New York Consolidated Laws, Retirement and Social Security Law - RSS § 89-ss. Retirement of members employed as an emergency medical technician, critical care technician, advanced emergency medical technician, paramedic or supervisor of such titles in a participating Suffolk county fire district

a. Any member employed on or after December eighth, two thousand twenty-three as an emergency medical technician, critical care technician, advanced emergency medical technician, paramedic or supervisor of such titles upon an election by a participating Suffolk county fire district shall be eligible to retire pursuant to the provisions of this section.  Such eligibility shall be an alternative to the eligibility provisions available under any other plan of this article to which such member is subject.

b. Such member shall be entitled to retire upon the completion of twenty-five years of total creditable service by filing an application therefor in the manner provided for in section seventy of this article.

c. Upon completion of twenty-five years of such service and upon retirement, each such member shall receive a pension which, together with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of his or her accumulated contributions at the time of his or her retirement and an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent of the reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to which he or she may then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide him or her with a retirement allowance equal to one-half of his or her final average salary.

d. As used in this section “creditable service” shall include any and all services performed as an emergency medical technician, critical care technician, advanced emergency medical technician, paramedic or supervisor of such titles employed by a participating Suffolk county fire district.

e. Credit for service as a paid firefighter or officer of any organized fire department shall also be deemed to be creditable service and shall be included in computing years of total service for retirement pursuant to this section.

f. A member contributing on the basis of this section at the time of retirement, may retire after the completion of twenty-five years of total creditable service.  Application therefor may be filed in a manner similar to that provided in section seventy of this article.  Upon completion of twenty-five years of such service and upon retirement, each such member shall receive a pension which, together with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of his or her accumulated contributions at the time of his or her retirement and an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent of the reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to which he or she may then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide him or her with a retirement allowance equal to one-half of his or her final average salary;  for service beyond twenty-five years the benefit is increased by one-sixtieth of final average salary for each year of additional service credit provided, however, that the total allowance payable pursuant to this section shall not exceed three-fourths of such member's final average salary.

g. In computing the twenty-five years of total service of a member pursuant to this section full credit shall be given and full allowance shall be made for service of such member in time of war after World War I as defined in section two of this chapter, provided such member at the time of his or her entrance into the armed forces was employed by a participating Suffolk county fire district.

h. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent a member, who does not retire pursuant to the provisions of this section, from utilizing service which is creditable service pursuant to the provisions of this section for service credit pursuant to the provisions of any other plan of this article to which such member is subject.

i. The provisions of this section shall be controlling notwithstanding any other provision of this article to the contrary.