N.Y. General Municipal Law § 217: General requirements of a service award program

§ 217. General requirements of a service award program. No volunteer

fire department, volunteer fire company, fire district, fire protection

district, village, town or city, shall be required under this article to

provide service award benefits for its active volunteer firefighters.

Any service awards provided to an active volunteer firefighter under

this article shall be governed by the provisions of section two hundred

eighteen in the case of defined contribution plans, section two hundred

nineteen in the case of defined benefit plans and in either case by the

provisions of sections two hundred fourteen, two hundred fifteen, two

hundred sixteen and two hundred nineteen-a of this article. No service

award program may be provided under this article unless the following

requirements are met:

(a) An active volunteer firefighter must be eligible to participate in

any service award program provided under this article if the active

volunteer firefighter has reached the age of eighteen and has completed

at least one year of firefighting service. The sponsor of the service

award program may impose younger age or shorter length of service

requirements for participation in the service award program.

(b) A participant shall have a nonforfeitable right to a percentage of

a service award that is not less than the percentage determined under

the following table:

Years of Nonforfeitable

Firefighting Service Percentage

Less than 5 0

5 or more 100

Notwithstanding the preceding table, a participant shall have a one

hundred percent nonforfeitable right to his service award upon his

attainment of the entitlement age under the program. Each sponsor may

establish a percentage table that provides for a faster rate of becoming

nonforfeitable. Any amounts attributable to forfeiture of a

participant's service award shall be used to reduce contributions for

other service award program participants and shall not in any case be

used to increase benefits for other participants. The preceding shall

not preclude amendment of a service award program to provide for an

increase in benefits.

(c) A year of firefighting service shall be credited under a service

award program for each calendar year after establishment of the program

in which an active volunteer firefighter accumulates at least fifty

points. Points shall be granted in accordance with a system adopted by

the program sponsor. Such system shall provide that points shall be

granted for activities designated by the program sponsor, which

activities shall be selected from the following:

(i) Training courses -- twenty-five points maximum.

(A) Courses under twenty hours duration -- one point per hour, with a

maximum of five points.

(B) Courses of twenty to forty-five hours duration -- one point per

hour for each hour over initial twenty hours, with a maximum of ten

points.

(C) Courses over forty-five hours to one hundred hours duration --

fifteen points per course.

(D) Courses over one hundred hours duration -- twenty-five points per

course.

(ii) Drills -- twenty points maximum. One point per drill (minimum two

hour drill).

(iii) Sleep-in or stand-by -- twenty points maximum.

(A) Sleep-in -- one point each full night.

(B) Stand-by -- one point each. A stand-by is defined as line of duty

activity of the volunteer fire company, lasting for four hours, not

falling under one of the other categories.

(iv) Elected or appointed position (see definition) -- twenty-five

points maximum.

(A) Completion of one year term in an elected or appointed position.

If the term of office for a firefighter who has been elected or

appointed to a position in a fire company or fire department commences

during the month of May, the participant shall receive credit for the

full year notwithstanding the fact that the participant has not

completed one year in the elected or appointed position at the end of

the calendar year in which he or she was elected or appointed.

(B) An active volunteer firefighter elected to serve as a delegate to

a firefighters' convention shall also be eligible to receive one point

per meeting.

(v) Attendance at meetings -- twenty points maximum.

Attendance at any official meetings of the volunteer fire company --

one point per meeting.

(vi) Participation in department responses -- twenty-five points for

responding on the minimum number of calls, as outlined below:

(A) Total number of calls 0 500 1000 1500

volunteer fire company re- to to to and

sponds to annually other 500 1000 1500 up

than emergency rescue and

first aid squad calls (am-

bulance calls)

Minimum number of calls vol- 10% 7.5% 5% 2.5%

unteer firefighter must run

annually in order to receive

twenty-five points credit

(B) Total number of calls 0 500 1000 1500

emergency rescue and first to to to and

aid squad (ambulance) 500 1000 1500 up

Minimum number of calls vol- 10% 7.5% 5% 2.5%

unteer firefighter must run

annually in order to receive

twenty-five points credit

(vii) Miscellaneous activities -- maximum fifteen points.

Participation in inspections and other activities covered by the

volunteer firefighters' benefit law and not otherwise listed -- one

point per activity.

(viii) In the event that any active volunteer firefighter is either

totally and temporarily disabled, or partially and permanently disabled,

as certified by the workers' compensation board or other competent

authority approved by the sponsor of the service award program, and the

disability occurs during the course of service as a volunteer, while

actively engaged in providing line of duty services, as defined in

subdivision one of section five of the volunteer firefighters' benefit

law, the firefighter shall receive five points for each full month of

such disability.

(ix) Teaching fire prevention classes--five points maximum. An active

volunteer firefighter who at the direction of his company, district or

department, and for no remuneration, presents a public education class

on fire prevention to a school, not-for-profit corporation, or civic

organization organized and existing under the laws of this state or

authorized to conduct activities in this state--one point per class.

The program sponsor may designate less than all the activities

specified in this subdivision as activities for which points may be

earned.

