Senate Bill No. 332
(By Senator Foster)
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[Introduced January 21, 2010; referred to the Committee
on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §16-5V-2, §16-5V-6, §16-5V-7,
§16-5V-8, §16-5V-18, §16-5V-19, §16-5V-20 and §16-5V-21 of
the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to
the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System Act;
modifying definitions; making technical changes; procedures
for the transfer of contributions; clarifying actuarial
valuation period; clarifying employer contribution amount;
specifying procedures for the correction of errors;
providing onset date for receipt of disability benefits; and
providing for the termination of disability benefits when a
retirant refuses to submit to a medical examination or
provide certification from a physician of continued
disability.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §16-5V-2, §16-5V-6, §16-5V-7, §16-5V-8, §16-5V-18,
§16-5V-19, §16-5V-20 and §16-5V-21 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 5V.á EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES RETIREMENT SYSTEM ACT.
§16-5V-2. Definitions.
As used in this article, unless a federal law or regulation
or the context clearly requires a different meaning:
(a) "Accrued benefit" means on behalf of any member two and
six-tenths percent per year of the member's final average salary
for the first twenty years of credited service. Additionally,
two percent per year for twenty-one through twenty-five years and
one percent per year for twenty-six through thirty years will be
credited with a maximum benefit of sixty-seven percent. A
member's accrued benefit may not exceed the limits of Section 415
of the Internal Revenue Code and is subject to the provisions of
section twelve of this article.
(1) The board may upon the recommendation of the board's
actuary increase the employees' contribution rate to ten and
five-tenths percent should the funding of the plan not reach
seventy percent funded by July 1, 2012. The board shall decrease
the contribution rate to eight and one-half percent once the plan
funding reaches the seventy percent support objective as of any
later actuarial valuation date.
(2) Upon reaching the seventy-five percent actuarial funded
level, as of an actuarial valuation date, the board shall increase the two and six-tenths percent to two and three-quarter
percent for the first twenty years of credited service. The
maximum benefit will also be increased from sixty-seven percent
to seventy percent.
(b) "Accumulated contributions" means the sum of all
retirement contributions deducted from the compensation of a
member, or paid on his or her behalf as a result of covered
employment, together with regular interest on the deducted
amounts.
(c) "Active military duty" means full-time active duty with
any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, including
service with the National Guard or reserve military forces when
the member has been called to active full-time duty and has
received no compensation during the period of that duty from any
board or employer other than the Armed Forces.
(d) "Actuarial equivalent" means a benefit of equal value
computed upon the basis of the mortality table and interest rates
as set and adopted by the board in accordance with the provisions
of this article.
(e) "Annual compensation" means the wages paid to the member
during covered employment within the meaning of Section 3401(a)
of the Internal Revenue Code, but determined without regard to
any rules that limit the remuneration included in wages based
upon the nature or location of employment or services performed
during the plan year plus amounts excluded under Section
414(h)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code and less reimbursements or
other expense allowances, cash or noncash fringe benefits or
both, deferred compensation and welfare benefits. Annual
compensation for determining benefits during any determination
period may not exceed $100,000 as adjusted for cost-of-living in
accordance with Section 401(a)(17)(B) of the Internal Revenue
Code.
(f) "Annual leave service" means accrued annual leave.
(g) "Annuity starting date" means the first day of the month
for which an annuity is payable after submission of a retirement
application. For purposes of this subsection, if retirement
income payments commence after the normal retirement age,
"retirement" means the first day of the month following or
coincident with the latter of the last day the member worked in
covered employment or the member's normal retirement age and
after completing proper written application for "retirement" on
an application supplied by the board.
(h) "Board" means the Consolidated Public Retirement Board.
(i) "County commission or political subdivision" has the
meaning ascribed to it in this code.
(j) "Covered employment" means either: (1) Employment as a
full-time emergency medical technician, emergency medical
technician/paramedic or emergency medical services/registered
nurse and the active performance of the duties required of
emergency medical services officers; or (2) the period of time during which active duties are not performed but disability
benefits are received under this article; or (3) concurrent
employment by an emergency medical services officer in a job or
jobs in addition to his or her employment as an emergency medical
services officer where the secondary employment requires the
emergency medical services officer to be a member of another
retirement system which is administered by the Consolidated
Public Retirement Board pursuant to this code:
Provided, That
the emergency medical services officer contributes to the fund
created in this article the amount specified as the member's
contribution in section eight of this article.
