Bill Text: HI HB1058 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Employees' Retirement System; Ordinary Disability Retirement; Reemployed Retirants
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-05-11 - Carried over to 2010 Regular Session. [HB1058 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-HB1058-Introduced.html
Report Title:
Employees' Retirement System; Ordinary Disability Retirement; Reemployed Retirants
Description:
Clarifies retirement date for ordinary disability retirement, payment of attorney's fees and costs in disability retirement and accidental death cases, forfeiture date for noncontributory service credit, and benefits for reemployed retirants.
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1058 |
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TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO THE EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Section 88-75, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§88-75 Ordinary disability retirement. (a) Upon application of a member in service or on leave without pay, or the person appointed by the family court as guardian of an incapacitated member, any member who has ten or more years of credited service shall be retired by the board of trustees on an ordinary disability retirement allowance if the medical board, after a medical examination of the member, certifies that:
(1) The member is mentally or physically incapacitated for the further performance of duty at the time of application;
(2) The incapacity is likely to be permanent; and
(3) The member should be retired.
(b) Upon approval by the board, the member shall be eligible to receive an ordinary disability retirement benefit no earlier than thirty days from the date the application was filed or the date the member terminated service, whichever is later. Retirement shall be effective on the first day of a month, except for the month of December when retirement on the first or last day of the month shall be allowed. A member whose application for an ordinary disability retirement allowance is approved by the board while the member is still in service may terminate service and retire at any time following such approval; provided that retirement shall become effective on the first day of the month following the month the applicant terminates employment or goes off the payroll, except for the month of December when retirement on the first or last day of the month shall be allowed."
SECTION 2. Section 88-82, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§88-82 [Appeal of decision of
medical board;] Petition for contested case hearing regarding disability
retirement or accidental death benefits; attorney's fees and costs [reimbursable].
(a) A member or applicant who is not satisfied with the preliminary
decision of the [medical] board to grant or deny an application for
disability retirement benefits or accidental death benefits based on the
certifications and findings of the medical board may [appeal the
decision to] file a petition for contested case hearing with the
board [of trustees] within sixty days after receiving written notification
of the preliminary decision of the [medical] board. [The
right of appeal to the board of trustees shall apply to all decisions and
recommendations which the medical board is authorized to make.]
(b) If[, in the event of an appeal of a
decision of the medical board,] the member or applicant is the
prevailing party in the contested case, and disability retirement benefits or
accidental death benefits are awarded to [a] the member or
applicant by the board [of trustees] or court of the appropriate
jurisdiction under section 88-75, 88-79, 88-85, 88-284, 88-285, 88-286(c), [88-335,
88-337,] 88-334, 88-336, or 88-339, the member or applicant shall
be [reimbursed] paid reasonable attorney's fees together with any
costs payable by the system. [If an appeal is had, the] The
attorney's fees [or] and costs shall be subject to the approval
of the board [of trustees] or by [the appellate] a court [deciding
the appeal.] of appropriate jurisdiction after evidence has been
provided by the member or applicant regarding the reasonableness of the claimed
attorneys' fees and costs."
SECTION 3. Section 88-98, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§88-98 Return to service of a retirant. (a) Any retirant who returns to employment requiring active membership in the system shall be reenrolled as an active member of the system in the same class from which the retirant originally retired and the retirant's retirement allowance shall be suspended.
(1) If the retirant returns to service before July 1, 1998, and again retires, the retirant's retirement allowance shall consist of:
(A) For members with fewer than three years of credited service during the member's period of reemployment, the allowance to which the member was entitled under the retirement allowance option selected when the member previously retired and which was suspended; plus, for the period of service during the member's reemployment, the allowance to which the member is entitled for that service based on the retirement allowance option initially selected and computed for the member's age, average final compensation, and other factors in accordance with the benefit formula under section 88-74 in existence at the time of the member's latest retirement; or
(B) For members with three or more years of credited service during the member's period of reemployment, the allowance computed as if the member were retiring for the first time; provided that in no event shall the allowance be less than the amount determined in accordance with subparagraph (A); and
(2) If the retirant returns to service after June 30, 1998, and again retires, the retirant's retirement allowance shall be computed in accordance with paragraph (1)(A), regardless of the number of years of service in the reemployment period.
(b) Any retirant who received the special retirement incentive benefit under Act 253, Session Laws of Hawaii 2000, as amended by Act 131, Session Laws of Hawaii 2002, and is reemployed by the State or a county in any capacity shall:
(1) Have the retirant's retirement allowance suspended;
(2) Forfeit the special retirement incentive benefit and any related benefit provided by this chapter; and
(3) Be subject to the age and service requirements under section 88-73 when the member again retires.
