A.  Eligibility for disability benefits, procedures for application for disability benefits, procedures for the certification of continuing eligibility for disability benefits, the authority of the board of trustees to modify disability benefits, and procedures governing the restoration to active service of an employee who formerly had a disability are specifically provided for in Subpart E of Part II of Chapter 4 of Subtitle I of this Title.

B.  The board of trustees shall award disability benefits to eligible members who have been officially certified as having a disability by the State Medical Disability Board.  The disability benefit shall be determined as follows:

(1)  Upon retirement for disability, a member shall receive a retirement allowance if eligible therefor; otherwise, he shall receive a disability benefit which shall be the product of the retirement accrual rate as determined pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 11:2072 multiplied by the member’s average compensation further multiplied by service as determined to be the lesser of:

(a)  Creditable service earned by the date of the disability application, but totaling not less than fifteen years.

(b)  Projected continued service to age sixty-two.

(2)  In no case shall the disability benefit provided herein exceed two-thirds of earnable compensation.

(3)  Any amount received as a compensable wage or a lump sum settlement under the provisions of the workers’ compensation laws shall be applied as an offset against benefits received under the provisions of this Subsection, pursuant to rules prescribed by the board.  The board shall have complete discretion and the authority to determine the extent and application of the provisions of this Subsection.

(4)  A member who qualifies for disability retirement benefits may select an Option 2 or 3 as specified in La. Rev. Stat. 11:2076 with his spouse as beneficiary.  Such option factors shall be the same as those utilized for regular retirement and shall be based on the age that the member and spouse would have attained had the member survived, continued in service, and then retired on the earliest normal retirement date.

Acts 2012, No. 719, §1, eff. June 30, 2012; Acts 2014, No. 811, §4, eff. June 23, 2014.

NOTE:  Acts 2014, No. 811 changed terminology referring to persons with disabilities throughout the La. Revised Statutes and codes of law, and included a listing of terms that were deleted and their respective successor terms (See Acts 2014, No. 811, §36). The Act provides that it is not the intent of the legislature that changes in terminology effected therein alter or affect in any way the substance, interpretation, or application of any law or administrative rule; further provides that nothing in the Act shall be construed to expand or diminish any right of or benefit for any person provided by any law or administrative rule (See Acts 2014, No. 811, §35(C) and (D)).