2023 New York Laws › RSS - Retirement and Social Security › Article 15 - Coordinated Retirement Plan › 605-B - Accidental Disability Retirement for New York City Uniformed Sanitation Members.

* §   605-b.  Accidental  disability  retirement  for  New  York  city
uniformed sanitation members. a. Definitions.  The  following  terms  as
used  in  this  section  shall  have  the  following  meanings  unless a
different meaning is plainly required by the context:
1. "New York city uniformed sanitation member" shall mean a member (as
defined in subdivision e of section six hundred one of this article)  of
NYCERS  who  is  a  member  of  the uniformed force of the New York city
department of sanitation.
2. "NYCERS" shall mean the New York city employees' retirement system.
3. "Eligible prior uniformed sanitation disability retiree" shall mean
a person who retired for disability as a NYCERS member and as  a  member
of  the  uniformed  force  of the New York city department of sanitation
pursuant to section five hundred seven  or  six  hundred  five  of  this
chapter,  with  an  effective  date  of  retirement on or after November
first, nineteen hundred eighty-two, and prior to the effective  date  of
this section.
b. 1. A New York city uniformed sanitation member who, on or after the
effective date of this section, is determined by NYCERS to be physically
or mentally incapacitated for the performance of duty as the natural and
proximate  result  of  an accident, not caused by his or her own willful
negligence, sustained in the performance of  such  uniformed  sanitation
service  while  actually  a  member  of  NYCERS  shall  be  retired  for
accidental disability. Such retirement shall be effective as of the date
approved by the board of trustees of NYCERS.
2. Except as provided in  paragraph  one  of  subdivision  c  of  this
section,  applications  for accidental disability retirement may be made
not later than two years after the occurrence of the accident upon which
the application is based. Such application may be made by:
(a) a New York city uniformed sanitation member;
(b) the commissioner of the New York city department of sanitation; or
(c) any person acting on behalf of and authorized by such member.
3.  NYCERS  shall  process  applications  for  accidental   disability
retirement  pursuant  to  this section in accordance with the applicable
statutory provisions and the rules and regulations of NYCERS  pertaining
generally  to  the  processing  of  disability  retirement applications.
Unless inconsistent with the provisions of this section, the  provisions
of  section  13-169  of the administrative code of the city of New York,
relating to medical review procedures, and section 13-171 of such  code,
relating  to safeguards on disability retirement, shall be applicable to
accidental disability retirements pursuant to this section. The board of
trustees  of  NYCERS  shall  have  the  authority  to  adopt  rules  and
regulations for the purposes of implementing this section.
4.  Subject  to the provisions of section 13-176 of the administrative
code of the city of New York, the annual retirement allowance payable to
accidental disability retirees pursuant to  this  section  shall  be  an
amount equal to three-quarters of the member's final average salary. The
retirement  allowance  payable pursuant to this section shall be in lieu
of any other disability retirement  allowance  which  may  otherwise  be
payable by NYCERS.
c.  1.  Notwithstanding  the  provisions  of paragraphs one and two of
subdivision b of this section or any  other  provision  of  law  to  the
contrary, any eligible prior uniformed sanitation disability retiree (as
defined  in  paragraph  three of subdivision a of this section) shall be
eligible to apply  for  accidental  disability  retirement  pursuant  to
subdivision  b of this section either (a) if the member is vested and is
incapacitated as the result of a qualifying World Trade Center condition
as defined in  section  two  of  this  chapter,  or  (b)  by  filing  an

application  with  NYCERS  within one year of the effective date of this
section.
2.  Any  eligible  prior  uniformed  sanitation disability retiree who
files a timely application for accidental disability retirement pursuant
to paragraph one  of  this  subdivision,  and  who  retired  either  for
disability  pursuant  to  section  six hundred five of this article with
less than ten years of credited service, or  for  accidental  disability
pursuant to section five hundred seven of this chapter, shall be granted
accidental  disability  retirement benefits pursuant to subdivision b of
this section, with payability of those benefits to begin on the  earlier
of  (a) January first, two thousand five, or (b) a date certified as the
payability date  for  all  persons  entitled  to  accidental  disability
retirement  benefits pursuant to this subdivision by the commissioner of
labor relations for the city of New York in a letter  to  the  executive
director of NYCERS.
