(a) Any member who becomes totally and permanently incapacitated for service as the proximate result of bodily injuries sustained or a hazard undergone while in the performance and within the scope of his duties, shall receive a duty disability retirement annuity if the injuries or hazard were not the consequences of the willful negligence of the member.
(1) The application must be made not more than six months after the date the member has been advised that he is permanently and totally incapacitated for service, if an accidental disability, or six months after the occurrence of disablement if an occupational disease and proper proof is received from one or more physicians designated by the System that the member is mentally or physically incapacitated. The decision of the Board must be based on the opinion of the physicians selected by the Board and not the opinion of the physicians selected by the member or any other entity, including the Worker’s Compensation Administration.
(2) In the case of members found to be permanently disabled and unfit to perform their duties in accordance with title 3 Virgin Islands Code, section 584a, subsection (d), application must be made not more than three months after the determination is made in accordance with title 3 Virgin Islands Code, section 584a, subsection (d), and no prior notice of the accident to the System shall be required.
(3) For the purposes of this section, a member is totally and permanently incapacitated for service if the member’s physical or mental impairment is so severe that the member is unable to perform the member’s previous work and cannot, considering the member’s age, education and work experience, engage in any other kind of substantial gainful employment that exists in the Territory regardless of whether the work exists in the immediate area in which the member lives, a specific job vacancy exists or the member would be hired if the member applied for work.
(4) “Substantial gainful employment” means any work that is generally done for pay or profit, that the member is able to perform with sufficient regularity and duration to provide a reliable source of income that provides an annual income that exceeds the poverty threshold for one person, as determined by the Virgin Islands Department of Human Services, irrespective of the number of hours or days that the member actually works.
(b) The duty disability retirement annuity is payable during disability and is equal to 52.50% of the member's rate of compensation at date of disability in an amount not to exceed $65,000 per annum, exclusive of any annual increment or cost of living adjustment. The annuity must be offset by any amounts received by the member as worker's compensation from the employer.
(c) The System may request earnings information from recipients of disabilities to verify claims. The recipient shall provide the earning information to the System within 30 days of the System's request. If the recipient fails to provide the requested information within the prescribed time, the duty disability annuity shall be discontinued until the time as the requested information is provided. When the requested information is provided, the duty disability retirement annuity shall resume.