Section 18-43 Disability benefits.

(a) A covered police employee who sustains a duty-related disability or a covered police employee having completed one continuous year or more of covered employment who sustains a nonduty-related disability shall be entitled to the disability benefit set out in this section . The covered police employee shall be entitled to the disability benefit only while the disease or injury renders the employee unfit for the regular duties of the employee’s covered employment.

Upon the termination of the disability, payment of the benefit shall cease; provided, however, that no disability shall be deemed to have terminated so long as the covered police employee is unable to return to the employee’s former regular duties solely because of the disability or a residual effect thereof. Upon termination of a disability, no right of automatic reemployment exists. Reemployment shall be governed by the provisions of the city's personnel code.

(b) Eligible covered police employees shall be paid from the police retirement fund, from Workers' Compensation benefits, from Social Security benefits or from some combination thereof, the following benefits:

(1) To a covered police employee, disabled with a duty-related disability, a disability benefit equal to fifty (50) per cent of the employee’s highest average salary plus ten (10) per cent of that salary for each unmarried dependent child under the age of eighteen (18), to an amount not to exceed ninety (90) per cent of the employee’s highest average salary. Such benefit shall be payable monthly.

(2) To a covered police employee, disabled with a nonduty-related disability, a disability benefit equal to two and one-half (2.5) percent of the employee’s highest average salary per year of covered employment plus an additional one-half (.5) per cent of that salary per year for each unmarried dependent child under the age of eighteen (18), up to a maximum of four (4) children. Such benefit shall be payable monthly.

(3) Duty and nonduty-related disability benefits paid to any covered police employee shall be offset dollar for dollar by the excess of income received by the retiree over one hundred (100) percent of the employee's highest average salary. For purposes of this section, income shall be defined as the combination of disability retirement benefits provided herein, social security, workers' compensation benefits, other long-term disability benefits, and compensation for other employment. After a retiree accumulates twenty (20) years of combined service in covered employment and time receiving disability benefits, the income offset shall cease.

(4) In the event of a lump sum Workers' Compensation settlement, the amount of the monthly income to be used as income offset in the disability retirement benefit shall be determined by converting the lump sum Workers' Compensation amount to a single life monthly annuity of equivalent value for the benefit recipient, using the mortality table and interest rate used in the most recent actuarial valuation of the fund. For purposes of this section, future medical awards shall not be considered a part of Workers' Compensation benefits or entitlements. In addition, the monthly disability benefit shall be reduced by the amount of the single life monthly annuity as determined herein.

(5) For purposes of calculating the income offset for disability retirement benefits, the final average salary shall be adjusted on the anniversary date of the retiree's becoming eligible for disability retirement benefits by the percentage change in the consumer price index for this region of the country from January 1 of the previous year to January 1 of the current year.

(6) An employee who receives disability benefits for a duty-related disability shall receive credit for covered employment for each year of duty-related disability retirement up to a maximum, when combined with years of actual covered employment, of twenty (20) years. At that point disability retirement benefits shall cease and the retiree shall receive retirement benefits based on years of service.

(7) Any person disabled prior to June 7, 1993, and any person who is receiving nonduty-related disability benefit may, upon reaching age sixty-five (65) years, elect to receive, in lieu thereof, retirement benefits based on age.

(c) After the approval of any disability benefit, the administrator shall from time to time, review the disability of the retiree to determine whether or not the disability continues to exist. Reexamination shall take place at least once each year unless the board shall determine otherwise. The administrator may require any retiree receiving a disability benefit to undergo a medical examination to review the status of the disability. The administrator may request the retiree to undergo an examination with a doctor of the retiree’s choosing and at the retiree’s expense or may require a medical examination with a doctor of the administrator's choosing at the expense of the police retirement fund.

(1) Any retiree refusing to submit to a medical examination after ten (10) days' written notice from the administrator shall waive and forfeit all rights to benefits from the date of the notice until such time as the retiree submits to the required examination. If such refusal continues for one calendar year from the date of notice, all rights to any benefits shall immediately cease and the retiree’s benefits schedule shall escheat to the police retirement fund.

(2) If the reexamination shows that the disability no longer exists, the right to benefits for disability shall immediately cease. A hearing on the continuance of the disability may be had before the administrator upon the retiree’s written request within ten (10) days of the administrator's notification.