3.  Any  eligible  prior  uniformed  sanitation disability retiree who
files a timely application for accidental disability retirement pursuant
to paragraph one of this subdivision, and  who  retired  for  disability
pursuant  to  section  six hundred five of this article with ten or more
years of credited service, shall  have  that  application  processed  in
accordance with the applicable provisions which govern the processing of
accidental   disability   retirement   applications  filed  pursuant  to
subdivision b of this section by or on behalf of active  New  York  city
uniformed  sanitation  members  of  NYCERS.  NYCERS  shall  use its best
efforts to make its determinations  on  such  applications  as  soon  as
practicable.  Where  NYCERS  determines  that  any  such prior uniformed
sanitation disability  retiree  is  entitled  to  accidental  disability
retirement   benefits   pursuant  to  subdivision  b  of  this  section,
payability of those benefits shall begin on the earlier of  (a)  January
first, two thousand five, or (b) a date certified as the payability date
for  all  persons  entitled to accidental disability retirement benefits
pursuant to this subdivision by the commissioner of labor relations  for
the city of New York in a letter to the executive director of NYCERS.
4.  The accidental disability retirement allowance payable pursuant to
this section to  any  eligible  prior  uniformed  sanitation  disability
retiree  determined by NYCERS to be entitled to such benefit shall be in
lieu of any other disability retirement benefit which  such  member  may
have  been receiving or entitled to receive from NYCERS. Any such person
who was receiving disability retirement benefits from NYCERS pursuant to
any statutory provision  other  than  this  section  shall  continue  to
receive  payment of such benefits until accidental disability retirement
benefits become payable pursuant to this section on the applicable  date
specified  in paragraphs two and three of this subdivision. On and after
such date he or she shall no longer be entitled  to  receive  disability
benefits from NYCERS pursuant to such other statutory provisions.
5.  Any  eligible  prior  uniformed  sanitation disability retiree who
becomes entitled to accidental disability retirement  benefits  pursuant
to  this  section  shall have the same method of payment applied to such
benefits as was applicable to the disability retirement benefits  he  or
she  was  receiving  from NYCERS pursuant to a statutory provision other
than this section, and such person shall not be permitted to change such
method of payment from the maximum retirement allowance to an option  or
from  the option selected previously to another option or to the maximum
retirement allowance.
6. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, for the
purposes  of  calculating  the  cost-of-living  adjustment   which   may
otherwise   become   payable   pursuant   to   section   13-696  of  the
administrative code of the  city  of  New  York  to  an  eligible  prior

uniformed  sanitation  disability  retiree  for any period of time after
such  person  has  begun  receiving  accidental  disability   retirement
benefits pursuant to this section, the year of retirement of such person
shall be deemed to be the year in which he or she retired for disability
pursuant  to  section  five  hundred  seven  or six hundred five of this
chapter, as the case may be.
d. 1. (a) Notwithstanding any provisions of this  chapter  or  of  any
general,  special  or local law, charter, administrative code or rule or
regulation to the contrary, if any condition or impairment of health  is
caused  by  a  qualifying  World  Trade  Center  condition as defined in
section two of this chapter, it shall be presumptive  evidence  that  it
was  incurred  in  the performance and discharge of duty and the natural
and proximate result of an accident not  caused  by  such  member's  own
willful negligence, unless the contrary be proved by competent evidence.
(b)  The  head  of  the  retirement  system  is  hereby  authorized to
promulgate rules and regulations to implement  the  provisions  of  this
paragraph.
2.  (a)  Notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  this  chapter or of any
general, special or local law, charter, administrative code or  rule  or
regulation  to the contrary, if a member who participated in World Trade
Center rescue, recovery or cleanup operations, as defined in section two
of this chapter, and subsequently retired on a  service  retirement,  an
ordinary   disability  retirement,  a  performance  of  duty  disability
retirement, or was  separated  from  service  with  a  vested  right  to
deferred  payability  of  a  retirement allowance and subsequent to such
retirement or  separation  which  is  determined  by  the  head  of  the
retirement  system to have a qualifying World Trade Center condition, as
defined in section two of this chapter, upon such determination  by  the
head  of the retirement system it shall be presumed that such disability
was incurred in the performance and discharge of duty as the natural and
proximate result of an accident not caused by such member's own  willful
negligence,  and  that the member would have been physically or mentally
incapacitated for the performance and discharge of duty of the  position
from  which  he  or  she  retired had the condition been known and fully
developed at the time of the member's retirement, unless the contrary is
proven by competent evidence.
