Arizona Laws 38-886. Accidental disability retirement; total and permanent disability retirement; qualification; amount of pension; conditions for continued payment of pension
A. A member may retire and receive an accidental disability pension or a total and permanent disability pension if the local board finds that all of the following conditions occur:
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 38-886
- Accidental disability: means a physical or mental condition that the local board finds totally and permanently prevents an employee from performing a reasonable range of duties within the employee's department and was incurred in the performance of the employee's duties. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- Average monthly salary: means :
(a) For an employee who becomes a member of the plan:
(i) Before January 1, 2012, one-thirty-sixth of the aggregate amount of salary that is paid a member by a participating employer during a period of thirty-six consecutive months of service in which the member received the highest salary within the last one hundred twenty months of service. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- Board: means the board of trustees of the public safety personnel retirement system. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- Credited service: means credited service transferred to the retirement plan from another retirement system or plan for public employees of this state, plus those compensated periods of service as a member of the retirement plan for which member contributions are on deposit in the fund. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- Employee: means a person employed by a participating employer in a designated position. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- Employer: means an agency or department of this state or a political subdivision of this state that has one or more employees in a designated position. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Local board: means the retirement board of the employer that consists of persons appointed or elected to administer the plan as it applies to the employer's members in the plan. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- Normal retirement date: means :
(a) For an employee who becomes a member of the plan before January 1, 2012, the first day of the calendar month immediately following the employee's completion of twenty years of service or, in the case of a dispatcher, twenty-five years of service, the employee's sixty-second birthday and completion of ten years of service or the month in which the sum of the employee's age and years of credited service equals eighty. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- Pension: means a series of monthly payments by the retirement plan but does not include an annuity that is payable pursuant to section 38-911. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- Physician: means a physician who is licensed pursuant to Title 32, Chapter 13 or 17. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- plan: means the corrections officer retirement plan established by this article. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- retired: means termination of employment after a member has fulfilled all requirements for a pension or, for an employee who becomes a member of the plan on or after January 1, 2012, attains the age and service requirements for a normal retirement date. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- Retired member: means an individual who terminates employment and who is receiving a pension pursuant to either section 38-885 or 38-886. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- Salary: means the base salary, shift differential pay, military differential wage pay and holiday pay paid a member for personal services rendered in a designated position to a participating employer on a regular monthly, semimonthly or biweekly payroll basis. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- Service: means employment rendered to a participating employer as an employee in a designated position. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- Total and permanent disability: means a physical or mental condition that is not an accidental disability, that the local board finds totally and permanently prevents a member from engaging in any gainful employment and that is the direct and proximate result of the member's performance of the member's duty as an employee of a participating employer. See Arizona Laws 38-881
- United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Arizona Laws 1-215
1. An application for disability retirement is filed with the retirement plan or the local board by either the member or the member’s participating employer after the disabling incident or within one year after the date the member ceases to be an employee and the member’s employment is terminated by reason of accidental disability or total and permanent disability. Timely application for an accidental or a total and permanent disability pension is a prerequisite to receipt of the pension.
2. The member undergoes all medical examinations and tests ordered by the local board and releases to the local board all medical reports and records requested by the local board.
3. The local board determines that an accidental disability or total and permanent disability condition exists that meets the requirements for accidental disability retirement or total and permanent disability retirement.
B. The effective date of an accidental disability retirement or a total and permanent disability retirement shall not predate the date of disability or the date the member ceases to be an employee, and the disability pension payments shall not violate Section 38-895.02.
C. The amount of an accidental disability pension or a total and permanent disability pension is equal to fifty per cent of the member’s average monthly salary or the amount computed using the member’s average monthly salary and the member’s actual years of credited service, whichever is higher.
D. The local board may require a retired member with a disability to undergo periodic reevaluation of the continuation of accidental disability or total and permanent disability. If the retired member with a disability refuses to submit to reevaluation, the local board may suspend payment of the pension. If the refusal continues for one year, the local board may revoke the retired member’s with a disability rights to the pension. An accidental disability pension or a total and permanent disability pension is terminated if the local board finds the retired member no longer meets the requirements for accidental disability retirement or total and permanent disability retirement. This subsection does not apply after a retired member with a disability reaches the member’s normal retirement date. The amount of a disability pension shall not be recomputed at a retired member’s with a disability normal retirement date.
E. A member does not qualify for an accidental disability pension or a total and permanent disability pension if the local board determines that the member’s disability results from any of the following:
1. An injury suffered while engaged in a felonious criminal act or enterprise.
2. Service in the armed forces of the United States that entitles the member to a veteran’s disability pension.
3. A physical or mental condition or injury that existed or occurred before the member’s date of membership in the plan.
F. Local boards shall base a finding of total and permanent disability and accidental disability on medical evidence obtained by a designated physician or a physician working in a clinic that is selected by the local board and shall disregard any other medical evidence or opinions. If the local board retains more than one physician in connection with any case, the local board shall resolve any material conflicts in the medical evidence that is presented by the local board’s designated physicians or clinics.
G. If an accidental disability ceases before a retired member reaches the member’s normal retirement date and the member is reemployed by an employer under the plan, the pension payable on the member’s subsequent retirement shall be determined as provided in section 38-885.