HB2868 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 12044 RPS 22139 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB2868

Introduced 2/6/2025, by Rep. Amy Elik

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

40 ILCS 5/7-150	from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 7-150
40 ILCS 5/7-152
30 ILCS 805/8.49 new

Amends the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) Article of the Illinois Pension Code. In a provision concerning eligibility for total and permanent disability benefits, provides that if the participating employee was a sheriff's law enforcement employee at the time disability was incurred, the participating employee shall be deemed to have engaged in gainful activity only if that participating employee is employed as a sheriff's law enforcement employee or in a substantially similar capacity. Provides that the amount of the monthly total and permanent disability benefit shall be 100% of the final rate of earnings on the date disability was incurred if the participating employee was a sheriff's law enforcement employee at the time disability was incurred. Provides that a person who was a sheriff's law enforcement employee at the time disability was incurred may receive earnings from a participating municipality or participating instrumentality if that person is not employed as a sheriff's law enforcement employee because of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or be of a long continued and indefinite duration. Provides that such a person must report to the Fund, in a form and manner prescribed by the Fund, the amount of earnings received for that employment, and the amount of the disability benefits to which that person is entitled shall be reduced by the amount of earnings received for that employment. Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement. Effective immediately.

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

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 Sections 7-150 and 7-152 as follows:

(40 ILCS 5/7-150) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 7-150)

Sec. 7-150. Total and permanent disability benefits; eligibility benefits - Eligibility. Total and permanent disability benefits shall be payable to participating employees as hereinafter provided, including those employees receiving disability benefit on July 1, 1962.

(a) A participating employee shall be considered totally and permanently disabled if:

1. He is unable to engage in any gainful activity because of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or be of a long continued and indefinite duration, other than as a result of self-inflicted injury or addiction to narcotic drugs; if the participating employee was a sheriff's law enforcement employee at the time disability was incurred, the participating employee shall be deemed to have engaged in gainful activity only if that participating employee is employed as a sheriff's law enforcement employee or in a substantially similar capacity;

2. The Board has received a written certification by at least 1 licensed and practicing physician stating that the employee meets the qualifications of subparagraph 1 of this paragraph (a).

(b) A totally and permanently disabled employee is entitled to a permanent disability benefit provided:

1. He has exhausted his temporary disability benefits.

2. He:

(i) has at least one year of service immediately preceding the date the disability was incurred and has made contributions to the fund for at least the number of months of service normally required in his position during a 12 month period, or has at least 5 years of service credit, the last year of which immediately preceded the date the disability was incurred; or

(ii) had qualified under clause (i) above, but had an interruption in service of not more than 3 months in the 12 months preceding the date the temporary disability was incurred and was not paid a separation benefit; or

(iii) had qualified under clause (i) above, but had an interruption after 20 or more years of creditable service, was not paid a separation benefit, and returned to service prior to the date the disability was incurred.

Item (iii) of this subdivision shall apply to all employees whose disabilities were incurred on or after July 1, 1985, and any such employee who becomes eligible for a disability benefit under item (iii) shall be entitled to receive a lump sum payment of any accumulated disability benefits which may accrue from the date the disability was incurred until the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1987.

Periods of qualified leave granted in compliance with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act shall be ignored for purposes of determining the number of consecutive months of employment under this subdivision (b)2.

3. He is receiving no earnings from a participating municipality or instrumentality thereof or participating instrumentality, except as allowed under subsection (f) or (f-5) of Section 7-152.

4. He has not refused to submit to a reasonable physical examination by a physician appointed by the Board.

5. His disability is not the result of a mental or physical condition which existed on the earliest date of service from which he has uninterrupted service, including prior service, at the date of his disability, provided that this limitation shall not be applicable to a participating employee who, without receiving a disability benefit, receives 5 years of creditable service.

6. He is not separated from the service of his employing participating municipality or instrumentality thereof or participating instrumentality on the date his temporary disability was incurred; for the purposes of payment of total and permanent disability benefits, a participating employee, whose employment relationship is terminated by his employing municipality, shall be deemed not to be separated from the service of his employing municipality or participating instrumentality if he continues disabled by the same condition and so long as he is otherwise entitled to such disability benefit.

7. He has not refused to apply for a disability benefit under the Federal Social Security Act at the request of the Board.

8. He has not failed or refused to consent to and sign an authorization allowing the Board to receive copies of or to examine his medical and hospital records.

