Senate Bill No. 325
(By Senators Wooton and Bailey)
[Introduced March 13, 1997; referred to the Committee on
Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-five, article ten,
chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the West
Virginia public employees retirement act; and retirement
annuities for persons who retired on disability retirement.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-five, article ten, chapter five of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT.
§5-10-25. Disability retirement.
(a) Upon the application of a member or former member of the retirement system, or his or her present or past employing
authority, any member or former member who is in the employ of a
participating public employer or was in the employ of a
participating public employer on a date which is twelve months or
less from the date upon which the former member became
incapacitated, who has ten or more years of credited service of
which three years is contributing service, and who becomes
totally and permanently incapacitated for employment, by reason
of a personal injury or disease, may be retired by the board if
after a medical examination of the said member or former member
made by or under the direction of a medical committee consisting
of two physicians, one of whom shall be named by the board, and
one by the said member or former member, the said medical
committee reports, in writing, to the board that the said member
or former member is physically or mentally totally incapacitated
for employment, that such incapacity will probably be permanent,
and that the said member or former member should be retired. In
the event the two above-mentioned examining physicians do not
agree in their findings, then the board may, at its discretion,
appoint a third physician to examine said member or former member
and, based upon the third physician's report in writing, the
board may retire said member or former member. A former member who has not been employed by a participating public employer may
receive disability retirement under the provisions of this
subsection if, in the opinion of the medical committee, the
incapacity occurred during the time that the former member was
employed by a participating public employer and the incapacity
otherwise qualifies the former member for retirement under this
subsection.
(b) A member with less than ten years of credited service
shall have the service requirement provided for in subsection (a)
above (including the requirement of three years contributing
service) waived in the event (1) the board finds his or her total
and permanent disability to be the natural and proximate result
of a personal injury or disease arising out of and in the course
of his or her actual performance of duty in the employ of a
participating public employer, and (2) he or she is receiving or
has received workers' compensation benefits on account of such
physical or mental disability.
(c) For any member or former member retiring and any member
retired, as of March one, one thousand nine hundred seventy, he
or she shall receive a straight life annuity computed according
to section twenty-two hereof and he or she shall have the right
to elect an option provided for in section twenty-four hereof: Provided, That his or her straight life annuity payable to his or
her attainment of age sixty-five years may not be less than fifty
percent of his or her final average salary: and his or her said
straight life annuity payable from and after his or her
attainment of age sixty-five years may not be less than twenty
percent of his or her final average salary: Provided, however,
That his or her said annuity shall be subject to section
twenty-six hereof.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prevent the reduction
of annuities of persons who retire from public employment under
disability retirement before reaching the age of 65 years when
they reach age 65.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.