§ 48. Contemporaneous benefits from 2 or more City systems.

(a) In general.

If a City employee or elected official is eligible to retire from 1 or more systems or is currently receiving benefits from 1 or more systems:

(1) the employee or official must join the appropriate new system on beginning employment or assuming an elected office in a position covered by that new system;

(2) the employee or official retains service credit in the previous system or systems; and

(3) the receipt of benefits from the previous system or systems is postponed or suspended until the member terminates employment or exits elected office.

(b) Receipt of benefits.

On terminating employment or exiting elected office, a former employee or elected official may receive simultaneous retirement benefits from all previous systems and the new system.

On terminating employment or exiting elected office, a member's retirement benefits that had been postponed or suspended from a previous system shall be calculated to include all post-retirement increases that the member would have been eligible to receive had the benefits not been postponed or suspended from that previous system.

(d) Election of distribution of death benefits.

(1) Any member whose receipt of retirement benefits from a previous system has been postponed by joining a new system may file, in accordance with the procedures of the previous system's Board of Trustees, a tentative election to distribute death benefits.

(2) The member may:

(i) tentatively elect the payment mode of his or her retirement benefit under § 6(a)(5), 9(m), 9.2(k), 22(e), or 34(k) of this article; and

(ii) designate tentative beneficiaries to receive his or her retirement benefits in the event he or she dies before terminating employment or exiting elected office.

(3) The member may change this election, by making a new election in accordance with the procedures of the previous system's Board of Trustees, at any time before the member files a permanent application for retirement.

(4) Members of the Employees' Retirement System who are entitled to deferred vested retirement benefits and who join a new system before attaining age 55 may file this tentative election on attaining age 55.

(e) Death benefits.

(1) Postponement or suspension of benefits in previous system.

The following death benefits shall be paid on behalf of any member who had benefits postponed or suspended from a previous system and who dies while in service in his or her new system:

(i) a death benefit from the member's new system, under § 6(h), 6(i), 9(o-1), 9(o-2), 9.2(m), 9.2(n), 22(f), 22(g), 34(h), or 34(i) of this article or § 9-4 of Article 22A; and

(ii) a death benefit from the member's previous system, as follows:

1. in the case of a suspended benefit, in accordance with the election of retirement benefits made at the time of applying for retirement benefits from the previous system;

2. in the case of a postponed benefit of a member who made a tentative election under subsection (d) of this section, in accordance with that election; and

3. in the case of a postponed benefit of a member who did not make a tentative election under subsection (d) of this section, as if the member had elected the maximum retirement allowance form of payment under § 6(a)(14), 9(m)(1), 9.2(k)(1), 22(e)(1), or 34(k)(3) - (6) of this article.

(2) Death of retiree receiving benefits from 2 or more systems.

If a retiree dies while receiving retirement benefits from 2 or more systems, a death benefit shall be payable from each system, in accordance with the applicable provisions of the respective systems and the elections made in the application for retirement by the retiree at the time he or she retired from each system.