§ 605. Disability retirement. a. Application for a disability
retirement allowance for a member may be made by:

1. Such member, or

2. The head of the department in which such member is employed.

b. At the time of the filing of an application pursuant to this
section, the member must:

1. Have at least ten years of total service credit, and

2. The application must be filed either (a) by a vested member
incapacitated as the result of a qualifying World Trade Center condition
as defined in section two of this chapter, at any time, or (b) within
three months from the last date the member was being paid on the payroll
or, (c) in the case of a member who was placed on a leave of absence for
medical reasons without pay, either voluntarily or involuntarily, at the
time he ceased being paid, application may be made not later than twelve
months after the date the employee receives notice that his employment
status has been terminated. In the case of a member of the New York
state teachers' retirement system, the application must be filed not
later than twelve months after the last date the member was being paid
on the payroll or, where the member was placed on leave of absence for
medical reasons without pay, either voluntarily or involuntarily at the
time the member ceased being paid, not later than twelve months after
the date the member receives notice that the member's employment status
has been terminated.

3. Provided, however, if the retirement system determines that such
member was physically or mentally incapacitated for performance of
gainful employment as the natural and proximate result of an accident
not caused by his own willful negligence sustained in the performance of
his duties in active service while actually a member of the retirement
system the requirement that the member should have ten years of credited
service shall be inapplicable.

c. If the retirement system determines that the member is physically
or mentally incapacitated for the performance of gainful employment, and
that he was so incapacitated at the time he ceased his performance of
duties and ought to be retired for disability, he shall be so retired.
Each retirement system shall be entitled to adopt appropriate procedures
for making the foregoing determination, including but not limited to the
conducting of medical examinations, if any, for the purpose of
determining initial entitlement of an applicant for disability
retirement or to continued entitlement to a disability retirement
allowance. Such retirement shall be effective as of a date approved by
the head of the retirement system.

d. Upon retirement for disability one of the following retirement
allowances shall be payable:

1. In the case of a member of a retirement system other than the New
York city employees' retirement system, the New York city board of
education retirement system or the New York city teachers' retirement
system, if the member has attained age sixty when such retirement
becomes effective, his retirement allowance shall be equal to that which
he would receive in the case of service retirement at normal retirement
age based on his credited service but in no event shall such retirement
allowance exceed the amount he would receive pursuant to paragraph two
of this subdivision.

2. In the case of a member of a retirement system other than the New
York city employees' retirement system, the New York city board of
education retirement system or the New York city teachers' retirement
system, if the member has not attained age sixty when such retirement
becomes effective, his retirement allowance shall consist of a
retirement allowance which shall equal one-sixtieth of his final average
salary multiplied by the number of years of his credited service, which
formula shall be used only if the retirement allowance so computed
exceeds one-third of his final average salary. If the retirement
allowance so computed shall amount to one-third or less of the member's
final average salary, his retirement allowance shall be computed upon
the basis of the total service which he would have rendered if he
continued in service until he attained age sixty provided that the
resulting retirement allowance computed by resort to this formula shall
not exceed one-third of the member's final average salary.

3. In the case of a member of the New York city employees' retirement
system, the New York city board of education retirement system or the
New York city teachers' retirement system, his retirement allowance
shall be equal to the greater of:

(i) one-third of his final average salary; or

(ii) one-sixtieth of his final average salary multiplied by the number
of years of his credited service; provided, however, that where such
member is otherwise eligible to retire for service, and the retirement
allowance which he would receive in the case of service retirement is
larger than the retirement allowance he would otherwise receive under
this subparagraph or subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, his disability
retirement allowance pursuant to this paragraph shall be equal to the
retirement allowance he would receive if he had retired for service.

4. Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation to the contrary,
any member who had an active membership in the New York state and local
employees' retirement system or the New York state teachers' retirement
system, when such member participated in World Trade Center rescue,
recovery, or cleanup operations, as such participation is defined in
section two of this chapter, who incurred a qualifying World Trade
Center condition, as defined in section two of this chapter, that is
determined to have been incurred in the performance and discharge of
duty and is the natural and proximate result of an accident not caused
by such member's own willful negligence, shall be paid a performance of
duty disability retirement allowance equal to three-quarters of final
average salary. The payment of such pension shall be subject to the
provisions of section sixty-four of this chapter.

