(a)  Application for ordinary disability may be made by a teacher, his or her department head, or a person acting in the teacher’s behalf, while in active service or on leave of absence for illness, provided that the teacher has had five (5) or more years of total service of which at least three (3) consecutive years shall have been as a teacher, and the teacher is not entitled to a regular service retirement allowance. A statement from a physician shall accompany the application stating that the teacher is physically or mentally incapacitated for the performance of duty and that he or she should be retired.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-14

  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • Service: means service as a teacher as described in subdivision (12) of this section. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1
  • Teacher: means a person required to hold a certificate of qualification issued by or under the authority of the board of regents for elementary and secondary education and who is engaged in teaching as his or her principal occupation and is regularly employed as a teacher in the public schools of any city or town in the state, or any formalized, commissioner approved, cooperative service arrangement. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1
  • Total service: means prior service as defined in subdivision (6) of this section, plus service rendered as a member of the system on or after the first day of July, 1949. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1

(b)  A medical examination of the teacher shall be made by three (3) physicians engaged by the retirement board for this purpose, and should the medical examination show that the teacher is physically or mentally incapacitated for the performance of duty and ought to be retired, the physicians shall so report and certify to the retirement board and the retirement board, may retire the teacher for ordinary disability.

(c)  The retirement board shall establish uniform eligibility requirements, standards, and criteria for ordinary disability which shall apply to all members who make application for retirement for ordinary disability.

History of Section.
P.L. 1992, ch. 306, art. 2, § 4.