2006 New York Code - Vested Retirement Rights.

 
    § 13-173 Vested retirement rights. a. Any member who:
    (1) discontinues city-service on or after July first, nineteen hundred
  sixty-eight, other than by death, retirement or dismissal; and
    (2) is a fifty-five-year-increased-service-fraction member at the time
  of such discontinuance; and
    (3)  prior  to  such discontinuance, completed five years of allowable
  service; and
    (4) does not withdraw his or her accumulated deductions in whole or in
  part;
    shall have a vested right to receive a deferred  retirement  allowance
  as provided in this section.
    b.  (1)  Such  deferred  retirement allowance shall vest automatically
  upon such discontinuance.
    (2) Such retirement allowance shall become  payable  on  the  date  on
  which such discontinued member shall attain the age of fifty-five years,
  provided  he  or  she  files with the board, within the period of ninety
  days ending on such date, a duly executed application for such payment.
    (3) If a discontinued member shall,  at  any  time  after  he  or  she
  attains the age of fifty-five years, file with the board a duly executed
  application  for  payment  of such retirement allowance, it shall become
  payable upon the filing of such application.
    c. (1) Except as otherwise provided in paragraphs  two  and  three  of
  this   subdivision  c,  such  deferred  retirement  allowance  shall  be
  determined in accordance with the provisions of section 13-172  of  this
  chapter      governing     the     retirement     allowance     of     a
  fifty-five-year-increased-service-fraction member, in the same manner as
  if such discontinued member had retired for service on the date on which
  he or she attained the age of fifty-five years, or on the date on  which
  he  or  she  filed  an  application for payment of his or her retirement
  allowance pursuant to subdivision b of this section, whichever is later.
    (2) Subject to the provisions of paragraph three of subdivision  e  of
  section  13-638.4  of  this  title,  the  pension  of  such member under
  paragraph seven of subdivision a of section 13-172 of this chapter shall
  be computed on the basis of his or her  annual  salary  or  compensation
  earnable  by him or her for city-service in the year prior to his or her
  discontinuance  of  city-service,  except  as  otherwise   provided   in
  paragraph three of this subdivision c.
    (3)  Such  pension  shall  be  computed  on  the  basis  of his or her
  three-year-average compensation, if he or she shall so elect pursuant to
  subdivision fifty-eight of section 13-101 of this chapter.
    d. Regular interest on the accumulated deductions  of  a  discontinued
  member  and  on  his or her reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay shall be
  credited after discontinuance of city-service at the rate which would be
  applicable if he or she had not discontinued service.
    e.  If  a  discontinued  member  dies  before  attaining  the  age  of
  fifty-five years, his or her accumulated deductions shall be paid (1) to
  the  beneficiary  designated by him or her pursuant to section 13-148 of
  this chapter to receive his or her accumulated deductions in  the  event
  that  such  deductions become payable under such section, or (2) if such
  member has made no such designation, to his or her estate.
    f. A discontinued member may elect any option under section 13-177  of
  this chapter at any time prior to the first payment on account of his or
  her retirement allowance under this section.
    g.  Withdrawal  of  accumulated deductions, in whole or in part, after
  discontinuance of city-service, shall terminate the right to a  deferred
  retirement allowance under this section.
    h.  (1)  If  a  discontinued  member  who has not withdrawn his or her
  accumulated deductions in whole or in part shall  subsequently  re-enter


  city-service  before  attaining  the  age of fifty-five years, he or she
  shall be entitled to the service credit and status to which  he  or  she
  was   entitled  immediately  prior  to  his  or  her  discontinuance  of
  city-service  and  shall be credited with regular interest on his or her
  accumulated        deductions        and        his        or        her
  reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay from the time of such discontinuance
  to the time of his or her re-entry into service, at the rate which would
  have been applicable if he or she had not discontinued service.
    (2)  If  a  discontinued  member  who  has  not  withdrawn  his or her
  accumulated deductions in whole or in part shall subsequently and on  or
  after  the  date on which he or she attains the age of fifty-five years,
  re-enter city-service, his or her rights, privileges and benefits  shall
  be as provided for in section 13-178 of this chapter.
    i.  Notwithstanding  any other provision of law, a discontinued member
  with ten or more years of credited service in the retirement system  who
  dies  before  a  retirement benefit becomes payable and who is otherwise
  not entitled to a death benefit from  the  retirement  system  shall  be
  deemed  to  have died on the last day that he or she was in service upon
  which his or her membership was based for purposes  of  eligibility  for
  the  payment  of  a  death benefit pursuant to the provisions of section
  13-148 of this title. The death benefit payable in such  case  shall  be
  one-half  of  that which would have been payable had such member died on
  the last day that service was rendered.