[Adopted as Ch. 16 of the Code of the Town
of Fairfield 1968]
[Amended 1-25-1971]
For the purposes of this article, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to
them by this section:
The highest regular salary or wage paid to the member in
the Town's fiscal year, not including overtime pay, bonuses, allowances,
grants or other similar benefits.
[Amended 4-27-1987]
The Employees' Retirement Board.
Service during which time an employee was not absent from
the payroll of the Town for longer than one month at any one time,
except on recommendation of the chief executive, or in the case of
an employee of the Board of Education, on recommendation of the Superintendent
of Schools. Absence on account of service in the Armed Forces of the
United States in time of war or under any universal military training
law of the United States or any state, territory or district thereof
shall not be regarded as an interruption of continuous service, provided
that the employee returns to the service of the Town within one year
after the termination of his active military service.
A member shall be unable to continue any employment for the
Town.
[1]An employee of the Town who works at least 20 hours per week
in positions not seasonal or temporary.
All full-time employees of the Town and the Board of Education,
except:
[Amended 4-27-1987; 10-26-2015]
Effective January 1, 1971, the fixed amount of $7,800.
[Amended 4-27-1987]
[1]
Editor's Note: The definition of “final
average salary,” which immediately followed this definition,
was repealed 4-27-1987.
The Town hereby establishes an employee retirement
system for the benefit of such full-time Town employees as hereinafter
defined. The system shall be administered by the Employees' Retirement
Board, and it shall provide such benefits under the terms and conditions
hereinafter more specifically set forth.
[Amended 4-27-1987; 10-26-2015]
A.
Any
full-time employee of the Town on March 15, 1966, could have become
a member of the retirement system by filing written application with
the Employees' Retirement Board by April 14, 1966.
B.
Any
person who becomes a full-time employee after March 15, 1966, and
before November 1, 2015, shall become a member of the retirement system
if he qualifies in accordance with the rules and regulations of the
Retirement Board.
C.
All employees of the Town or Board of Education hired on or after
November 1, 2015, shall participate in a retirement savings plan,
such as a 401(a) type pension plan, with no eligibility or vesting
rights in the Town's existing retirement system, unless the person
is a full-time employee who is a member of a collective bargaining
unit and the collective bargaining agreement in effect and covering
such person provides that such person is eligible to participate in
the retirement system.
The fund of the retirement system shall consist
of the following:
A.
The Town shall be liable to the Employees' Retirement
Board for a sum sufficient to cover the cost of paying future benefits
to members for services rendered by them prior to July 1, 1966. Such
sum, to be determined by the Employees' Retirement Board on sound
actuarial principles, shall be paid by the Town in equal annual installments
over a period of 30 years. In addition, the Town shall pay to the
Employees' Retirement Board such amounts as may be determined by the
Board on an annual basis which shall be needed to provide future pensions
on account of service by employees subsequent to July 1, 1966.
B.
The rate of contribution by a member of the system
shall be a percentage of the member's annual base salary as determined
by the rules and regulations of the Retirement Board. Such contribution
shall be deducted from his salary or wage and forthwith paid over
to the Employees' Retirement Board.
[Amended 4-27-1987]
[Amended 4-27-1987]
In the event of a termination of employment
with the Town before retirement, the Employees' Retirement Board shall
pay over to the member or his legal representative an amount equal
to his contribution, together with interest on that sum as determined
by the Board. If the employee has been a member of the retirement
system for the required number of years in accordance with the rules
and regulations of the Retirement Board, he may elect to leave his
contributions in the fund and receive deferred retirement proceeds
under the appropriate option.
[Amended 4-27-1987]
The Employees' Retirement Board shall pay to
each member who qualifies under the rules and regulations of the Retirement
Board an amount determined by the rules and regulations of the Retirement
Board.
A.
The Employees' Retirement Board shall pay to a member
who has been retired due to a disability received solely and exclusively
as a result of an accident or injury incurred during the course of
his employment a benefit during the term of such disability which,
together with any awards or payments received under the provision
of the Workers' Compensation Act,[1] shall equal 50% of the member's annual base salary at
the time of such injury.
[Amended 4-27-1987]
[1]
Editor's Note: See C.G.S. § 31-275
et seq.
B.
The Employees' Retirement Board shall pay to a member
who has been retired due to a disability received from a cause other
than as a result of an injury incurred during the course of his employment
a benefit as determined in accordance with the rules and regulations
of the Retirement Board.
[Amended 4-27-1987]
C.
The Employees' Retirement Board may require the member
to submit to such medical examinations from time to time as it may
deem necessary and proper; and, if the Board finds that the retirant
is no longer disabled, it may order him to return to his employment,
and all benefits payable hereunder shall cease.
