PRINTER'S NO. 2599
No. 1988 Session of 1989
INTRODUCED BY DEMPSEY, ALLEN, PESCI, TIGUE, BILLOW, BUNT,
DISTLER, DOMBROWSKI, BUSH, HESS, COHEN, LASHINGER, RAYMOND,
JOHNSON, VROON, MICHLOVIC AND BELARDI, OCTOBER 16, 1989
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON URBAN AFFAIRS, OCTOBER 16, 1989
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of June 23, 1931 (P.L.932, No.317), entitled
2 "An act relating to cities of the third class; and amending,
3 revising, and consolidating the law relating thereto,"
4 further providing for pension funds for employees who are not
5 public safety employees.
6 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
7 hereby enacts as follows:
8 Section 1. Section 4342 of the act of June 23, 1931
9 (P.L.932, No.317), known as The Third Class City Code, reenacted
10 and amended June 28, 1951 (P.L.662, No.164), is amended to read:
11 Section 4342. Retirement Age.--Every person, now or
12 hereafter employed by any city which has created such pension
13 fund and pension board as hereinbefore provided, of the age of
14 sixty years, and upwards, who shall have been so employed for a
15 period of [twenty years or] more than twelve years, shall, upon
16 application to the board of pensions herein created, be retired
17 from service and shall, during the remainder of his or her life,
18 receive the pension or compensation fixed by this act, subject
19 to such qualifications as are herein contained.
1 Section 2. Sections 4343 and 4344 of the act, amended
2 October 4, 1978 (P.L.950, No.188), are amended to read:
3 Section 4343. Retirement Allowance; Proof of Disability;
4 Joint and Single Coverage Members Defined.--During the lifetime
5 of any person in the employment of any city creating such
6 pension fund and pension board as hereinbefore provided, he or
7 she shall be entitled to receive as a pension annually, from the
8 fund set aside for the purpose, fifty per centum of the amount
9 which would constitute the average annual salary or wages which
10 he or she received during the last or any five years of his or
11 her employment by the said city, whichever is the higher,
12 subject to annual cost-of-living increases determined by the
13 board, said pension to be paid in semi-monthly payments. Should
14 any persons so employed, after twenty years of service, be
15 dismissed, voluntarily retired, or be in any manner deprived of
16 his or her position or employment, before attaining the age of
17 sixty years, upon continuing a monthly payment to the fund equal
18 to the last amount due and paid monthly while in active service,
19 said person shall be entitled to the pension above-mentioned,
20 notwithstanding he or she has not attained the age of sixty
21 years at the time of his or her separation from the service of
22 such city, but said pension shall not commence until he or she
23 has attained the age of sixty years. Should any employe,
24 however, become totally and permanently disabled, after ten
25 years of service and before attaining the age of sixty years, he
26 or she shall be entitled to the said pension. Proof of total and
27 permanent disability shall consist of the sworn statement of
28 three practicing physicians, designated by the board, that the
29 employe is in a permanent condition of health which would
30 permanently disable him or her from performing the duties of his
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1 or her position or office.
2 For the purpose of this article on pensions, the following
3 words shall have the meaning herein assigned to them:
4 "Joint Coverage Member" of the retirement system shall mean a
5 city employe who shall have become a member of the retirement
6 system subsequent to the last date permitted by such city for
7 statement or preference concerning social security coverage, or
8 who, having become a member on or before such date, shall have
9 filed with the Retirement Board a written statement that he or
10 she elects social security coverage under an agreement with the
11 Federal Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare entered into
12 by the Commonwealth.
13 "Single Coverage Member" of the retirement system shall mean
14 a city employe who shall have become a member of the retirement
15 system on or before the last date permitted by such city for
16 statement of preference concerning social security coverage and
17 who either shall have filed with the Retirement Board a written
18 statement that he or she does not elect social security coverage
19 under any agreement with the Federal Secretary of Health,
20 Education and Welfare entered into by the Commonwealth, or shall
21 not have filed with the Retirement Board any written statement.
22 Where a city has entered into an agreement with the
23 Commonwealth to place certain employes under the Federal Social
24 Security Act, the pension to be paid joint coverage members
25 according to the provisions of this section payable after the
26 age and upon that portion of annual compensation on which social
27 security benefits are payable, shall be reduced by an amount
28 equal to forty (40) per centum of the primary insurance amount
29 of social security paid or payable to the member. Such reduction
30 shall be subject to the following provisions:
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1 (1) Upon attainment of the age at which social security
2 benefits are payable by a beneficiary receiving a pension or
3 upon retirement of a contributor after attaining that age, his
4 eligibility to the old age insurance benefit and the primary
5 insurance amount of social security upon which the reduction in
6 the pension shall be based, shall be computed by the board in
7 the manner specified in the Federal Social Security Act, except
8 that in determining such eligibility and such amount only wages
9 or compensation for services performed in the employ of the city
10 shall be included.
11 (2) The reduction shall not apply to a pension for total and
12 permanent disability payable under this section.
13 (3) Whenever the amount of the reduction from the pension
14 shall have been once determined, it shall remain fixed for the
15 duration of the pension, except that any decrease in the primary
16 insurance amount under the Social Security Act shall result in a
17 corresponding decrease in the amount of the reduction from the
18 pension.
19 (4) The total sum, including social security benefits, to be
20 received upon retirement by an employe who is a member of the
21 system at the time of the agreement shall not be less than the
22 allowance that would be paid by the retirement system in the
23 absence of the agreement.
24 If council elects, by ordinance, to make such payments, the
25 surviving spouse of an employe who retired on pension or is
26 killed in the service on or after January 1, 1960, shall, during
27 his lifetime or so long as he does not remarry, be entitled to
28 receive a pension calculated at the rate of fifty per centum of
29 the pension the member was receiving or would have been entitled
30 to had he been retired at the time of his death.
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1 Section 4344. Amount of Payments into Fund; Repayment before
2 Retirement.--The employes of any city, creating such pension
3 fund and pension board, shall pay into the board of pensions
4 monthly an amount equal to two per centum of their monthly
5 salaries or wages, and if council elects, by ordinance, to make
6 such payments, an additional amount not to exceed one per centum
7 if deemed necessary by council to provide sufficient funds for
8 payments to the surviving spouses of members who were retired on
9 pension or killed in the service, which shall be applied to the
10 purposes of the fund. Payment of the monthly amount or
11 contribution herein mentioned shall cease and be discontinued at
12 the time the beneficiary receives the pension herein provided.
13 If for any cause any employe contributing to the pension fund
14 shall cease to be an employe of the city before the said employe
15 becomes entitled to a pension, the total amount of the
16 contributions paid into the pension fund by such employe shall
17 be refunded to him or her in full, [without interest] with
18 interest at the rate of three per centum annually. If any such
19 employe shall have returned to him or her the amount contributed
20 as aforesaid, and shall afterward reenter the employ of the
21 city, said employe shall not be entitled to the pension
22 designated until twenty years after said reemployment, unless he
23 or she shall return to the pension fund the amount withdrawn, in
24 which event that period of twenty years shall be computed from
25 the time said employe first enters the service of the city. In
26 the event of the death of any such employe, before the said
27 employe becomes entitled to the pension aforesaid, the said
28 total amount of contributions paid into the pension fund by said
29 employe shall be paid over to the estate of said deceased
30 employe.
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1 Section 3. (a) Section 1 (section 4342) shall apply to
2 individuals who retire on or after the effective date of this
3 act.
4 (b) Section 2 (section 4344) shall apply to individuals who
5 cease employment on or after the effective date of this act.
6 Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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