Section 15-5-204 - [Effective 7/1/2024] Pensions; amounts; qualifications; when paid; disability benefits; disqualifications; examinations; disallowance; actions; adjustment; rehiring(a) Any person qualifying may retire from active service and receive a monthly pension of seventy-five percent (75%) of the maximum monthly salary of a fireman first class. Any benefit increases which may occur shall not subsequently be withdrawn. This benefit accrues to any paid fireman who has completed twenty (20) years of active service in regularly constituted fire departments of any cities, towns, counties or fire protection districts and to any paid fireman suffering from a mental or physical disability rendering him unfit for active duty. Any paid fireman covered under this article may continue service beyond twenty (20) years and receive an additional benefit of one and one-half percent (1.5%) of the maximum salary of a fireman first class for each year of service beyond twenty (20) years.(b) Any fireman with less than ten (10) years of service upon terminating his employment for any reason shall receive in a lump sum a refund of all the money he has contributed to the firemen's pension account. Refund of such contributions extinguishes all rights to any benefits under this article.(c) After ten (10) years as a full time paid fireman, any fireman upon terminating his employment for any reason may have his choice of:(i) A refund, in a lump sum, of all the money he has contributed into the firemen's pension account, less one-half percent (1/2%) for bookkeeping costs; or(ii) Upon the twentieth anniversary of the date of his employment as a full time paid fireman he may draw a monthly pension computed as follows: Number of years service x 75% of the maximum
monthly salary of a fireman first class
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20
(d) No fireman is entitled to draw a disability pension if the primary cause of the mental or physical disability which renders him unfit for active duty is alcoholism, substance abuse or addiction or an injury incurred as a result of the commission of a crime of a voluntary nature, or a mental or physical condition which existed at the time of his employment.(e) The board may require firemen applying for or drawing a disability pension to submit periodically to a physical or mental examination by a physician it selects and to furnish relevant information it requests. If the physician's report, or other evidence available to the board, shows that the fireman is not qualified for the disability pension, or that he is fit for active duty, the board shall disallow or discontinue the payment of the monthly disability pension. Examining physicians selected by the board shall be paid from the account in accordance with existing worker's compensation schedules for examinations.(f) Any applicant or beneficiary of the firemen's pension account aggrieved by a disallowance or discontinuance of pension benefits has a right to commence an action in the district court of the county in which the applicant resides, naming the board, as custodian of the firemen's pension account, as the party defendant, to have his rights to pension benefits determined before a judge of the district court.(g) Any pension benefit, survivor benefit or disability benefit received by an eligible individual under this article, and the fireman for whom the benefit is generated has been retired for a period of not less than one (1) year, shall not be increased after April 1, 2022.(h) The board shall adopt rules to allow service for any period of time, after commencement of participation under this article, which an employee spends in active military or other emergency service of the United States as required by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, 38 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.(j) Rehiring a paid fireman retired under this article shall be in accordance with the Wyoming Retirement Act, W.S. 9-3-415(g) through (j).Amended by Laws 2024, ch. 1,§ 2, eff. 7/1/2024.Amended by Laws 2022 , ch. 8, § 2, eff. 4/1/2022.This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.