(c) If a retirant's maximum retirement allowance upon the retirant's initial retirement was subject to the limits on maximum retirement allowance under section 88-74:
(1) The limit shall apply to the computation of the retirant's maximum retirement allowance for the retirant's period of service during the retirant's reemployment, so that the sum of:
(A) The per cent by which the retirant's average final compensation for the retirant's years of service prior to the retirant's initial retirement is multiplied to determine the retirant's maximum retirement allowance upon the retirant's initial retirement; and
(B) The per cent by which the retirant's average final compensation for any period of reemployment after the retirant's initial retirement is multiplied to determine the retirant's maximum retirement allowance for the period of reemployment,
shall not exceed the limit, under section 88-74, on the per cent by which the retirant's average final compensation may be multiplied for the purpose of determining the retirant's maximum retirement allowance. For example, if a retirant's maximum retirement allowance upon the retirant's initial retirement was limited by section 88-74 to eighty per cent of the retirant's average final compensation, and the retirant retired with a maximum allowance equal to seventy per cent of the retirant's average final compensation, the retirant's maximum allowance for the retirant's period of reemployment may not exceed ten per cent of the retirant's average final compensation for the retirant's period of reemployment; and
(2) If the retirant's maximum retirement allowance upon the retirant's initial retirement was equal to or greater than the applicable limit under section 88-74, the retirant shall not earn service credit or earn any additional retirement allowance during the retirant's period of reemployment, and the reemployed retirant shall not make any contributions under section 88-45.
[(c)] (d) If a retirant's
designation of beneficiary was irrevocable upon the retirant's initial
retirement, the retirant may not change the retirant's designated beneficiary
when the retirant returns to service or when the former retirant again retires.
[(d)] (e) A retirant who returns
to service shall not be considered to be "in service', for the purposes of
section 88-75, 88-79, 88-84, or 88-85, or any other provision of this chapter
providing for benefits arising out of the disability or death of a member. A
retirant who returns to service and dies during the period of reemployment
shall be considered to have retired again effective as of the first day of the
month following the month in which the death occurs, except for death during
the month of December when the effective date of retirement may be the last day
of the month.
[(e)] (f) The board shall adopt
any rules as may be required to administer this section."
SECTION 4. Section 88-273, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
"(a) Any class C member who terminates service prior to accumulating ten years of credited service, excluding unused sick leave, shall cease to be a member and shall forfeit all credited service; provided that:
(1) If the former class C member becomes a member
again within one [calendar] full year [from the date of
termination,] following the calendar year in which the member's
employment terminated, all service credit for previous service shall be
restored. If the former class C member becomes a member again more than one [calendar]
full year [after the date of termination,] following the
calendar year in which the member's employment terminated, one month of
service credit for previous service shall be restored for each month of service
rendered following the return to membership.
(2) If the former class C member becomes a class A,
class B, or class H member within one [calendar] full year [from
the date of termination,] following the calendar year in which the
member's employment terminated, all class C service credit for previous
service shall be restored. If the former class C member becomes a class A,
class B, or class H member more than one [calendar] full year [after
the date of termination,] following the calendar year in which the
member's employment terminated, one month of class C service credit for
previous service shall be restored for each month of service rendered following
the return to membership.
Subject to the provisions of sections 88-322 and 88-324, the service credit restored pursuant to this subsection shall be class C service credit."
SECTION 5. Section 88-284, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
"(b) Upon approval by the board, the member shall be eligible to receive an ordinary disability retirement benefit no earlier than thirty days from the date the application was filed or the date the member terminated service, whichever is later. Retirement shall be effective on the first day of a month, except for the month of December when retirement on the first or last day of the month shall be allowed. A member whose application for an ordinary disability retirement allowance is approved by the board while the member is still in service may terminate service and retire at any time following such approval; provided that retirement shall become effective on the first day of the month following the month the applicant terminates employment or goes off the payroll, except for the month of December when retirement on the first or last day of the month shall be allowed."
SECTION 6. Section 88-334, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
"(b) Upon approval by the board, the member shall be eligible to receive an ordinary disability retirement benefit no earlier than thirty days from the date the application was filed or the date the member terminated service, whichever is later. Retirement shall be effective on the first day of a month, except for the month of December when retirement on the first or last day of the month shall be allowed. A member whose application for an ordinary disability retirement allowance is approved by the board while the member is still in service may terminate service and retire at any time following the approval; provided that retirement shall become effective on the first day of the month following the month the applicant terminates employment or goes off the payroll, except for the month of December when retirement on the first or last day of the month shall be allowed."
SECTION 7. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2009.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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By Request
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