N.Y. Retirement and Social Security Law 509 – Accidental death benefits
§ 509. Accidental death benefits. a. The eligible beneficiary of a member in service, or a vested member that dies as a result of a qualifying World Trade Center condition as defined in section two of this chapter, shall be entitled to an accidental death benefit in the form of a pension equal to fifty percent of such member's final average salary if, upon application filed within five years after the death of the member, the head of the retirement system determines that such member:
Terms Used In N.Y. Retirement and Social Security Law 509
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- eligible beneficiary: shall mean such person as the member shall have nominated to receive the benefits provided in this article. See N.Y. Retirement and Social Security Law 501
- Head of the retirement system: shall mean the comptroller, with respect to the state employees' retirement system and the state and local police and fire retirement system, and the retirement board of the other public retirement systems of the state. See N.Y. Retirement and Social Security Law 501
- In service: shall mean any period during which a member is on the payroll of a public employer, in the service upon which membership is based, and any period during which the member was not on the payroll if he or she; (a) was on the payroll and paid within the previous twelve months, (b) had not been gainfully employed since ceasing to be on such payroll, (c) had credit for at least one year of continuous service since last entering or reentering the service of the public employer and (d) was not eligible for or receiving a service retirement or disability benefit. See N.Y. Retirement and Social Security Law 501
- Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
- Member: shall mean any person included in the membership of a public retirement system of this state as provided in section five hundred of this article. See N.Y. Retirement and Social Security Law 501
1. Died before the effective date of retirement, as the natural and proximate result of an accident sustained in the performance of duty in the service upon which membership was based, and
2. Did not cause such accident by his or her own willful negligence.
Notwithstanding the provisions of section two hundred forty-two, two hundred forty-three or two hundred forty-four of the military law or the provisions of any other law to the contrary and solely for the purpose of determining eligibility for an accidental death benefit, a member shall be considered to have died as the natural and proximate result of an accident sustained in the performance of duty provided such member was on the payroll in the service upon which membership is based at the time he or she was ordered to active duty pursuant to Title 10 of the United States Code, with the armed forces of the United States or to service in the uniformed services pursuant to Chapter 43 of Title 38 of the United States Code and died while on such active duty or service in the uniformed services on or after June fourteenth, two thousand five.
b. If an eligible beneficiary receiving the accidental death benefit hereunder becomes ineligible to continue to receive such benefit, the benefit shall be continued for all other members of the eligible class of beneficiaries and, if none, to each successive class, if any, during their eligibility therefor.
c. If the aggregate benefits under the provisions of this section have not exceeded the amount of the ordinary lump sum death benefit because of the absence of eligible beneficiaries or because those beneficiaries formerly eligible are no longer eligible for payments pursuant to section five hundred one, then the difference between the amounts, if any, paid under this section and the amount of the ordinary lump sum death benefit shall be paid to:
1. The last eligible beneficiary or beneficiaries, if surviving, who were receiving pension payments hereunder or, if none
2. The distributees of the member, if there were no eligible beneficiaries at the member's death, or the persons who would be distributees of the member had he died intestate on the date that the last eligible beneficiary died or became ineligible.