60-B - Guaranteed ordinary death benefit for participating employers.

§ 60-b. Guaranteed ordinary death benefit for participating employers.  (a)  Pursuant to the provisions of section thirty-three of this article,  a participating employer may elect  to  provide  a  guaranteed  ordinary  death  benefit  upon  the death in service of its employees who (i) meet  all the requirements of  section  sixty  of  this  article  except  that  contained  in  paragraph three of subdivision (a) thereof, and (ii) last  entered or reentered the employ of a  participating  employer  prior  to  April  first,  nineteen  hundred eighty-five, and were in such employ on  March thirty-first, nineteen hundred eighty-five, and (iii) last  joined  or  rejoined  a  public retirement system of the state or a municipality  thereof before July first, nineteen hundred seventy-three, and (iv)  had  not  attained  age sixty at the date of such entrance into such service,  and (v) had rendered ninety or more days of continuous  service  in  the  service  of  such participating employer during the fifteen month period  immediately preceding  death.  For  the  purposes  of  this  section  an  employee  who  dies  while  off the payroll shall be considered to be in  service provided he or she (1) was on the payroll in  such  service  and  paid  within a period of twelve months prior to his or her death, or was  on the payroll in the service upon which membership is based at the time  he or she was ordered to active duty, other than for training  purposes,  pursuant to Title 10 of the United States Code, with the armed forces of  the  United  States  and  died while on such active duty on or after the  effective date of the chapter of the laws of  two  thousand  five  which  amended  this subdivision, (2) had not been otherwise gainfully employed  since he or she ceased to be on such payroll and (3) had credit for  one  or  more  years  of  continuous  service since he or she last entered or  reentered the service of his or her employer.  Provided,  further,  that  any  such  member  ordered  to  active  duty,  other  than  for training  purposes, pursuant to Title 10 of the United States Code, with the armed  forces of the United States who died  prior  to  rendering  the  minimum  amount  of  service  necessary  to be eligible for this benefit shall be  considered to have satisfied the minimum service requirement.    (b) The guaranteed ordinary death benefit provided under this  section  to   the   beneficiary  of  such  employee  shall  be  three  times  the  compensation earnable by him during his last twelve months of service as  a member, raised to the next higher multiple of  one  thousand  dollars,  but  in  no  event  greater  than  twenty  thousand  dollars. Where such  employee dies before rendering one year of service,  the  death  benefit  pursuant  to this section shall be three times the compensation that the  member would have earned had he worked for twelve months  prior  to  the  date  of  his  death, raised to the next higher multiple of one thousand  dollars, but in no event greater than twenty thousand dollars.    (c) The beneficiary  shall  receive  the  benefits  provided  by  this  section  or  those  provided by section sixty of this article, whichever  are greater.    (d) The provisions of this section shall apply in the  case  of  death  occurring  on or after this section becomes law and prior to July first,  nineteen hundred seventy-four.