§1758. Disability retirement

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 described and provided for in R.S. 11:201 through 224.

B. Once each year during the first five years following retirement of a member on a disability retirement allowance, and once in every three-year period thereafter, the board may require any disability beneficiary who has not yet attained the equivalent age of regular retirement to undergo a medical examination, at the beneficiary's expense, such examination to be made at the place of residence of said beneficiary if he is immovable or other place mutually agreed upon, by a physician on the State Medical Disability Board or a board designated specialist. The examining physician shall submit a report to the board of trustees recommending either the continuation or cessation of the beneficiary's disability status. A contested decision shall be appealed under the procedures described in R.S. 11:218.

C. Should the medical board report and certify to the board of trustees that such disability beneficiary is engaged in or is able to engage in a gainful occupation paying more than the difference between his retirement allowance and his final compensation, and should the board of trustees concur in such report, then the amount of his benefit shall be reduced to an amount which, together with the amount earnable by him shall equal the amount of his final compensation. Should his earning capacity be later changed, the amount of his benefit may be further modified; provided, that the new benefit shall not exceed the amount of the benefit originally granted. A beneficiary restored to active service at a salary less than the final compensation shall not become a member of the system.

D. Should a disability beneficiary under normal retirement age be restored to service at a compensation not less than his final compensation, his retirement allowance shall cease, he shall again become a member, and he shall contribute thereafter at the rate then in effect. Any such service certificate on the basis of which his service was computed at the time of his retirement shall be restored to full force and effect, and upon his subsequent retirement he shall be credited with all additional service, but should he be restored to active service on or after attainment of the age of fifty years, his benefit upon subsequent retirement shall not exceed the sum of the benefit which he was receiving immediately prior to his last restoration and the benefit that he would have received on account of his service since his last restoration had he entered service at that time as a new entrant.

E. A disability retirement allowance shall be modified by the board of trustees when the sum of (1) a whole life annuity equivalent of the benefits or financial awards which accrue to a disability retiree solely as the result of his disability and (2) the disability pension to which the retiree is entitled exceeds the amount of his average final compensation, in such a manner that the sum of the above equals the amount of average final compensation. Should these outside benefits or awards be reduced, exhausted, or terminated, the board of trustees may increase the disability pension then being received by a retiree so that the sum of the pension benefits and the outside benefits equals the amount of average final compensation; but, in no case shall the disability pension be increased to an amount greater than that to which the beneficiary was originally entitled when he retired. Individual private insurance settlements and separate private retirement accounts and any other similar private resources shall be specifically exempted from consideration in any of the above computations.

F. Should the medical board determine, and the board of trustees concur, that any disability beneficiary no longer has a disability, or should any disability beneficiary who has not attained normal retirement age refuse to submit to at least one medical examination in any one year, such disability beneficiary shall forfeit all rights to his benefits which shall be revoked by the board of trustees.

Acts 1978, No. 788, §1; Redesignated from R.S. 33:7197 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §3, eff. June 25, 1991; 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)).