Source: http://www.asbar.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10428&catid=228&Itemid=172
Timestamp: 2018-01-21 14:26:50
Document Index: 683413650

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 7', '§ 10', '§ 3', '§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 7', '§ 2', '§ 14', '§ 3']

7.1441 Retirement—Voluntary and mandatory—Elected officials may finish term. :: Welcome to American Samoa Bar Association ::
HomeLegal ResourcesCode AnnotatedTitle 07 - Government EmployeesChapter 14 - Government Employees’ Retirement Fund7.1441 Retirement—Voluntary and mandatory—Elected officials may finish term.
7.1441 Retirement—Voluntary and mandatory—Elected officials may finish term.
Cite as [A.S.C.A. § 7.1441 ]
(a) Notice. All employees must be advised of their eligibility for normal or early retirement upon attaining the necessary age and creditable service. However, failure to receive the notice shall not prevent the retirement or postpone the retirement date.
(b) Voluntary Retirement. Any member of the fund may voluntarily retire if he is at least 55 years of age and has completed 30 years of creditable service or has reached 65 years of age with 5 years of creditable service. Any member qualified for retirement under this subsection may apply for retirement on forms provided by the board. His retirement shall be executed on the day he specifies; provided, however, the retirement may not be less than 30 days nor more than 90 days after the date the application is filed.
(c) Medical Separation. (1) A member who has attained his normal retirement date or early retirement date may be involuntarily separated and entitled to an immediate unreduced retirement annuity if it is determined by the Board after certification of the Director of Health, that the member’s health is not likely to improve; provided, the member is not eligible for workmen’s compensation for the condition causing the involuntary separation.
(2) A member who has not attained his early retirement date and who has contributed to the fund for at least 5 years may be separated and entitled to an immediate unreduced retirement annuity if it is determined by the Board, after certification of the Director of Health, that the member’s health prohibits him from satisfactorily performing the duties of any assigned position in the service of the government; provided, the member is not eligible for workmen’s compensation for the condition causing the separation.
(3) At least once each year during the first 5 years following the approval of a medical retirement annuity to a member under subsection (2) and at least once in every 3-year period thereafter, the board requires the disabled annuitant to undergo a medical examination at the place of residence of the annuitant or at any other place mutually agreed upon, by a physician or physicians engaged by the Board of Trustees. If the examination indicates that the annuitant is no longer physically or mentally incapacitated for service, or that he is able to engage in a gainful occupation, payments of disability retirement annuity from the Fund shall be discontinued, and the annuitant shall be reinstated in governmental service in a position for which he is found qualified and capable of performing. However, in no case shall the payments be discontinued if the member has attained age 65.
Should the disabled annuitant become gainfully employed in any capacity and his earnings are less than his salary on his medical retirement date or the salary currently paid for a similar position, whichever is lower, the Board shall continue a medical retirement annuity in an amount which is equal to the difference, but not to exceed the amount of the medical retirement annuity.
Should any member receiving a medical retirement annuity refuse to submit to the medical examination, payments by the fund shall be discontinued by the Board until the withdrawal of his refusal and, should his refusal continue for one year all rights of the member to any medical retirement annuity are revoked by the Board. After a medical retiree reaches the age of 65, no further annual or 3-year medical examinations may be required.
(4) A member who has recovered from medical retirement and who is restored to active service immediately becomes an active member of the Fund and has member contributions deducted from his pay and upon subsequent retirement has his service retirement allowance based upon all creditable service including both that service upon which his medical retirement annuity was based and his creditable service after his recovery.
(d) Early Retirement. A member of the fund may voluntarily retire with a reduced pension if he is at least 55 years of age and has completed 10 years of creditable service.
(e) Vested Retirement. A member of the fund who separates from service on or after 1 October, 1984 and who has completed 10 years of creditable service but is not eligible for early retirement may voluntarily retire with a reduced pension as of the first day of any month after attaining age 55 provided the member does not withdraw his member contributions.
(f) A retired member receiving an annuity who is reemployed by the government in any capacity in which he again becomes a member of the fund, or who is remunerated by the government for personal services in a status other than as an employee or official for a period in excess of six months, including renewals, has his right to receive payment of his annuity suspended for the duration of his employment or contract, but all other rights pertaining to his annuity are retained by him.
History: 1971, PL 12-29 § 10; 1972, PL 12-58 § 3; 1975, PL 14-3 § 1;amd 1977, PL 15-46;amd 1979, PL 16-10 § 1; PL 16-20 § 1; 1981, PL 17-28 § 7;amd 1985, PL 19-15 § 2;amd 1986, PL 19-37 § 14;amd 1987, PL 20-13 § 3; amd 1989, PL 21-22.
Amendments: 1973 Subsection (e): added.
1977 Subdivisions (e)(l) to (e)(4) redesignated as (e)(2) to (e)(5), and a new (e)(i) added.
1979 Subsection (b): lowered voluntary retirement age from 60 to 55 years.
Subsection to): deleted from proviso at end of subsection provisions that employee be certain age, ranging from 50 to 62, and have certain period, from 15 to 30 years, of service.
1985 Subsection (g): added.
1986 Subsection (c). paragraph (3): replaced “are discontinued until” with "shall be discontinued by the board until”: added provision excepting from medical examinations medical retirees reaching age 65.
Subsection (h): added “in any capacity,” after “government”.
1987 Subsection (b): added “or has reached 65 years of age with 5 years of creditable service”.
Subsection (e)(3): in the first paragraph, deleted “engaged in or is”; added “and the annuitment shall be reinstated in governmental service in a position for which he is found qualified and capable of performing”; in second paragraph, deleted “able to resume a gainful occupation”: added “gainfully employed in any capacity” and “but not to exceed the amount of the medical retirement annuity”.
Subsection (h): replaced “a service retirement” with “an” before “annuity”; added “in any capacity us which he again becomes a member of the fund, or who is remunerated by use government for personal services in a status other than as an employee or official for a period in excess of six months, including renewals” and “or contract” after “his employment”.