RS 11:778 Disability retirement
§778. Disability retirement
A. Eligibility for disability benefits, procedures for application for disability benefits, procedures for the certification of continuing eligibility for disability benefits, the authority of the board of trustees to modify disability benefits, and procedures governing the restoration to active service of a formerly disabled employee are specifically described and provided for in R.S. 11:201 through 224.
B. The board of trustees shall award disability benefits to eligible members who have been officially certified as disabled by the State Medical Disability Board.
C. Upon the application of a member in service or of his employer, any member who has five or more years of creditable service may be retired by the board of trustees, not less than thirty nor more than ninety days following the date of filing such application, on a disability retirement allowance, provided that the medical board, after a medical examination of the member, certifies that the member is mentally or physically incapacitated for the further performance of the duties currently being performed, that the incapacity is likely to be total and permanent, and that the member should be retired.
D. Disability retirees who had at least fifteen years of service prior to being certified as disabled and who have been receiving disability benefits for at least ten years and who have attained at least age fifty shall be eligible to convert from disability benefits to regular retirement benefits, provided that any such retiree's regular retirement benefits shall be based on the number of years actually credited to the member's account, and provided that such conversion does not produce a benefit that creates an actuarial cost to the system.
E. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 2 of Act No. 572 of the 1995 Regular Session, any member who received an estimate of disability benefits from the system during the period between August 1, 1995 and August 31, 1995, both inclusive, and who applied for such benefits on June 21, 1996, shall be paid benefits based on the estimate received from the system, and the disability benefits shall be recalculated according to R.S. 11:779 as that provision existed on June 30, 1995.
Amended by Acts 1978, No. 648, §5, eff. July 13, 1978; Acts 1978, No. 727, §3, eff. Jan. 1, 1979; Redesignated from R.S. 17:637 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §3, eff. June 25, 1991; Acts 2001, No. 678, §1, eff. June 25, 2001; Acts 2001, No. 794, §1, eff. June 26, 2001.