(k) "Credited service" means the sum of a member's years of
service, active military duty, disability service and accrued
annual and sick leave service.
(l) "Dependent child" means either:
(1) An unmarried person under age eighteen who is:
(A) A natural child of the member;
(B) A legally adopted child of the member;
(C) A child who at the time of the member's death was living
with the member while the member was an adopting parent during
any period of probation; or
(D) A stepchild of the member residing in the member's
household at the time of the member's death; or
(2) Any unmarried child under age twenty-three:
(A) Who is enrolled as a full-time student in an accredited
college or university;
(B) Who was claimed as a dependent by the member for federal
income tax purposes at the time of member's death; and
(C) Whose relationship with the member is described in
paragraph (A), (B) or (C), subdivision (1) of this subsection.
(m) "Dependent parent" means the father or mother of the
member who was claimed as a dependent by the member for federal
income tax purposes at the time of the member's death.
(n) "Disability service" means service received by a member,
expressed in whole years, fractions thereof or both, equal to one
half of the whole years, fractions thereof, or both, during which
time a member receives disability benefits under this article.
(o) "Early retirement age" means age forty-five or over and
completion of twenty years of
contributory service.
(p) "Effective date" means January 1, 2008.
(q) "Emergency medical services officer" means an individual
employed by the state, county or other political subdivision as a
medical professional who is qualified to respond to medical
emergencies, aids the sick and injured and arranges or transports
to medical facilities, as defined by the West Virginia Office of
Emergency Medical Services. This definition is construed to
include employed ambulance providers and other services such as
law enforcement, rescue or fire department personnel who
primarily perform these functions and are not provided any other
credited service benefits or retirement plans. These persons may hold the rank of emergency medical technician/basic, emergency
medical technician/paramedic, emergency medical
services/registered nurse, or others as defined by the West
Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services and the
Consolidated Public Retirement Board.
(r) "Employer error" means an omission, misrepresentation or
violation of relevant provisions of the West Virginia Code or of
the West Virginia Code of State Rules or the relevant provisions
of both the West Virginia Code and of the West Virginia Code of
State Rules by the participating public employer that has
resulted in an underpayment or overpayment of contributions
required. A deliberate act contrary to the provisions of this
article by a participating public employer does not constitute
employer error.
(r) (s) "Final average salary" means the average of the
highest annual compensation received for covered employment by
the member during any five consecutive plan years within the
member's last ten years of service while employed, prior to any
disability payment. If the member did not have annual
compensation for the five full plan years preceding the member's
attainment of normal retirement age and during that period the
member received disability benefits under this article, then
"final average salary" means the average of the monthly salary
determined paid to the member during that period as determined
under section twenty-two of this article multiplied by twelve.
"Final average salary" does not include any lump sum payment for
unused, accrued leave of any kind or character.
(s) (t) "Full-time employment" means permanent employment of
an employee by a participating public employer in a position
which normally requires twelve months per year service and
requires at least one thousand forty hours per year service in
that position.
(t) (u) "Fund" means the West Virginia Emergency Medical
Services Retirement Fund created by this article.
(u) (v) "Hour of service" means:
(1) Each hour for which a member is paid or entitled to
payment for covered employment during which time active duties
are performed. These hours shall be credited to the member for
the plan year in which the duties are performed; and
(2) Each hour for which a member is paid or entitled to
payment for covered employment during a plan year but where no
duties are performed due to vacation, holiday, illness,
incapacity including disability, layoff, jury duty, military
duty, leave of absence or any combination thereof and without
regard to whether the employment relationship has terminated.
Hours under this subdivision shall be calculated and credited
pursuant to West Virginia Division of Labor rules. A member will
not be credited with any hours of service for any period of time
he or she is receiving benefits under section nineteen or twenty
of this article; and
(3) Each hour for which back pay is either awarded or agreed
to be paid by the employing county commission or political
subdivision, irrespective of mitigation of damages. The same
hours of service shall not be credited both under subdivision (1)
or (2) of this subsection and under this subdivision. Hours
under this paragraph shall be credited to the member for the plan
year or years to which the award or agreement pertains, rather
than the plan year in which the award, agreement or payment is
made.
