incapacitated for the performance of duty by reason of any bodily injury received in or illness caused by the performance of duty, said member will be eligible to apply for a retirement for incapacity and be subject to the same eligibility requirements provided elsewhere in this Charter as though the participant was not enrolled in the DROP. If a member receives a retirement for this duty related incapacity, said retirement shall be in lieu of the benefits provided in accordance with these DROP provisions, and the participant shall be paid an industrial disability retirement benefit as if the participant had never entered the DROP.
(b) If, after a member becomes a participant in the DROP, the member shall become incapacitated for the performance of duty by reason of any bodily injury received or illness not related to the performance of duty, said member will be eligible to apply to terminate participation in DROP in accordance with Section A8.906. The participant will be paid the balance credited in their DROP Account, and will begin to receive a monthly payment as determined under Section A8.903, including any cost of living adjustments to which the member would otherwise be entitled.
(c) In the event a member shall become temporarily incapacitated for the performance of duty while participating in the DROP, the member is entitled to disability benefits only as provided for in this Charter. The member is thus no longer a "full duty sworn officer," as defined in Section A8.901(c), and therefore the member's service retirement payments will be suspended for the period during which disability benefits are received. The member's DROP enrollment shall be extended for the period during which disability benefits were received, provided that this extension may not exceed one-half of the permitted maximum participation period for the rank occupied by the member at the time of enrollment in the DROP.
(d) In the event a member who is participating in the DROP applies for a retirement for incapacity, and the application remains unresolved at the conclusion of their DROP participation period, that member must leave the DROP when their participation period concludes, but they shall be permitted to continue on disability status with the Department until such time as their application is finally determined. In no event, however, shall any such member receive the distribution of their DROP Account until their disability retirement status is finally determined.
(Added by Proposition B, Approved 2/5/2008)
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