(a) Any employee of the City of Prichard, except as herein otherwise provided, who has been in the service of the city for as long as 20 years, the last four years of which, counting a major fraction of a year as a full year, have been continuous, and who is then employed by the city, upon his or her making application to the city council of the city, shall be retired from service as an employee without medical examination or disability. Any employee who has been in the service of the city for as long as 20 years, the last four years of which, counting a major fraction of a year as a full year, have been continuous, and whose employment has been terminated prior to his or her making application for retirement from service as an employee of the city shall be entitled to make application for retirement as an employee without medical examination or disability as if he or she were yet an employee of the city provided such application is made in writing to the city council of the city within 60 days from the date his or her employment was terminated, and be entitled to the benefits accorded by this part; provided, that in the event that the employee had withdrawn any of his or her contributions at the end of any prior period or periods of employment such contributions shall be repaid by him or her, including interest at the rate of four percent per annum, prior to the commencement of any benefits due him or her under the plan which are based on the inclusion of the prior period or periods of service.
(b) In the event of the discharge, without just cause, of any permanent employee, who has served as many as 10 continuous years, such person shall, upon reaching the age of 55 be entitled to and receive from the fund an annual pension, payable in monthly installments, equal to two and one-half percent of his or her annual compensation at the time of his or her discharge, or two and one-half percent of the average annual compensation of such employee over the then past four calendar years, whichever shall be the greater for each year or major fraction thereof that the employee shall have served at the time of dismissal.
(c) Upon retirement in the manner provided for by this part, the City Council of the City of Prichard shall direct the payment to such retiring person monthly from the fund a sum equal to the compensation or salary received by such retiring person as salary in the service or employment of the city at the time of his or her retirement or termination or the average compensation of such employee over the past four calendar years, whichever is greater, multiplied by the percentage applicable from the table below:
| Years Service | Percentage |
| 20 | 50 |
| 21 | 51 |
| 22 | 52 |
| 23 | 53 |
| 24 | 54 |
provided, however, that such payments to the retired person shall not commence or be effective until the person has attained the age of 55 years.
(d) Upon the election of the employee, however, the pension as described in the foregoing sentences to which the employee is entitled upon reaching age 55 shall commence at the earlier of the dates when the employee attains the age of 55 or reaches the twentieth anniversary of his or her employment date with the City of Prichard, whichever date first occurs. In the event of such election of the commencement of his or her pension by any employee before age 55, as above, the amount of the pension to which he or she becomes entitled will be the actuarial equivalent of the amount of the pension to which the employee would have become entitled upon reaching age 55. The actuarially equivalent pension shall reflect the lost interest due to the earlier commencement of the pension payments and the longer life expectancy of the employee at his or her earlier age, and shall be determined by the actuary employed by the City Council of the City of Prichard using in his or her calculations the interest and mortality assumptions employed by him or her in his or her most recent valuation of the liabilities under the fund as of the date of any such election by an employee.
(e) It is provided, however, that the word consecutive as used in the foregoing section shall not be construed to the effect that any employee of the city, otherwise entitled to participate in the municipal employees pension and relief fund shall be penalized or shall have taken from him or her any length of service with the city by reason of him or her having obtained a leave of absence or otherwise been temporarily out of the employ of the city, and such leave of absence or other non-employment of the employee shall be approved by the city council of the city.
Last modified: May 3, 2021