5. Notwithstanding the provisions of this subdivision, the minimum
benefit payable to a member of the New York state and local employees'
retirement system who has been determined to be physically or mentally
incapacitated for performance of gainful employment as the natural and
proximate result of an accident not caused by willful negligence
sustained in the performance of duties in active service while actually
a member of the retirement system shall be a pension of one-third of
such member's final average salary.

e. The board of trustees of the New York city employees' retirement
system may, consistent with the provisions of this section, adopt rules
and regulations establishing a procedure for the medical review of
determinations made by such retirement system on applications for
disability retirement filed pursuant to this section. Any medical review
procedure adopted pursuant to this subdivision shall be substantially
similar to the medical review procedure provided in section 13-169 of
the administrative code of the city of New York, and shall provide that
where a request for medical review is filed on behalf of an applicant
for disability retirement, such request for medical review shall be void
and of no effect unless such applicant for disability retirement, or a
person acting on his or her behalf in accordance with such rules and
regulations, executes a waiver providing that he or she waives any and
all rights which he or she might otherwise have to seek or obtain any
other disposition of such application for disability retirement by court
or administrative proceedings or otherwise.

f. If the retirement system determines that such member was physically
or mentally incapacitated for performance of gainful employment as the
natural and proximate result of an accident not caused by his own
willful negligence sustained in the performance of his duties in active
service while actually a member of the retirement system, and the member
is a teacher not within the coverage of section three of the workers'
compensation law or an employee in group twenty of subdivision one of
such section, the retirement allowance shall equal two-thirds of such
member's final average salary.

g. Any payments made to a member who the retirement system has
determined was physically or mentally incapacitated for performance of
gainful employment as the natural and proximate result of an accident
not caused by his own willful negligence sustained in the performance of
his duties in active service while actually a member of the retirement
system, and who is not eligible to receive workers' compensation
benefits by operation of group twenty or group twenty-two of section
three of the workers' compensation law, shall be deemed to be a payment
made in lieu of a workers' compensation benefit.

h. 1. (a) Notwithstanding any provisions of this chapter or of any
general, special or local law, charter, administrative code or rule or
regulation to the contrary, if any condition or impairment of health is
caused by a qualifying World Trade Center condition as defined in
section two of this chapter, it shall be presumptive evidence that it
was incurred in the performance and discharge of duty and the natural
and proximate result of an accident not caused by such member's own
willful negligence, unless the contrary be proved by competent evidence.

(b) The head of each retirement system is hereby authorized to
promulgate rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this
paragraph.

2. (a)(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter or of any
general, special or local law, charter, administrative code or rule or
regulation to the contrary, if a member who participated in World Trade
Center rescue, recovery or cleanup operations, as defined in section two
of this chapter, and subsequently retired on a service retirement, an
ordinary disability retirement or a performance of duty disability
retirement or a state police disability retirement pursuant to section
three hundred sixty-three-b of this title and subsequent to such
retirement is determined by the head of the retirement system to have a
qualifying World Trade Center condition, as defined in section two of
this chapter, upon such determination by the head of the retirement
system it shall be presumed that such disability was incurred in the
performance and discharge of duty as the natural and proximate result of
an accident not caused by such member's own willful negligence, and that
the member would have been physically or mentally incapacitated for the
performance and discharge of duty of the position from which he or she
retired had the condition been known and fully developed at the time of
the member's retirement, unless the contrary is proven by competent
evidence.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter or of any general,
special or local law, charter, administrative code or rule or regulation
to the contrary, if a member who participated in World Trade Center
rescue, recovery or cleanup operations for a minimum of forty hours, and
subsequently retired on a service retirement, an ordinary disability
retirement or a performance of duty disability retirement and subsequent
to such retirement incurred a disability caused by any qualifying
condition or impairment of the health which the applicable board of
trustees determines, after a determination of disability by the
applicable medical board, to have been caused by such member's having
participated in World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup
operations for a minimum of forty hours, upon such determination by the
applicable board of trustees, it shall be presumed that such disability
was incurred in the performance and discharge of duty as the natural and
proximate result of an accident not caused by such member's own willful
negligence, and that the member would have been physically or mentally
incapacitated for the performance and discharge of duty of the position
from which he or she retired had the condition been known and fully
developed at the time of the member's retirement, unless the contrary is
proven by competent evidence.