(b)  The  head   of   the   retirement   system   shall   consider   a
reclassification  of the member's retirement or vesting as an accidental
disability retirement effective as of the date of such reclassification.
(c) Such member's retirement option shall not be changed as  a  result
of such reclassification.
(d)  The  member's  former  employer  at  the  time  of  the  member's
retirement shall have  an  opportunity  to  be  heard  on  the  member's
application  for  reclassification  by the head of the retirement system
according to procedures developed by the head of the retirement system.
(e) The  head  of  the  retirement  system  is  hereby  authorized  to
promulgate  rules  and  regulations  to implement the provisions of this
paragraph.
e. Notwithstanding any other provision  of  this  chapter  or  of  any
general,  special  or local law, charter, administrative code or rule or
regulation to the contrary, if a retiree or vestee who: (1) has met  the
criteria  of  subdivision  d of this section and retired on a service or
disability retirement, would  have  met  the  criteria  if  not  already
retired  on an accidental disability, or was separated from service with
a vested right to deferred payability of a retirement allowance; and (2)
has not been retired for more than twenty-five years; and (3) dies  from
a  qualifying World Trade Center condition, as defined in section two of
this chapter, as determined by the applicable  head  of  the  retirement

system  or  applicable medical board, then unless the contrary be proven
by competent evidence, such retiree or vestee shall be  deemed  to  have
died  as  a natural and proximate result of an accident sustained in the
performance  of duty and not as a result of willful negligence on his or
her part. Such retiree's or vestee's eligible beneficiary, as set  forth
in  section  six  hundred  one  of this article, shall be entitled to an
accidental death benefit as provided by section  six  hundred  seven  of
this  article,  however, for the purposes of determining the salary base
upon which the accidental death benefit is calculated,  the  retiree  or
vestee shall be deemed to have died on the date of his or her retirement
or  separation  from  service  with vested rights. Upon the retiree's or
vestee's  death,  the  eligible  beneficiary  shall   make   a   written
application  to  the  head  of the retirement system within the time for
filing an application for an accidental death benefit as  set  forth  in
section  six hundred seven of this article requesting conversion of such
retiree's or vestee's service or disability  retirement  benefit  to  an
accidental  death  benefit. At the time of such conversion, the eligible
beneficiary shall relinquish all  rights  to  the  prospective  benefits
payable  under  the  service or disability retirement benefit, or vested
right to such benefit, including  any  post-retirement  death  benefits,
since  the  retiree's  or vestee's death. If the eligible beneficiary is
not the only beneficiary receiving or  entitled  to  receive  a  benefit
under  the  service or disability retirement benefit (including, but not
limited to, post-retirement death benefits or benefits paid  or  payable
pursuant  to  the  retiree's option selection), or that will be eligible
under the vested right, the accidental death  benefit  payments  to  the
eligible  beneficiary  will be reduced by any amounts paid or payable to
any other beneficiary.
f. Notwithstanding any other provision  of  this  chapter  or  of  any
general,  special  or local law, charter, administrative code or rule or
regulation to the contrary, if a member who: (1) has met the criteria of
subdivision d of this section; (2)  dies  in  active  service  or  after
separating  from service with a vested right to deferred payability of a
retirement allowance, but prior to the  payability  of  that  retirement
allowance;  and (3) dies from a qualifying World Trade Center condition,
as defined in  section  two  of  this  chapter,  as  determined  by  the
applicable  head of the retirement system or applicable medical board to
have been caused by such  member's  participation  in  the  World  Trade
Center rescue, recovery or cleanup operations, as defined in section two
of  this  chapter,  then  unless  the  contrary  be  proven by competent
evidence, such member shall be deemed to have  died  as  a  natural  and
proximate result of an accident sustained in the performance of duty and
not  as a result of willful negligence on his or her part. Such member's
eligible beneficiary, as set forth in section six hundred  one  of  this
article, shall be entitled to an accidental death benefit provided he or
she  makes  written  application  to  the  head of the retirement system
within the time for  filing  an  application  for  an  accidental  death
benefit as set forth in section six hundred seven of this article.
* NB There are 2 § 605-b's