Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 217

LEWES - PROVIDING FOR PENSIONS FOR AGED EMPLOYEES

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 199, VOLUME 22, LAWS OF DELAWARE, ENTITLED, "AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE TOWN OF LEWES", BY PROVIDING FOR PENSIONS FOR AGED EMPLOYEES OF COMMISSIONERS OF LEWES AND OF THE BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS FOR SAID TOWN OF LEWES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met (two-thirds of all members of each House thereof concurring therein):

Section 1. That Commissioners of Lewes and the Board of Public Works of Lewes shall be, and they are hereby, hereafter required to provide pensions payable monthly to all former employees of either body, the said pensions to be governed by the terms and conditions specified in the succeeding sections of this act.

Section 2. Any person who has been an employee of Commissioners of Lewes or Board of Public Works of Lewes, or both, continuously for twenty years or more, and who is for any reason whatsoever no longer occupying the status of an employee, shall be eligible for a pension. The pension shall, however, not be paid to anybody who has not yet attained his or her sixty-fifth birthday, unless such person is permanently disabled and has been compelled to retire from such employment prior to attaining the age of sixty-five, Such disabled persons will be eligible for the pension even though they are not yet 65 years of age. A person shall be considered an employee of the Board of Public Works or Commissioners of Lewes so long as she or he is being paid at least Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) each month. In the event that reasons of health temporarily prevent such employment, upon furnishing satisfactory proof of that fact to Commissioners of Lewes or the Board of Public Works as the case may be, the period of such disability shall be ignored and not regarded for any of the purposes of this act as a breach in the term of continuous employment.

Section 3. The amount of the pension provided by this act shall be determined by selecting the five years out of the last ten years next preceding retirement in which the earnings were the greatest and averaging 'the annual earnings for those particular five years. The amount of the pension hereby provided shall be one per cent (1%) of that sum for each year of continuous service rendered by the employee, provided, however, that credit shall never be given under this pension plan for more than thirty (30) years.

Section 4. If at any time in the future municipal employees shall come under the Social Security and Unemployment Compensation Laws of the United States of America or the State of Delaware, and payments of Social Security or Unemployment Compensation shall be made to the persons eligible for the pension herein provided for, then the pension hereby provided shall be reduced by the amount of such payments, and if the Social Security or Unemployment Compensation payments for any period total an amount equal to or greater than the pension herein, provided for, there shall for that period be no pension allowed.

Section 5. In the event of the death of the person entitled to receive a pension under this act, one-half of the amount of the pension shall thereafter be paid to the surviving widow of that person, provided that the said widow was married to the pensioner five years or more prior to his retirement from employment by Commissioners. of Lewes or the Board of Public Works.

Section 6. Whenever any employee of the Board of Public Works or of Commissioners of Lewes reaches the age of 65 years, the municipality may elect to continue him or her in employment, in which case the pension will not start until retirement or disability. On the other hand, at or after the age of 65 years, the Board of Public Works or Commissioners of Lewes as the case may be, reserves the right to request retirement, and retirement upon such request shall be compulsory.

Section 7. If at the time any employee becomes eligible for a pension as herein provided, or while such employee is receiving a pension, Such former employee should earn from any other source whatsoever the sum of more than $24.99 a month there shall be no pension under this act so long as those earnings continue. The pension, however, shall begin, or begin again, as the case may be, whenever there are no other earnings from outside sources such as to bar a pension as herein' suggested. Payments of compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Laws of the State of Delaware shall be ignored in determining pension rights under this Act and shall not bar or interfere with any pension payments as herein provided.

Approved April 7, 1947.