§8-22A-18. Awards and benefits for disability -- Due to other
causes; exception during early period.
(a) Except as provided in subsection (a), section nine of this
article, 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
seventeen 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, at least
one of whom shall be named by the board, he or she is by reason of
the disability not only unable to perform his or her previous work
as a police officer or firefighter 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, 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 fourteen and fifteen of this article.