§3410. Pensions and benefits

Pensions and benefits shall be as follows:

(1) Any employee of Fire Protection District No. One, while in active service and an active member of the Ouachita Parish Firemen's Pension and Relief Fund, shall earn benefits of two percent for each year of service up to and including twenty years. However, beginning in his twenty-first year, he shall earn benefits of three percent for each year of service between twenty years and including his thirtieth year. No member of said pension fund shall receive a sum greater than seventy percent of his salary, regardless of the number of years of service.

(2) If any employee of Fire Protection District No. One, while in the active service of said fire protection district, is found by the board of trustees to be totally physically or mentally disabled for service in said fire protection district by reason of service in said fire protection district, he shall receive a benefit monthly from the fund so long as such disability shall continue or until he becomes eligible for retirement on service basis, whichever is sooner. He shall receive a sum which shall be equal to forty percent of the average salary earned by him during his five highest paid years of service, unless, however, he had served in said district for more than twenty years, in which case he shall receive benefits in accordance with Paragraph (1) of this Section.

(3) If any employee of said fire protection district, while in the active service, is found by the board of trustees to be totally physically or mentally disabled for service in said fire protection district by reason of injury occurring while in gainful employ of some person or firm, he shall receive monthly from the fund so long as such disability shall continue, a sum of not less than two hundred dollars a month; provided however, if said member has earned enough time at two percent per year to receive more than two hundred dollars per month, he shall be paid in accordance with Paragraph (1) of this Section.

(4) Any employee of said fire protection district who served in said district for a period of twenty years, upon making proper written application to the board of trustees requesting it, shall be retired from service in said fire protection district. But he shall not be eligible to receive any benefits for five years, after the date of retirement, at which time he shall be paid a monthly sum equal to forty percent of the average monthly salary earned by him during the three highest paid years since such member has been in the active service of the fire protection district or three hundred dollars per month, whichever is greater. As an incentive to encourage an employee to continue to work after he has completed twenty years of service, Fire Protection District No. One is hereby authorized to increase such employee's pay twenty-five dollars per month each year for as long as he continues to work for Fire Protection District No. One. No employee shall be compelled by the board of trustees to retire from active service in Fire Protection District No. One because of age, length of service, physical disability, or infirmity. It is the intent of this Part that no employee may receive any benefits, except in case of disability, until twenty-five years after his first date of employment has passed.

(5) After any employee of Fire Protection District No. One shall have been retired upon pension by reason of disability, the board of trustees shall have the right at any time to cause the employee with a disability to be brought before it and again examined by the parish physician and/or other competent physicians and surgeons, to be selected by it, and also to examine other witnesses for the purpose of discovering whether the disability to perform the duties of the position held at the time of his removal from active service yet continues, and whether the retired member should be continued on the disability roll, but the employee with a disability shall remain upon the disability roll until reinstated in the active service of the fire protection district. The member with a disability shall be entitled to notice and to be present at the hearing of any evidence, and shall be permitted to propound any questions pertinent or relevant to the matter, and also shall 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. The decision of the board of trustees shall be final and conclusive, and no appeal shall be allowed therefrom, nor shall the same be subject to review except by the board of trustees or upon proper application to the courts.

(6) Should any active or retired member die, his widow, as defined in Paragraph (7) of this Section, shall receive the sum of three hundred dollars per month during the period of her widowhood; should there be no widow, or should his widow subsequently die, and there are lawful surviving children under eighteen years of age and not married, then they shall receive the sum of three hundred dollars per month, to be divided between them equally, for their support or education until the youngest child reaches eighteen years of age. Any widow receiving benefits under this Part who remarries shall forfeit all rights and benefits whatsoever from date of remarriage. Any child receiving benefits under this Part who marries shall forfeit all rights and benefits from the date of marriage.

(7) In payment of benefits to widows, the term "widow" shall mean the lawfully married spouse of any member from whom there has not been obtained a judicial separation of bed and board or divorce at the time of the member's death. Should any member marry after taking retirement or disability benefits, then this fund shall not be responsible for any benefits whatsoever to such widow.

(8) If any active member having no wife nor eligible children under eighteen years of age, he shall have the privilege of naming a beneficiary. Upon the death of said member, the board of trustees shall pay to the beneficiary an amount equal to the amount paid into the fund by the member, excluding all interest accumulated from said amount. If no beneficiary is named, the board of trustees is directed to defray the burial expense of the deceased, with a sum equal to the amount paid into the fund by the member, said amount not to exceed one thousand dollars.

(9) The benefits provided in this Part for minor children shall be paid to the qualified tutor or tutrix of said child, unless otherwise directed by the board.

(10) No employee of the fire protection district shall be paid any benefits whatever for any disability or retirement while he is receiving salary or wages from Fire Protection District No. One.

Designated from Acts 1968, No. 31, §11 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)).