Section 18-75 Refunds.

(a) When the covered employment of a covered firefighter employee ends , the employee shall, have the right to withdraw in a lump sum from the fund contributions which the employee made . T he lump sum withdrawl shall include interest on the contribution at the annual investment rate of return of the fund as determined by the annual actuarial report for each year in which contributions were made by the covered employee, compounded annually from the last day of the calendar year in which such covered employee contributions are made to the date of withdrawal. Withdrawal of contributions by a covered firefighter employee under this division shall terminate all rights to benefits unless reinstated as herein provided.

(b) A covered firefighter employee who has withdrawn his the contributions made by the employee with interest under the provisions of subsection (a) or received a lump-sum distribution under section 18-67 (4 f ) may, in the event of reemployment as a covered employee, reinstate benefits thereby forfeited within twelve (12) months from the date of reemployment by repaying to the fund the contributions and interest withdrawn from the fund or the lump-sum distribution, plus interest on the sum in the amount of the annual investment rate of return of the fund as determined by the annual actuarial report for each year that the contribution remained withdrawn from the fund, compounded annually from the date the sum was withdrawn or lump-sum distribution was made to the date of repayment. The time which a covered firefighter is absent from covered employment shall not be deemed to be reinstated by the repayment of prior contributions.

(c) If the covered employment of a covered firefighter employee is terminated by the employee’s death and the employee is not entitled to plan benefits other than the funeral benefit authorized by section 18-72( d ), the contributions of the employee to this plan and any amounts contributed to this plan and picked up by the city under code section 414(h) for the deceased employee shall be refunded or distributed, upon request, to the estate of the deceased employee . Interest on the contributions or distributions so refunded shall be calculated as above.