(v) (w) "Member" means a person first hired as an emergency
medical services officer by an employer which is a participating
public employer of the Public Employees Retirement System or the
Emergency Medical Services Retirement System after the effective
date of this article, as defined in subsection (p) of this
section, or an emergency medical services officer of an employer
which is a participating public employer of the Public Employees
Retirement System first hired prior to the effective date and who
elects to become a member pursuant to this article. A member
shall remain a member until the benefits to which he or she is
entitled under this article are paid or forfeited.
(w) (x) "Monthly salary" means the W-2 reportable
compensation received by a member during the month.
(x) (y) "Normal form" means a monthly annuity which is one
twelfth of the amount of the member's accrued benefit which is
payable for the member's life. If the member dies before the sum
of the payments he or she receives equals his or her accumulated
contributions on the annuity starting date, the named beneficiary
shall receive in one lump sum the difference between the
accumulated contributions at the annuity starting date and the
total of the retirement income payments made to the member.
(y) (z) "Normal retirement age" means the first to occur of
the following:
(1) Attainment of age fifty years and the completion of
twenty or more years of regular contributory service, excluding
active military duty, disability service and accrued annual and
sick leave service;
(2) While still in covered employment, attainment of at
least age fifty years and when the sum of current age plus
regular contributory years of service equals or exceeds seventy
years;
(3) While still in covered employment, attainment of at
least age sixty years and completion of ten years of regular
contributory service; or
(4) Attainment of age sixty-two years and completion of five
or more years of regular contributory service.
(aa) "Participating public employer" means any county
commission or political subdivision in the state which has
elected to cover its emergency medical services officers, as
defined in this article, under the West Virginia Emergency
Medical Services Retirement System.
(z) (bb) "Political subdivision" means a county, city or
town in the state; any separate corporation or instrumentality
established by one or more counties, cities or towns, as
permitted by law; any corporation or instrumentality supported in
most part by counties, cities or towns; and any public
corporation charged by law with the performance of a governmental
function and whose jurisdiction is coextensive with one or more
counties, cities or towns:
Provided, That any public corporation
established under section four, article fifteen, chapter seven of
this code is considered a political subdivision solely for the
purposes of this article.
(aa) "Public Employees Retirement System" means the West
Virginia Public Employee's Retirement System created by West
Virginia Code.
(bb) (cc) "Plan" means the West Virginia Emergency Medical
Services Retirement System established by this article.
(cc) (dd) "Plan year" means the twelve-month period
commencing on January 1 of any designated year and ending the
following December 1.
(ee) "Public Employees Retirement System" means the West
Virginia Public Employee's Retirement System created by West
Virginia Code.
(dd) (ff) "Regular interest" means the rate or rates of
interest per annum, compounded annually, as the board adopts in
accordance with the provisions of this article.
(gg) "Required beginning date" means April 1 of the calendar
year following the later of: (1) The calendar year in which the
member attains age seventy and one-half; or (2) the calendar year
in which he or she retires or otherwise separates from covered
employment.
(hh) "Retirant" means any member who commences an annuity
payable by the plan.
(ee) (ii) "Retirement income payments" means the monthly
retirement income payments payable under the plan.
(ff) (jj) "Spouse" means the person to whom the member is
legally married on the annuity starting date.
(gg) (kk) "Surviving spouse" means the person to whom the
member was legally married at the time of the member's death and
who survived the member.
(hh) (ll) "Totally disabled" means a member's inability to
engage in substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically
determined physical or mental impairment that can be expected to
result in death or that has lasted or can be expected to last for
a continuous period of not less than twelve months.
For purposes of this subsection:
(1) A member is totally disabled only if his or her physical
or mental impairment or impairments is so severe that he or she
is not only unable to perform his or her previous work as an
emergency medical services officer but also cannot, considering
his or her age, education and work experience, engage in any other kind of substantial gainful employment which exists in the
state regardless of whether: (A) The work exists in the
immediate area in which the member lives; (B) a specific job
vacancy exists; or (C) the member would be hired if he or she
applied for work. For purposes of this article, substantial
gainful employment is the same definition as used by the United
States Social Security Administration.
