§3166. Pensions and benefits

A. The board of trustees shall be required to allot disability payments, retirements and death benefits to all members of the fire department who are eligible for participation in the benefits of this fund while in the service of the department who, upon examination, are found to have a permanent physical or mental disability, the board of trustees shall be required to retire the member with a disability from the fire department, the examination to be made by the city physician; provided that should the member or his legal representative or the board of trustees be dissatisfied with the findings of the city physician, the dissatisfied party shall select a doctor of his or its own choice and the doctor so selected, together with the city physician, shall select a third doctor, the three doctors so selected shall constitute a board of arbitration and their findings shall be final and binding upon all parties; provided, further, that upon the retirement, the board of trustees shall order the payment of the members with disabilities of the fire department monthly from the Pension and Relief Fund, a sum equal to two-thirds of the monthly compensation paid to the member or members as salary when total disability occurs.

B. After any member of said Fire Department shall have been retired upon pension by reason of disability, the said Board of Trustees shall have the right at any time to cause the retired member to be examined by any competent physician to be selected by it and also to examine other witnesses for the purpose of discovering whether such disability to perform the duties of the position held at the time of his removal from active service yet continues, and whether such retired member should be continued on the pension roll, but such retired member shall remain upon the pension roll until final action in the matter. Such retired member shall be entitled to notice, and to be present at the hearing of any such evidence, shall be entitled to counsel, shall be permitted to propound any question pertinent to such matters, and shall also have the right to introduce upon his own behalf any competent evidence he may see fit. All witnesses so produced shall be examined under oath, and any member of said Board of Trustees is hereby authorized to administer such oath. The decision of said Board of Trustees shall be final and no appeal shall be allowed therefrom, nor shall the same be subject to review, except by said Board of Trustees or the courts.

C. Any member of the Fire Department who is eligible for participation in the benefits of this Fund who shall have served twenty years, whether continuously or not, shall upon making written application to the Board of Trustees, be retired from the service in said Fire Department and shall be paid a monthly sum equal to one half the average monthly salary such applicant received over the twelve months period immediately preceding the date of such application; provided, however, that any member of the Fire Department who shall not have been a member prior to September 1, 1942, or any member who shall become a member of the Fire Department after July 31, 1946 shall not be eligible for participation in the benefits of this Fund until said member shall have served thirty years and then upon written application shall be retired from service and shall be paid a monthly sum equal to one half the average monthly salary such applicant received over a twelve month period immediately preceding the date of such application.

D. For each year any member of the Fire Department remains in said Department past the date upon which said member could have been eligible for participation in the benefits of said Fund had he made application for the benefits thereof, he shall upon written application be retired from service and shall be paid, in addition to the benefits provided in Subsection (C) hereof, a monthly sum equal to one per centum the average monthly salary such applicant received over a twelve month period immediately preceding the date of such application; provided, however, the additional benefits allowed in this subsection shall in no case exceed ten per centum.

E.(1) If any member of said Fire Department shall, while in the service of said Department, or while receiving a pension or disability benefits provided by this Part, be killed or die as a result of injuries or any disease, or shall die from natural causes and shall leave a widow or shall leave a child or children under the age of eighteen years surviving, said Board of Trustees shall direct the payment from said Pension and Relief Fund monthly to such widow, while unmarried, of forty-five dollars, and for each child until it reaches the age of eighteen years, or an invalid child, regardless of age, ten dollars; should he leave no widow or child but parent dependent upon him for support, the said Board shall pay them, or either of them the sum of thirty dollars, monthly as long as he or she remains unmarried; provided, however, that in order for the widow to be entitled to any of the benefits of this Part, she must have been married to and living with such member at the time of his death and in the event such member was drawing a pension or disability benefit as provided herein prior to his death, the said widow must not only have been married to and living with said member at the time of his death, but also at the time he drew his first pension and/or disability benefit payment.

(2) Provided also that in order for a child to be entitled to any of the benefits of this Part, such child must be a child born of a marriage of such member and born prior to or within nine months after the death of such member and in the event such member was drawing a pension or disability benefits as provided herein prior to his death, then such child must not only be the child born of a marriage of such member, but must have been born prior to or within nine months after the date that such member drew his first pension and/or disability benefit payment as herein provided.

(3) While in the service, shall mean any member of the Fire Department employed as such.

(4) In the event that any member of said Department shall be called to or join the Armed Services of the United States Government while the United States is actually engaged in war with some foreign enemy, such member will, upon his return, be given his seniority and the time he served in said Armed Services will be added or counted as time served in the Department for the purpose of determining pension benefits as provided herein, provided that in no event shall the time so added or counted be for a longer period of time than from the date such member entered the Armed Services to the end of said war and service during peace-time shall not be added or counted. Should such member become mentally or physically permanently disabled while engaged in the Armed Services of the United States Government, as hereinabove set forth, such member will be entitled to the disability benefits herein provided only to the extent that he will be paid from the Pension and Relief Fund an amount sufficient when added or any pension or amount paid him by the United States Government to equal the amount which he would otherwise receive under the provisions of this Part and to receive such benefits the member must present to the Board such evidence as the Board may require as to whether or not and, if so, how much such member is receiving from the United States Government. In the event such member dies while in the Armed Services of the United States Government and while the United States is actually engaged in war, as hereinabove set forth, then, and in that event, his widow, child or children and/or widowed mother will be entitled to the benefits provided in this Part.

Designated from Acts 1946, No. 299, §6 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §3, eff. June 25, 1991; Acts 2004, No. 26, §6; 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)).