(a) When the board finds, based on medical advice, that a member in county service is incapacitated for the performance of the member’s duties, the board shall determine, based upon that medical advice, whether the member may be capable of performing other duties. If the board determines that a member, although incapacitated for the performance of the member’s duties, is capable of performing other duties, the board shall notify the appropriate agency in county service of its findings.

(b) When the appropriate agency in county service receives that notification from the board, the agency shall immediately inform the member of any vacant county positions that may be suitable for the member, consistent with his or her disability, and shall consult with the member in an effort to develop a reemployment plan that shall identify what position, if any, in county service would be compatible with the member’s aptitudes, interests, and abilities.

(c) Upon approval by the member of the reemployment plan, the appropriate agency in county service shall notify the board that the agency is proceeding to implement the approved reemployment plan.

(d) Upon commencement of service by the member in the position specified in the approved reemployment plan, the member shall not be paid the disability retirement allowance to which the member would otherwise be entitled during the entire period that the member remains in county service. However, if the compensation rate of the position specified in the approved reemployment plan is less than the compensation rate of the position for which the member was incapacitated, the board shall, in lieu of the disability retirement allowance, pay to the member a supplemental disability allowance in an amount equal to the difference between the compensation rate of the position for which the member was incapacitated, applicable on the date of the commencement of service by the member in the position specified in the approved reemployment plan, and the compensation rate of the position specified in the plan, applicable on the same date. The supplemental disability allowance shall be adjusted annually to equal the difference between the current compensation rate of the position for which the member was incapacitated and the current compensation of the position specified in the approved reemployment plan. The supplemental disability allowance payments shall commence upon suspension of the disability retirement allowance and the amount of the payments shall not be greater than the disability retirement allowance to which the member would otherwise be entitled. Supplemental disability allowance payments made pursuant to this section shall be considered as a charge against the county advance reserve for current service, and all of these payments received by a member shall be considered as a part of the member’s compensation within the meaning of Section 31460.

(e) From the time that the member is eligible to receive a disability retirement allowance until the appropriate agency is able to provide the position in county service specified in the approved reemployment plan, and the member has commenced service in that position, the disability retirement allowance to which the member is entitled under this article shall be paid. Upon commencement of service by the member in the position specified in the approved reemployment plan, the period during which the member was receiving disability retirement payments shall not be considered as breaking the continuity of the member’s service, and the rate of the member’s contributions shall continue to be based on the same age at entrance into the retirement system on which the member’s rates were based prior to the date of the member’s disability. The member’s accumulated contributions shall not be reduced as a result of the member receiving the disability retirement payments, but shall be increased by the amount of interest that would have accrued had the member not been retired.

(f) Notwithstanding Section 31560, a member whose principal duties, while serving in the position for which the member was incapacitated, consisted of activities defined in Section 31469.3 shall, upon commencement of service by the member in the position specified in the approved reemployment plan, continue to be considered as satisfying the requirements of Section 31560, notwithstanding the actual duties performed during the entire period that the member remains in county service.

(g) This section shall apply only to members who are incapacitated for the performance of the member’s duties on or after January 1, 2004, and who are eligible to retire for service-connected disability.

(Amended by Stats. 2005, Ch. 22, Sec. 90. Effective January 1, 2006.)