§ 16-16-40 - Additional benefits payable to retired teachers. - Rhode Island Statutes

SECTION 16-16-40

   § 16-16-40  Additional benefits payable toretired teachers. – (a) All teachers and all beneficiaries of teachers receiving any serviceretirement or ordinary disability retirement allowance pursuant to theprovisions of this chapter and chapter 17 of this title, on or before December31, 1967, shall receive a cost of living retirement adjustment equal to one andone-half percent (1.5%) per year of the original retirement allowance, notcompounded, for each year the retirement allowance has been in effect. Forpurposes of computation credit shall be given for a full calendar yearregardless of the effective date of the retirement allowance. This cost ofliving retirement adjustment shall be added to the amount of the serviceretirement allowance as of January 1, 1970, and payment shall begin as of July1, 1970. An additional cost of living retirement adjustment shall be added tothe original retirement allowance equal to three percent (3%) of the originalretirement allowance on the first day of January, 1971, and each yearthereafter through December 31, 1980.

   (b) All teachers and beneficiaries of teachers receiving anyservice retirement or ordinary disability retirement allowance pursuant to theprovisions of this title who retired on or after January 1, 1968, shall, on thefirst day of January, next following the third (3rd) year on retirement,receive a cost of living adjustment, in addition to his or her retirementallowance, an amount equal to three percent (3%) of the original retirementallowance. In each succeeding year thereafter, on the first day of January, theretirement allowance shall be increased an additional three percent (3%) of theoriginal retirement allowance, not compounded, to be continued through December31, 1980.

   (c) Beginning on January 1, 1981, for all teachers andbeneficiaries of teachers receiving any service retirement and all teachers andall beneficiaries of teachers who have completed at least ten (10) years ofcontributory service on or before July 1, 2005, pursuant to the provisions ofthis chapter, and for all teachers and beneficiaries of teachers who receive adisability retirement allowance pursuant to §§ 16-16-14 –16-16-17, the cost of living adjustment shall be computed and paid at the rateof three percent (3%) of the original retirement allowance or the retirementallowance as computed in accordance with § 16-16-40.1, compounded annuallyfrom the year for which the cost of living adjustment was determined to bepayable by the retirement board pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) or(b) of this section. Such cost of living adjustments are available to teacherswho retire before October 1, 2009 or are eligible to retire as of September 30,2009.

   (2) The provisions of this subsection shall be deemed toapply prospectively only and no retroactive payment shall be made.

   (3) The retirement allowance of all teachers and allbeneficiaries of teachers who have not completed at least ten (10) years ofcontributory service on or before July 1, 2005 or were not eligible to retireas of September 30, 2009, shall, on the month following the third anniversarydate of the retirement, and on the month following the anniversary date of eachsucceeding year be adjusted and computed by multiplying the retirementallowance by three percent (3%) or the percentage of increase in the ConsumerPrice Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) as published by the United StatesDepartment of Labor Statistics, determined as of September 30 of the priorcalendar year, whichever is less; the cost of living adjustment shall becompounded annually from the year for which the cost of living adjustment wasdetermined payable by the retirement board; provided, that no adjustment shallcause any retirement allowance to be decreased from the retirement allowanceprovided immediately before such adjustment.

   (d) The provisions of §§ 45-13-7 – 45-13-10shall not apply to this section.