(2) "Physical or mental impairment" is an impairment that
results from an anatomical, physiological or psychological
abnormality that is demonstrated by medically accepted clinical
and laboratory diagnostic techniques. The board may require
submission of a member's annual tax return for purposes of
monitoring the earnings limitation.
(ii) (mm) "Required beginning date" means April 1 of the
calendar year following the later of: (1) The calendar year in
which the member attains age seventy and one-half; or (2) the
calendar year in which he or she retires or otherwise separates
from covered employment; or (3) for members who are covered under
the Public Employees Retirement System, their service shall be
recognized upon transfer of assets from the Public Employees
Retirement System according to the provisions of section nine of
this article. Prior service for members not covered under the
Public Employees Retirement System shall be recognized only upon
repayment of amounts covered under the provisions of section six
of this article.
(jj) (nn) "Year of service" means a member shall, except in
his or her first and last years of covered employment, be
credited with years of service credit based upon the hours of
service performed as covered employment and credited to the
member during the plan year based upon the following schedule:
Hours of Service Year of Service Credited.
Less than 500 ........................... 0
500 to 999 .............................. 1/3
1,000 to 1,499 ...........................2/3
1,500 or more ........................... 1
During a member's first and last years of covered
employment, the member shall be credited with one twelfth of a
year of service for each month during the plan year in which the
member is credited with an hour of service for which
contributions were received by the fund. A member is not
entitled to credit for years of service for any time period
during which he or she received disability payments under section
nineteen or twenty of this article. Except as specifically
excluded, years of service include covered employment prior to
the effective date.
Years of service which are credited to a member prior to his
or her receipt of accumulated contributions upon termination of
employment pursuant to section eighteen of this article or
section thirty, article ten, chapter five of this code, shall be
disregarded for all purposes under this plan unless the member repays the accumulated contributions with interest pursuant to
section eighteen of this article or has prior to the effective
date made the repayment pursuant to section eighteen, article
ten, chapter five of this code.
§16-5V-6. Members.
(a) Any emergency medical services officer first employed by
a county or political subdivision in covered employment after the
effective date of this article shall be a member of this
retirement plan as a condition of employment and upon membership
does not qualify for membership in any other retirement system
administered by the board, so long as he or she remains employed
in covered employment.
(b) Any emergency medical services officer employed in
covered employment by an employer which is currently a
participating public employer of the Public Employees Retirement
System shall notify in writing both the county commission in the
county or officials in
their the political subdivision in which
he or she is employed and the board of his or her desire to
become a member of the plan by December 31, 2007. Any emergency
medical services officer who elects to become a member of the
plan ceases to be a member or have any credit for covered
employment in any other retirement system administered by the
board and shall continue to be ineligible for membership in any
other retirement system administered by the board so long as the
emergency medical services officer remains employed in covered
employment by an employer which is currently a participating
public employer of this plan:
Provided, That any emergency
medical services officer who does not affirmatively elect to
become a member of the plan continues to be eligible for any
other retirement system as is, from time to time, offered to
other county employees but is ineligible for this plan regardless
of any subsequent termination of employment and rehire.
(c) Any emergency medical services officer who was employed
as an emergency medical services officer prior to the effective
date, but was not employed on the effective date of this article,
shall become a member upon rehire as an emergency medical
services officer. For purposes of this section, the member's
years of service and credited service prior to the effective date
shall not be counted for any purposes under this plan unless
:
(1) the emergency medical services officer has not received the
return of his or her accumulated contributions in the Public
Employees Retirement
Fund System pursuant to section thirty,
article ten, chapter five of this code.
or (2) the accumulated
contributions returned to the member from the Public Employees
Retirement System have been repaid pursuant to this article The
member may request in writing to have his or her accumulated
contributions and employer contributions from covered employment
in the Public Employees Retirement System transferred to the
plan. If the conditions
of subdivision (1) or (2) of this
subsection are met, all years of the emergency medical services officer's covered employment shall be counted as years of service
for the purposes of this article.