9. He has not failed or refused to provide complete information regarding any other employment for compensation he has received since becoming disabled.

(c) A participating employee shall remain eligible and may make application for a total and permanent disability benefit within 90 days after the termination of his temporary disability benefits or within such longer period terminating at the end of the period during which his employing municipality is prevented from employing him by reason of any statutory prohibition.

(Source: P.A. 101-151, eff. 7-26-19.)

(40 ILCS 5/7-152)

Sec. 7-152. Disability benefits; amount benefits - Amount. The amount of the monthly temporary and total and permanent disability benefits shall be 50% of the participating employee's final rate of earnings on the date disability was incurred (however, if the participant was a sheriff's law enforcement employee on the date disability was incurred, then the amount of the monthly total and permanent disability benefits shall be 100% of the final rate of earnings on the date disability was incurred), subject to the following adjustments:

(a) If the participating employee has a reduced rate of earnings at the time his employment ceases because of disability, the rate of earnings shall be computed on the basis of his last 12 month period of full-time employment.

(b) If the participating employee is eligible for a disability benefit under the federal Social Security Act, the amount of monthly disability benefits shall be reduced, but not to less than $10 a month, by the amount he would be eligible to receive as a disability benefit under the federal Social Security Act, whether or not because of service as a covered employee under this Article. The reduction shall be effective as of the month the employee is eligible for Social Security disability benefits. The Board may make such reduction if it appears that the employee may be so eligible pending determination of eligibility and make an appropriate adjustment if necessary after such determination. If the employee, because of his refusal to accept rehabilitation services under the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or the federal Social Security Act, or because he is receiving workers' compensation benefits, has his Social Security benefits reduced or terminated, the disability benefit shall be reduced as if the employee were receiving his full Social Security disability benefit.

(c) If the employee (i) is over the age for a full Social Security old-age insurance benefit, (ii) was not eligible for a Social Security disability benefit immediately before reaching that age, and (iii) is eligible for a full Social Security old-age insurance benefit, then the amount of the monthly disability benefit shall be reduced, but not to less than $10 a month, by the amount of the old-age insurance benefit to which the employee is entitled, whether or not the employee applies for the Social Security old-age insurance benefit. This reduction shall be made in the month after the month in which the employee attains the age for a full Social Security old-age insurance benefit. However, if the employee was receiving a Social Security disability benefit before reaching the age for a full Social Security old-age insurance benefit, the disability benefits after that age shall be determined under subsection (b) of this Section.

(d) The amount of disability benefits shall not be reduced by reason of any increase, other than one resulting from a correction in the employee's wage records, in the amount of disability or old-age insurance benefits under the federal Social Security Act which takes effect after the month of the initial reduction under paragraph (b) or (c) of this Section.

(e) If the employee in any month receives compensation from gainful employment which is more than 25% of the final rate of earnings on which his disability benefits are based, the temporary disability benefit payable for that month shall be reduced by an amount equal to such excess.

(f) An employee who has been disabled for at least 30 days may return to work for the employer on a part-time basis for a trial work period of up to one year, during which the disability shall be deemed to continue. Service credit shall continue to accrue and the disability benefit shall continue to be paid during the trial work period, but the benefit shall be reduced by the amount of earnings received by the disabled employee. Return to service on a full-time basis shall terminate the trial work period. The reduction under this subsection (f) shall be in lieu of the reduction, if any, required under subsection (e).

(f-5) A person who was a sheriff's law enforcement employee at the time disability was incurred may receive earnings from a participating municipality or participating instrumentality if that person is not employed as a sheriff's law enforcement employee because of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment that can be expected to result in death or be of a long continued and indefinite duration. However, that person must report to the Fund, in a form and manner prescribed by the Fund, the amount of earnings received for that employment, and the amount of the disability benefits to which that person is entitled shall be reduced by the amount of earnings received for that employment.

(g) Beginning January 1, 1988, every total and permanent disability benefit shall be increased by 3% of the original amount of the benefit, not compounded, on each January 1 following the later of (1) the date the total and permanent disability benefit begins, or (2) the date the total and permanent disability benefit would have begun if the employee had been paid a temporary disability benefit for 30 months.

(Source: P.A. 92-424, eff. 8-17-01.)

Section 90. The State Mandates Act is amended by adding Section 8.49 as follows:

(30 ILCS 805/8.49 new)

Sec. 8.49. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6 and 8 of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is required for the implementation of any mandate created by this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.