A former police officer became ineligible to file for service retirement benefits when she was wrongfully terminated from her position.
Although the termination was corrected and the former officer was reinstated to her former position, it required the enactment of Chapter 800 of the Laws of 2021 to allow the former officer obtain retirement benefits from the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System.
The bills sponsor explains that through no fault of her own, the police officer was ineligible to file for her service retirement benefit with the New York state and local police as the result of her wrongful termination because at the time of her termination she was ineligible to qualify for a service retirement benefit because she did not have "twenty qualifying years of service credit necessary to retire under her special retirement plan established pursuant to §384-d of the Retirement and Social Security Law.
The bill's sponsor, New York State Timothy M. Kennedy, explained that "a grave injustice was corrected" when the police officer's termination was vacated and the police officer was reinstated to her former position, providing her with the necessary twenty years of qualifying service credit required for her to be eligible to qualify for retirement benefits pursuant to Chapter 800.