(d) Any emergency medical services officer employed in
covered employment on the effective date of this article who has
timely elected to transfer into this plan as provided in
subsection (b) of this section shall be given credited service at
the time of transfer for all credited service then standing to
the emergency medical services officer's service credit in the
Public Employees Retirement System regardless of whether the
credited service (as that term is defined in section two, article
ten, chapter five of this code) was earned as an emergency
medical services officer. All credited service standing to the
transferring emergency medical services officer's credit in the
Public Employees Retirement System at the time of transfer into
this plan shall be transferred into the plan created by this
article and the transferring emergency medical services officer
shall be given the same credit for the purposes of this article
for all service transferred from the Public Employees Retirement
System as that transferring emergency medical services officer
would have received from the Public Employees Retirement System
as if the transfer had not occurred. In connection with each
transferring emergency medical services officer receiving credit
for prior employment as provided in this subsection, a transfer
from the Public Employees Retirement System to this plan shall be
made pursuant to the procedures described in this article:
Provided, That any member of this plan who has elected to
transfer from the Public Employees Retirement System into this
plan pursuant to subsection (b) of this section may not, after
having transferred into and becoming an active member of this
plan, reinstate to his or her credit in this plan any service
credit relating to periods in which the member was not in covered
employment as an emergency medical services officer and which
service was withdrawn from the Public Employees Retirement System
prior to his or her elective transfer into this plan.
(e) Once made, the election made under this section is
irrevocable. All emergency medical services officers employed by
an employer which is a participating public employer of the
Public Employees Retirement System after the effective date and
emergency medical services officers electing to become members as
described in this section shall be members as a condition of
employment and shall make the contributions required by this
article.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article,
any individual who is a leased employee is not eligible to
participate in the plan. For purposes of this plan, a "leased
employee" means any individual who performs services as an
independent contractor or pursuant to an agreement with an
employee leasing organization or similar organization. If a
question arises regarding the status of an individual as a leased
employee, the board has final power to decide the question.
§16-5V-7. Creation of Fund; investments; actuarial valuations.
(a) There is hereby created the "West Virginia Emergency
Medical Services Retirement Fund" for the benefit of the members
of the retirement system created pursuant to this article and the
dependents of any deceased or retired member of the system.
(b) All moneys paid into and accumulated in the fund, except
amounts designated by the board for payment of benefits as
provided in this article, shall be held in trust and invested in
the consolidated pensions fund administered by the West Virginia
Investment Management Board as provided by law.
(c) The board shall employ a competent actuary or actuarial
firm to prepare an actuarial valuation of the assets and
liabilities of the fund. The actuarial valuation period shall
coincide with the fiscal year of the state.
§16-5V-8. Members' contributions; employer contributions;
correction of errors.
(a) There shall be deducted from the monthly salary of each
member and paid into the fund an amount equal to eight and one-
half percent of his or her monthly salary.
An additional amount
shall be paid to the fund by the county commission or political
subdivision in which the member is employed in covered employment
in an amount determined by the board: Provided, That in no year
may the total of the employer contributions provided in this
section, to be paid by the county commission or political
subdivision, exceed ten and one-half percent of the total payroll
for the members in the employ of the county commission or
political subdivision.
(b) Any active member who has concurrent employment in an
additional job or jobs and the additional employment requires the
emergency medical services officer to be a member of another
retirement system which is administered by the Consolidated
Public Retirement Board pursuant to article ten-d, chapter five
of this code shall contribute to the fund the sum of eight and
one-half percent of his or her monthly salary earned as an
emergency medical services officer as well as the sum of eight
and one-half percent of his or her monthly salary earned from any
additional employment which additional employment requires the
emergency medical services officer to be a member of another
retirement system which is administered by the Consolidated
Public Retirement Board pursuant to article ten-d, chapter five
of this code. An additional
ten and one-half percent of the
monthly salary of each member shall be paid to the fund by the
concurrent employer by which the member is employed
in an amount
determined by the board: Provided, That in no year may the total
of the employer contributions provided in this section, to be
paid by the concurrent employer, exceed ten and one-half percent
of the payroll for the concurrent member employees.