(d) An active volunteer firefighter's service award program may

provide for the crediting of years of active firefighting service for

periods prior to the establishment of such program to a maximum of five

years of active firefighting service per participant but only to the

extent authorized pursuant to section two hundred sixteen of this

article.

(e) In order to provide credit for service prior to the establishment

of the service award program, each sponsor shall review its prior

membership rosters to determine the number of years credit for each

participant who is entitled to credit. In making the analysis, the

standards for active service set forth in subdivision (c) of this

section and adopted by the sponsor shall be used. Approval for such

prior service shall require certification by the president, secretary

and chief of the volunteer fire company. In the event an active

volunteer firefighter requests credit for service in more than one

volunteer fire company, each such company shall provide a certification

for the appropriate number of years.

(g) An active volunteer firefighter whose name does not appear on the

approved certified list or who is denied credit for service prior to the

establishment of the service award program shall have the right to

appeal within thirty days of posting of the list or within thirty days

of denial of past service credit. The appeal shall be in writing and

mailed to the clerk or secretary of the governing board of such

political subdivision, which shall investigate the appeal. The decision

of the authorities in control of each volunteer fire company shall be

subject to appropriate judicial review.

(h) An active volunteer firefighter's service award program may

designate that benefits thereunder may be paid in the form of a lump

sum, a life annuity with or without survivor benefits, period certain

annuities, or any other form provided under the program. All forms of

benefit payments shall be actuarially equivalent to each other. The

sponsor may limit the forms of benefit payment under a service award

program or impose conditions concerning the availability of such

benefits. Nothing in this subdivision shall require a sponsor of a

service award program to purchase annuity contracts from an insurance

company.

(i) A participant whose volunteer fire service is interrupted by

full-time extended obligatory military service or by a single voluntary

enlistment not to exceed four years in the armed forces of the United

States shall be considered on military leave. During such period of

military leave, the participant shall receive active volunteer service

credit of fifty points for each full year, prorated for service of less

than a year.

(j) All program assets shall be held in trust for the exclusive

purpose of providing benefits to participants and their beneficiaries or

for the purpose of defraying the reasonable expenses of the operation

and administration of the program. If the service award program and the

related trust are not tax qualified within the meaning of sections 401

and 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (68A Stat 3, 26 U.S.C. 401

and 501), the trust referred to in this subdivision may provide that the

assets held thereunder may be subject to the claims of general

creditors, if any, of the sponsor or may contain such other terms and

provisions as are necessary to insure that the participation by an

active volunteer firefighter in the service award program does not

result in taxable income to such volunteer firefighter under any

provision of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

(k) Every fiduciary of a service award program will be required to act

solely in the interest of the program's participants and beneficiaries.

Subject only to the provisions of the program document, a fiduciary may

accept, hold, invest in and retain any investment if purchased or

retained in the exercise of the degree of judgment and care, under the

circumstances then prevailing, which persons of prudence and

intelligence exercise in the management of their own affairs, not in

regard to speculation, but in regard to permanent disposition of their

funds, considering the probable income to be derived therefrom as well

as the probable safety of their capital.

(l) No service award provided under the program may be assigned or

alienated except to provide for the legally obligated support of minor

children or spouse.

(m) A participant who is convicted of the crime of arson in any degree

as defined in the penal law shall not be eligible to receive benefits

from a service award program and shall forfeit any and all rights he or

she may have had to past or future benefits pursuant to a service award

program.

(n) An active volunteer firefighters' service award program may

provide for the crediting of years of active firefighting service for

periods after an active volunteer firefighter has reached the

entitlement age and is receiving a service award.

(o) In the case of a state-administered service award program, the

state comptroller may promulgate rules and regulations prescribing

procedures and forms for the compilation and maintenance of records of

the points accumulated by each volunteer firefighter. Each fire company

participating in the state-administered program shall compile and

maintain such records in the manner prescribed.

(q) The program sponsor may make adjustments to the participation in

department responses point system category provided for in paragraph

(vi) of subdivision (c) of this section in the event that such program

sponsor adopts written emergency response protocols setting different

emergency response requirements for the fire department, fire companies,

squads and units thereof such that certain participants are not

permitted to respond and are restricted from responding to all

non-emergency rescue and first aid squad calls and/or all emergency

rescue and first aid squad calls. Such restrictions on response may

relate to determinations made by the district physician or department's

physician as to the duties that may be assigned to certain personnel. In

the event that the program sponsor adopts different response

requirements for different groups, participants in those groups shall be

required to respond to the minimum number of emergency calls assigned to

their group by applying the percentage provided for in paragraph (vi) of

subdivision (c) of this section. Notwithstanding the provisions of

section two hundred sixteen of this article, a point system amendment to

address written emergency response protocols may be adopted by the

affirmative vote of at least sixty percent of such governing board,

without referendum. Such amendment shall only take effect as of the

first day of January next succeeding the completion of the proceedings

required for adoption of the amendment and shall only apply

prospectively unless the new written emergency response protocol is

adopted in order to address a state disaster emergency, as such term is

defined in section twenty of the executive law, and applicable to the

county or counties in which the fire department operates, in which case

such amendment may be applied in the year adopted.