Print
The Vermont Statutes Online
Title
03
:
Executive
Chapter
016
:
VERMONT EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM
Subchapter
001
:
GENERALLY
§
464. Accidental and occupationally related death benefit
(a) If the
retirement board shall find on the basis of such evidence as may come before it
that a group A, group D, or group F member in service died prior to his or her
retirement under the system as the natural and proximate result of an accident
occurring at a definite time and place during the course of his or her
performance of duty as an employee and that such accident was not the result of
the member's own gross negligence or willful misconduct, a retirement allowance
shall be paid to his or her designated dependent beneficiary during his or her
life.
(b) If the
retirement board shall find on the basis of such evidence as may come before it
that a group C member in service died prior to his or her retirement under the
system as the natural and proximate result of an accident occurring at a
definite time and place during the course of his or her performance of duty as
an employee and that such accident was not the result of his or her own gross
negligence or wilful misconduct, a retirement allowance shall be paid to his or
her dependent spouse during her or his life, or if there be no dependent
spouse, or if the dependent spouse dies before the youngest child of the
deceased member has attained age 18, age 23 in the case of a dependent student,
then to his or her child or children under said age until the youngest of such
children attains such age, divided in such manner as the retirement board in
its discretion shall determine provided that the total annual payments to all
such children shall not exceed the retirement allowance which would have been
payable to the dependent spouse. If a member leaves no dependent spouse or
child under said age upon his or her death, then a retirement allowance may be
payable at the discretion of the retirement board to his or her dependent
parent or parents provided that the total allowance payable shall not exceed
the retirement allowance which would have been payable to the dependent spouse.
In the case of the payment of a retirement allowance under this section to a
child of a deceased group C member who is a dependent student, the retirement
allowance shall continue while such child remains a dependent student until he
or she attains age 23.
(c) The retirement
allowance payable to the dependent spouse of a deceased member under this
section shall be equal to 25 percent of the member's average final compensation
at the time of his or her death.
(d)
Notwithstanding subsection (c) of this section, a dependent spouse of a
deceased group C member under this section shall receive as a minimum an
allowance which:
(1) If his or
her compensation from the state was not subject to social security withholding
will; or
(2) If his or
her compensation from the state was subject to social security withholding
will, when added to survivor's insurance benefit, be equal to 35 percent of
average final compensation plus ten percent of average final compensation for
each dependent child, not in excess of three, who has not attained age 18 or,
if a dependent student, who has not attained age 23. Where, pursuant to this
section, a retirement allowance is payable to a child or parent eligible for a
survivor's insurance benefit the allowance payable under this subsection shall
be inclusive of such person's survivor's insurance benefit.
(e) The
retirement allowance payable to a dependent spouse under this section who also
qualifies for an ordinary death benefit under section 465 of this title shall
in no event be less than the death benefit which would otherwise be payable to
such spouse under section 465 of this title. (Added 1971, No. 231 (Adj. Sess.),
§ 4; amended 1981, No. 41, § 12; 1985, No. 160 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1989, No. 277
(Adj. Sess.), § 17o, eff. Jan. 1, 1991; 1997, No. 89 (Adj. Sess.), § 7; 2003,
No. 122 (Adj. Sess.), § 297a.)