2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FOUR - Judiciary (§§ 1-3 — 2166) › PART I - Organization of the Court (§§ 1-3 — 251) › Chapter 17 - Judicial Retirement (§§ 231 — 246) › § 238 - Disability pensions

(A) Occupational disability pension.— Every participant who, as a result of a disability arising out of and in the course of employment, becomes disabled for duty shall be entitled to receive an occupational disability pension, provided that:
(a) Proper proof is received from one or more physicians, as provided for in subsection (C) of this section, with regard to the mental or physical disability of the participant;
(b) a formal application for a disability pension is filed with the Administrator of the System on the form prescribed by him, and
(c) the disability be compensable under the Workmen’s Accident Compensation Act, §§ 1 et seq. of Title 11.
The amount of the pension shall be equal to fifty percent (50%) of the base rate of compensation received by the participant when such disability occurred.
The pension shall be subject to offset by any amount to which the participant may be eligible from the State Insurance Fund under the provisions of the Workmen’s Accident Compensation Act. Any amount due the participant from the said Fund, pursuant to the provisions of the Workmen’s Accident Compensation Act, shall be paid by the said Fund to the System hereby created. The payment of such amounts by the State Insurance Fund shall release the said Insurance Fund from the liabilities which it may have contracted, under the provisions of the Workmen’s Accident Compensation Act, for payments to the participant and said payments shall have the same legal validity as if they had been made directly to the participant. The Administrator is hereby authorized to make arrangements with the State Insurance Fund to receive the said payments.
(B) Nonoccupational disability pension.— Every participant who has at least ten (10) years of creditable service and who, before reaching the age of sixty (60), is totally and permanently disabled for service while holding a position as judge, and who by reason of such condition is incapacitated for the proper discharge of his duties as judge, shall be entitled to a nonoccupational disability pension.
For the purposes of determining whether or not a participant is totally and permanently disabled, it shall be requisite for him to:
(a) File with the Administrator of the System a formal application for a disability pension on the form prescribed by him.
(b) Submit to a medical examination performed by one or more physicians, as provided for in subsection (C) of this section, and that said examination show, according to the physician’s certificate, that the participant is totally and permanently disabled for service.
Upon retirement on account of disability, every participant shall receive an annuity equal to thirty percent (30%) of the average compensation for the first ten (10) years of creditable services, plus one percent (1%) of the average compensation for each year of creditable services, in excess of ten (10); Provided, however, That the annuity shall not, in any case, exceed fifty percent (50%) of the average compensation; Provided, further, That up to December 31, 1960, in the case of participants who on December 31, 1951, were members of superseded pension systems, the nonoccupational disability annuity shall not be less than what would have belonged to them in accordance with the provisions of the superseded systems.
The Administrator shall have authority to discontinue payment of the disability annuity in any case in which it is disclosed that the disability of the pensioner continues because of intemperance, misconduct or vicious habits. In such case, there shall be paid to the pensioner a refund of the excess, if any, of his accumulated contributions up to the time of retirement over the total amount paid as disability annuity.
(C) Rules governing disability pensions.— For the purposes of an occupational or nonoccupational disability pension, a participant shall be considered as disabled by an examination performed by one (1) or more government physicians or at least two physicians designated by the Administrator, who are in the lawful practice of their profession, should it show that the participant is incapable or unable to discharge appropriately his duties as judge.
In the event that a participant who is receiving a disability pension should engage in gainful occupation or remunerative employment and his income from such sources together with his disability annuity exceeds the wage rate he was drawing at the time of his retirement, the disability pension shall be reduced so that the pension plus his income from the new work or employment do not exceed the wage he was receiving at the time of his retirement.
(D) Any participant who enrolls for the first time in the System after July 1, 2014 and is a Hybrid Program participant may be eligible to receive a disability pension, as provided in subsections (A), (B), and (C) of this section. However, the participant shall be eligible for the benefits established under this section if he/she applies for disability before reaching the age of sixty-five (65), insofar as he/she has completed at least five (5) years of credited services. The amount of the disability pension whether occupational or not for Hybrid Program participants in no case shall be higher than the lesser of: (i) thirty-three percent (33%) of the average compensation computed on the basis of the salaries earned during the last five (5) years; or (ii) the sum of: (a) accumulated defined benefits up to the date of disability multiplied by the average compensation computed on the basis of the salaries earned during the last five (5) years, plus (b) an annuity for the disability period computed on the basis of the accumulated individual contributions and the return thereon, divided by a factor to be determined by the actuaries of the System.
History —Oct. 19, 1954, No. 12, p. 152, § 6; July 23, 1974, No. 142, Part 1, p. 658, § 1; Dec. 24, 2013, No. 162, § 6.