Public Act 096-0525
 
HB3964 Enrolled LRB096 05814 AMC 15893 b

    AN ACT concerning public employee benefits.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by changing
Section 14-103.12 as follows:
 
    (40 ILCS 5/14-103.12)  (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 14-103.12)
    Sec. 14-103.12. Final average compensation.
    (a) For retirement and survivor annuities, "final average
compensation" means the monthly compensation obtained by
dividing the total compensation of an employee during the
period of: (1) the 48 consecutive months of service within the
last 120 months of service in which the total compensation was
the highest, or (2) the total period of service, if less than
48 months, by the number of months of service in such period;
provided that for purposes of a retirement annuity the average
compensation for the last 12 months of the 48-month period
shall not exceed the final average compensation by more than
25%.
    (b) For death and disability benefits, in the case of a
full-time employee, "final average compensation" means the
greater of (1) the rate of compensation of the employee at the
date of death or disability multiplied by 1 in the case of a
salaried employee, by 174 in the case of an hourly employee,
and by 22 in the case of a per diem employee, or (2) for
benefits commencing on or after January 1, 1991, final average
compensation as determined under subsection (a).
    For purposes of this paragraph, full or part-time status
shall be certified by the employing agency. Final rate of
compensation for a part-time employee shall be the total
compensation earned during the last full calendar month prior
to the date of death or disability.
    (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), for
the purpose of calculating retirement and survivor annuities of
persons with at least 20 years of eligible creditable service
as defined in Section 14-110, "final average compensation"
means the monthly rate of compensation received by the person
on the last day of eligible creditable service (but not to
exceed 115% of the average monthly compensation received by the
person for the last 24 months of service, unless the person was
in service as a State policeman before the effective date of
this amendatory Act of 1997), or the average monthly
compensation received by the person for the last 48 months of
service prior to retirement, whichever is greater.
    (d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), for a
person who was receiving, on the date of retirement or death, a
disability benefit calculated under subdivision (b)(2) of this
Section, the final average compensation used to calculate the
disability benefit may be used for purposes of calculating the
retirement and survivor annuities.
    (e) In computing the final average compensation, periods of
military leave shall not be considered.
    (f) The changes to this Section made by this amendatory Act
of 1997 (redefining final average compensation for members
under the alternative formula) apply to members who retire on
or after January 1, 1998, without regard to whether employment
terminated before the effective date of this amendatory Act of
1997.
    (g) For a member on leave of absence without pay who
purchases service credit for such period of leave pursuant to
subsection (l) of Section 14-104, earnings are assumed to be
equal to the rate of compensation in effect immediately prior
to the leave. If no contributions are required to establish
service credit for the period of leave, the member may elect to
establish earnings credit for the leave period within 48 months
after returning to work by making the employee and employer
contributions required by subsection (l) of Section 14-104,
based on the rate of compensation in effect immediately prior
to the leave, plus interest at the actuarially assumed rate. In
determining the contributions required for establishing
service credit under this subsection (g), the interest shall be
calculated from the beginning of the leave of absence to the
date of payment.
(Source: P.A. 90-65, eff. 7-7-97.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.