D.
In order to provide benefits in the nature of workers' compensation benefits, the Police and Fire Retirement Board shall pay to a regular member of the Police or Fire Department who has been retired due to an injury or sickness incurred in the course of such member's employment a benefit during the term of such injury or sickness as provided for in any bargaining unit labor agreement in effect at the time of such injury or sickness. Any provision of any bargaining unit labor agreement providing for benefits described in this § 37-7D are hereby incorporated by reference as part of the Town Code as if more fully state herein.
[Added 12-16-1996]
[Amended 4-27-1987]
Upon the death of a member of the system due
solely and exclusively as a result of an accident occurring during
the course of his employment, the surviving spouse shall receive an
annual benefit equal to 1/2 of the member's annual base salary. Such
benefit shall be paid until the death or remarriage of such spouse;
and, if such spouse dies or remarries, the benefit shall be paid to
or in behalf of any surviving children during their minority and until
the deceased member's youngest child reaches the age of 18. If a member
dies before retirement from any cause other than as a result of an
accident occurring in the course of his employment, his legal representative
shall receive his contribution plus interest, provided that if the
member was eligible to retire at the time of his death, his spouse
can elect to receive an annual benefit instead of the member's contributions
in an amount determined as though the member had retired one day before
the date of death and had elected the 50% joint-and-survivor option.
[Amended 4-27-1987]
Benefit payments (except those elected under
options) shall be payable monthly for the life of the retirant, commencing
the first of the month following retirement and shall be guaranteed
for a period of five years. If the member dies from causes not incurred
in the course of his employment before receiving five years of payment
benefits, his legal representative shall be entitled to receive any
unpaid remainder in monthly payments.
[Amended 4-27-1987]
At the time of retirement, any member may elect
to convert the benefits otherwise payable to him into a pension of
equivalent actuarial value, computed on the basis of such mortality
tables and interest rates as shall be adopted by the Employees' Retirement
Board in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Retirement
Board.
[Amended 10-26-1970]
A.
The Employees' Retirement Board shall consist of nine
voting members, who shall be the following: the First Selectman; three
members, one of whom shall be from and chosen by members of the Board
of Education, one of whom shall be from and chosen by the remaining
employee members in the system, and one of whom shall be from and
chosen by the administrative employees of the Town, such members to
serve for terms of two years; and five members shall be appointed
by the First Selectman, with the approval of the Representative Town
Meeting. Such members appointed by the First Selectman shall serve
for terms of five years, provided that each of said members currently
serving on the Employees' Retirement Board shall serve until the expiration
of his term.
B.
All action taken by the Employees' Retirement Board
shall be by majority vote.
C.
Any vacancy existing on the Employees' Retirement
Board, either as a result of death, resignation or removal from the
Town or Town employ, shall be filled for the expiration in the same
manner as the original appointment or designation.
D.
The Employees' Retirement Board members shall serve
without compensation and shall have charge of the general direction
and management of the fund. Any portion of the fund may be invested
by one or more trust companies or banks authorized to conduct a trust
business in the state or may be deposited in any savings bank or trust
companies or state or national banks in this state or may be used
to purchase life insurance or endowment policies or annuity contracts
issued by a life insurance company authorized to transact business
in this state. From the retirement fund, the Employees' Retirement
Board members shall, from time to time, appropriate and cause to be
paid to the beneficiaries of the fund such sums as may be needed for
paying pensions herein provided for. The Town shall furnish such clerical,
legal, actuarial or medical assistance as the Employees' Retirement
Board members shall consider necessary to carry out the purpose of
this article, subject to such appropriations as shall be made in the
manner provided for other Town appropriations. The fiscal officer
shall act as executive secretary to the Employees' Retirement Board
members but shall have no vote as an Employees' Retirement Board member.
No member shall have the right to pledge, assign,
transfer or create any charge or lien upon his pension, nor shall
such pension be subject to any process of attachment or garnishment,
nor shall such pension be paid to any person except such employee,
his surviving spouse, beneficiary or legal representative or such
other person provided for in this article.
[Amended 4-27-1987]
The Employees' Retirement Board is authorized
and directed to adopt such rules and regulations, not inconsistent
with the provisions of this article, for the effective operation of
the retirement system. Such rules and regulations shall be applicable
to all employees of the Town as of the effective date of this article.
Such rules and regulations shall be submitted to the Representative
Town Meeting. If not rejected by the Representative Town Meeting within
60 days of submission, such rules and regulations shall be deemed
adopted. Such rules and regulations may be amended in the same manner.
Any such rules or regulations adopted by the Employees' Retirement
Board shall be printed and made available to any member of the retirement
system on request.