(3) A member shall be eligible for the presumption provided for under
this paragraph notwithstanding the fact that the member did not
participate in World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup operations
for a minimum of forty hours, provided that: (i) the member participated
in the rescue, recovery, or cleanup operations at the World Trade Center
site between September eleventh, two thousand one and September twelfth,
two thousand one; (ii) the member sustained a documented physical injury
at the World Trade Center site between September eleventh, two thousand
one and September twelfth, two thousand one that is a qualifying
condition or impairment of health resulting in disability to the member
that prevented the member from continuing to participate in World Trade
Center rescue, recovery or cleanup operations for a minimum of forty
hours; and (iii) the documented physical injury that resulted in a
disability to the member that prevented the member from continuing to
participate in World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup operations
for a minimum of forty hours is the qualifying condition or impairment
of health which the member seeks to be eligible for the presumption
provided for under this paragraph.

(b) The reclassification provided for in subparagraph (a) of this
paragraph shall not be granted, unless:

(i) the member files either a written and sworn statement with the
member's retirement system on a form provided by such system, or as
allowed by the member's retirement system, electronically submits a
statement on a form provided by such system through a secure online
portal maintained by the member's retirement system that has duly
validated the member's identity, indicating the dates and locations of
employment within four years following the effective date of chapter one
hundred four of the laws of two thousand five; and

(ii) the member must have successfully passed a physical examination
for entry into public service which failed to disclose evidence of the
qualifying condition or impairment of health that formed the basis for
the disability.

(c) The head of the retirement system shall consider a
reclassification of the member's retirement as an accidental disability
retirement effective as of the date of such reclassification.

(d) Such member's retirement option shall not be changed as a result
of such reclassification.

(e) The member's former employer at the time of the member's
retirement shall have an opportunity to be heard on the member's
application for reclassification by the head of the retirement system
according to procedures developed by the head of the retirement system.

(f) The head of the retirement system is hereby authorized to
promulgate rules and regulations for their respective retirement systems
to implement the provisions of this paragraph.

i. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter or of any
general, special or local law, charter, administrative code or rule or
regulation to the contrary, if a retiree who: (1) has met the criteria
of subdivision h of this section and retired on a service or disability
retirement, or would have met the criteria if not already retired on an
accidental disability; and (2) has not been retired for more than
twenty-five years; and (3) dies from a qualifying World Trade Center
condition, as defined in section two of this chapter, as determined by
the applicable head of the retirement system or applicable medical
board, then unless the contrary be proven by competent evidence, such
retiree shall be deemed to have died as a natural and proximate result
of an accident sustained in the performance of duty and not as a result
of willful negligence on his or her part. Such retiree's eligible
beneficiary, as set forth in section six hundred one of this article,
shall be entitled to an accidental death benefit as provided by section
six hundred seven of this article, however, for the purposes of
determining the salary base upon which the accidental death benefit is
calculated, the retiree shall be deemed to have died on the date of his
or her retirement. Upon the retiree's death, the eligible beneficiary
shall make a written application to the head of the retirement system
within the time for filing an application for an accidental death
benefit as set forth in section six hundred seven of this article
requesting conversion of such retiree's service or disability retirement
benefit to an accidental death benefit. At the time of such conversion,
the eligible beneficiary shall relinquish all rights to the prospective
benefits payable under the service or disability retirement benefit,
including any post-retirement death benefits, since the retiree's death.
If the eligible beneficiary is not the only beneficiary receiving or
entitled to receive a benefit under the service or disability retirement
benefit (including, but not limited to, post-retirement death benefits
or benefits paid or payable pursuant to the retiree's option selection),
the accidental death benefit payments to the eligible beneficiary will
be reduced by any amounts paid or payable to any other beneficiary.

j. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter or of any
general, special or local law, charter, administrative code or rule or
regulation to the contrary, if a member who: (1) has met the criteria of
subdivision h of this section; and (2) dies in active service from a
qualifying World Trade Center condition, as defined in section two of
this chapter, as determined by the applicable head of the retirement
system or applicable medical board to have been caused by such member's
participation in the World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup
operations, as defined in section two of this chapter, then unless the
contrary be proven by competent evidence, such member shall be deemed to
have died as a natural and proximate result of an accident sustained in
the performance of duty and not as a result of willful negligence on his
or her part. Such member's eligible beneficiary, as set forth in section
six hundred one of this article, shall be entitled to an accidental
death benefit provided he or she makes written application to the head
of the retirement system within the time for filing an application for
an accidental death benefit as set forth in section six hundred seven of
this article.