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DiPrete that petitioner be placed on a disability pension.
Petitioner retired from the Cranston Fire Department in January
1984.
At the time of his retirement, petitioner, who was not 55
years old and was a member of the city’s permanent fire
department, was entitled to a pension equal to 50 percent of his
annual salary under Cranston City Code Section 10-12 (section 10-
12), payable from the firemen’s pension fund. In 1984, section
10-12 did not distinguish between occupational injuries and
nonoccupational injuries.
As a member of the union, petitioner was also entitled, in
the alternative, to apply for disability benefits under section
24.4 of the collective bargaining agreement covering the period
July 1, 1983, through June 30, 1984, which provided that if a
fireman is “disabled from performing his regular duties as a
fireman because of a heart condition * * * it shall be
conclusively presumed that such disability is attributable to his
employment as a member of the Fire Department”. The record does
not state which plan petitioner claimed disability payments
under, that is section 10-12 or section 24.4.
On June 28, 1999, the Cranston City Council (the city
council) amended section 10-12 to provide for both occupational
and nonoccupational disability payments equal to 66-2/3 percent
and 50 percent of the retiree’s total annual compensation,
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