Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 12, March 23, 2024
(a)
Application, elections and disability annuities. Duties of the
Board regarding applications and elections of members and disability annuities
include the following:
(1) Subsequent to the
receipt of an application for a disability annuity based on physical and mental
incapacity for the performance of a job for which the member is employed, the
Board will, through its chief medical examiner, and other medical examiners it
may engage, cause the applicant to be examined. On the basis of the medical
evidence submitted, a recommendation shall be submitted to the Board stating
whether a disability should be granted, together with a report as to the
permanency of the disability or the need for periodic examinations as well as
the time interval for the examinations. The Board will also establish an
effective date of disability which shall be the day following the last day of
compensation.
(2) A disability
applicant who is required by the Board to furnish additional medical
documentation to support the application, shall provide the documentation
within 30 days of the request, or the Board may render the disability
application void.
(3) The chief
medical examiner, or other medical examiners the Board may engage, may
recommend to the Board, on the basis of subsequent medical examinations,
whether a disability annuitant should continue on disability or whether a
finding of nondisability may be appropriate. In the latter event, the Board
will establish the date of termination of disability, based on the
recommendation of the medical examiner, whereupon the disability annuity shall
be discontinued in excess of any annuity to which the member may be otherwise
entitled under section 8342 of the Retirement Code (relating to maximum single
life annuity).
(4) If the Board
denies a disability applicant for insufficient medical evidence, the applicant
may still file, within 90 days after notification of the denial, an application
to vest or take an annuity, if the applicant is eligible. The filing shall be
considered timely, as of the original eligibility date, for the purposes of
payment of other benefits or vesting, as the case may be.
(5) A disability annuity may also be subject
to a disability annuity adjustment depending upon the earned income of the
annuitant, as provided in section 8505(c)(3) of the Retirement Code (relating
to duties of board regarding applications and elections of members).
(b)
Refund to
members. If the Board finds that a member is terminating service at
the end of a school year intending to return the subsequent school year,
following vacation periods, and to reinstate accumulated deductions, the Board
may choose not to pay the deductions in the first instance. The Board may
require certification from the employer that these events are not
intended.
(c)
Payment of
annuities. Payment of annuities shall include tax information required
by the Internal Revenue Code.
(d)
Miscellaneous duties. Miscellaneous duties include the
following:
(1) If a member dies in service
and is eligible for a death benefit, the Board will, within 60 days after
receipt of the necessary data and death certificate, pay the death benefit to
the designated beneficiary or survivor annuitant, as the case may be.
(2) If the Board receives notification from
an insurance carrier approved by the Board that an annuitant has elected
appropriate hospitalization insurance coverage, the Board will deduct from the
annuity payments the appropriate monthly installment and forward the deduction
to the particular insurance carrier at times as the Board and carrier mutually
agree.
(3) In cases of doubt, the
Board will determine whether any person is a school employee within the meaning
of the Retirement Code. The Board will also determine whether a person is an
independent contractor or a person compensated on a fee basis upon review of
all the circumstances surrounding the employment of the person seeking
membership in the program.
(e)
Retirement Code
reference: Section 8505 of the Retirement Code.