(c) All required deposits shall be remitted to the board no
later than fifteen days following the end of the calendar month
for which the deposits are required. If the board upon the recommendation of the board actuary finds that the benefits
provided by this article can be actuarially funded with a lesser
contribution, then the board shall reduce the required member and
employer contributions proportionally. Any county commission or
political subdivision which fails to make any payment due the
Emergency Medical Services Retirement Fund by the fifteenth day
following the end of each calendar month in which contributions
are due may be required to pay the actuarial rate of interest
lost on the total amount owed for each day the payment is
delinquent. Accrual of the loss of earnings owed by the
delinquent county commission or political subdivision commences
after the fifteenth day following the end of the calendar month
in which contributions are due and continues until receipt of the
delinquent amount. Interest compounds daily and the minimum
surcharge is $50.
(d) If any change or employer error in the records of any
participating public employer or the retirement system results in
any member receiving from the system more or less than he or she
would have been entitled to receive had the records been correct,
the board shall correct the error and as far as is practicable
shall adjust the payment of the benefit in a manner that the
actuarial equivalent of the benefit to which the member was
correctly entitled shall be paid. Any employer error resulting
in an underpayment to the retirement system may be corrected by
the member remitting the required employee contribution and the
participating public employer remitting the required employer
contribution. Interest shall accumulate in accordance with the
Legislative Rule 162 CSR 7 retirement board reinstatement
interest, and any accumulating interest owed on the employee and
employer contributions resulting from the employer error shall be
the responsibility of the participating public employer. The
participating public employer may remit total payment and the
employee reimburse the participating public employer through
payroll deduction over a period equivalent to the time period
during which the employer error occurred.
§16-5V-18. Refunds to certain members upon discharge or
resignation; deferred retirement; forfeitures.
(a) Any member who terminates covered employment and is not
immediately eligible to receive disability
or retirement income
benefits under this article is, by written request filed with the
board, entitled to receive from the fund the member's accumulated
contributions. Except as provided in subsection (b) of this
section, upon withdrawal, the member shall forfeit his or her
accrued benefit and cease to be a member.
(b) Any member who ceases employment in covered employment
and active participation in this plan and who thereafter becomes
reemployed in covered employment may not receive any credited
service for any prior withdrawn accumulated contributions from
either this plan or the Public Employees Retirement System unless
following his or her return to covered employment and active participation in this plan, the member redeposits in the fund the
amount of the accumulated contributions withdrawn from previous
covered employment, together with interest on the accumulated
contributions at the rate determined by the board from the date
of withdrawal to the date of redeposit. Upon repayment he or she
shall receive the same credit on account of his or her former
covered employment as if no refund had been made.
The repayment authorized by this subsection shall be made in
a lump sum within sixty months of the emergency medical services
officer's reemployment in covered employment or, if later, within
sixty months of the effective date of this article.
(c) A member of this plan who has elected to transfer from
the Public Employees Retirement System into this plan pursuant to
subsection (b), section six of this article may not, after having
transferred into and become an active member of this plan,
reinstate to his or her credit in this plan any service credit
relating to periods of nonemergency medical services officer
service withdrawn from the Public Employees Retirement System
prior to his or her elective transfer into this plan.
(d) Every member who completes sixty months of covered
employment is eligible, upon cessation of covered employment, to
either withdraw his or her accumulated contributions in
accordance with this section or to choose not to withdraw his or
her accumulated contribution and to receive retirement income
payments upon attaining early or normal retirement age.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article,
forfeitures under the plan may not be applied to increase the
benefits any member would otherwise receive under the plan.
§16-5V-19. Awards and benefits for disability -- Duty related.
(a) Any member who after the effective date of this article
and during covered employment: (1) Has been or becomes totally
disabled by injury, illness or disease; and (2) the disability is
a result of an occupational risk or hazard inherent in or
peculiar to the services required of members; or (3) the
disability was incurred while performing emergency medical
services functions during either scheduled work hours or at any
other time; and (4) in the opinion of two physicians after
medical examination, one of whom shall be named by the board, the
member is by reason of the disability unable to perform
adequately the duties required of an emergency medical services
officer, is entitled to receive and shall be paid from the fund
in monthly installments
during the lifetime of the member or, if
sooner, until the member attains normal retirement age or until
the disability sooner terminates, the compensation
set forth
under
either subsection (b) or (c) of this section.
(b) If the member is totally disabled, the member shall
receive ninety percent of his or her average full monthly
compensation for the twelve-month period preceding the member's
disability or the shorter period if the member has not worked
twelve months.
(c) If the member remains totally disabled until attaining
sixty-five years of age, the member shall then receive the
retirement benefit provided in sections sixteen and seventeen of
this article.
(d) The disability benefit payments will begin the first day
of the month following termination of employment and receipt of
the disability retirement application by the Consolidated Public
Retirement Board.
§16-5V-20. Same -- Due to other causes.
(a) Any member who after the effective date of this article
and during covered employment: (1) Has been or becomes totally
disabled from any cause other than those set forth in section
nineteen of this article and not due to vicious habits,
intemperance or willful misconduct on his or her part; and (2) in
the opinion of two physicians after medical examination, one of
whom shall be named by the board, he or she is by reason of the
disability unable to perform adequately the duties required of an
emergency medical services officer, is entitled to receive and
shall be paid from the fund in monthly installments,
during the
lifetime of the member, or if sooner until the member attains
normal retirement age or until the disability sooner terminates
the compensation set forth in, either subsection (b) or (c) of
this section.
(b) If the member is totally disabled, he or she shall
receive sixty-six and two-thirds percent of his or her average
monthly compensation for the twelve-month period preceding the
disability, or the shorter period, if the member has not worked
twelve months.
(c) If the member remains totally disabled until attaining
sixty years of age, then the member shall receive the retirement
benefit provided in sections sixteen and seventeen of this
article.
(d) The board shall propose legislative rules for
promulgation in accordance with the provisions of article three,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code concerning member disability
payments so as to ensure that the payments do not exceed one
hundred percent of the average current salary for the position
last held by the member.
(e) The disability benefit payments will begin the first day
of the month following termination of employment and receipt of
the disability retirement application by the Consolidated Public
Retirement Board: Provided, That no member may receive
disability benefit payments set forth in this section before
January 1, 2011.
§16-5V-21. Same -- Physical examinations; termination of
disability.
(a) The board may require any member who has applied for or
is receiving disability benefits under this article to submit to
a physical examination, mental examination or both, by a
physician or physicians selected or approved by the board and may cause all costs incident to the examination and approved by the
board to be paid from the fund. The costs may include hospital,
laboratory, X-ray, medical and physicians' fees. A report of the
findings of any physician shall be submitted in writing to the
board for its consideration. If, from the report, independent
information, or from the report and any hearing on the report,
the board is of the opinion and finds that: (1) The member has
become reemployed as an emergency medical services officer; (2) a
physician who has examined the member has found that considering
the opportunities for emergency medical services in West
Virginia, the member could be so employed as an emergency medical
services officer; or (3) other facts exist to demonstrate that
the member is no longer totally disabled, then the disability
benefits shall cease. Benefits shall cease once the member has
been found to be no longer totally disabled.
Provided, That The
board shall require annual recertification.
(b) If a retirant refuses to submit to a medical examination
or submit a statement by his or her physician certifying
continued disability in any period, his or her disability annuity
may be discontinued by the board until the retirant complies. If
the refusal continues for one year, all the retirant's rights in
and to the annuity may be revoked by the board.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make technical changes
to the Emergency Medical Services Retirement Act; to alphabetize
definitions; to define "employer error", "participating public
employer" and "retirant"; to clarify the definitions of "early
retirement age" and "required beginning date"; to specify
procedures for the transfer of contributions from the Public
Employees Retirement System to the Emergency Medical Services
Retirement System for those who were not an emergency medical
services officer on the effective date of the article; to clarify
the actuarial valuation period; clarify the employer contribution
amount; to specify procedures for the correction of errors; to
provide an onset date for receipt of disability benefits; and to
provide for the termination of disability benefits when a
retirant refuses to submit to a medical examination or provide
their physician's certification of continued disability.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.