N.Y. Retirement & Social Security Law § 70: Superannuation retirement

§ 70. Superannuation retirement. a. Any member may retire if such

member shall have attained at least the minimum retirement age while in

service as a member, or while in federal service, or in the service of

the United Nations or other international organizations of which the

United States is a member, as a member continued pursuant to paragraph

one of subdivision f of section forty of this article, or while entitled

to make application for a vested retirement allowance pursuant to

section seventy-six of this title. Any such member desiring to retire

shall execute and file with the comptroller an application for

retirement, which shall specify the effective date of such member's

retirement, which shall be not less than fifteen nor more than ninety

days subsequent to such date of filing. An application for service

retirement, filed hereunder in accordance with the provisions of

subdivision c of section sixty-two or subdivision f of section

sixty-three of this article, shall be processed in the regular manner,

provided that if the application filed simultaneously therewith under

either of such subdivisions is granted, then and in that event the

retirement allowance granted in accordance with the provisions of this

section shall be appropriately adjusted. Notwithstanding any other

provision of law, for any member who is eligible to retire, who has died

while in active service, and who has filed an application for service

retirement less than ninety days prior to death, such member's

designated option election beneficiary or beneficiaries, if an option

election has been filed prior to death, or the beneficiary or

beneficiaries designated for the death benefit, if no option election

was filed prior to death, shall have the option to choose the benefit

provided by service retirement rather than the death benefit, provided,

however that if the designated beneficiary elects the service retirement

benefit such person shall be required to choose an option as provided by

law. If the member's beneficiary or beneficiaries elect the service

retirement benefit, the member shall be deemed to have retired on the

day before the member's date of death. If there are multiple option

beneficiaries and such beneficiaries cannot agree on the choice between

the death benefit or the service retirement under an agreed upon option,

the service retirement benefit shall be payable under the option

election form filed by the member prior to such member's death. If there

are multiple death beneficiaries and such beneficiaries cannot agree on

the choice between the death benefit or the service retirement under an

agreed upon option, the death benefit shall be payable.

b. Any member who attains age seventy shall be retired on the first

day of the calendar month next succeeding such event. Such retirement

shall be on the basis of "Option One-half", unless the member files an

effective election pursuant to section ninety of this article to retire

on a different basis. If he shall have filed such an election, his

retirement allowance shall be computed in accordance with the basis so

selected by him. The provisions of this subdivision with respect to

mandatory retirement shall be inapplicable to:

1. An elective officer.

2. A judge.

3. A justice.

4. An official referee.

5. A person holding office by virtue of an appointment to fill a

vacancy in an elective office.

6. An employee of the port of New York authority.

7. A person who last became a member before April eleventh, nineteen

hundred forty-five, and who serves continuously after such date in one

or more of the following capacities:

(a) A clerk of a court, as provided in the constitution, article six,

section twenty-one.

(b) An appointee of the governor.

(c) An employee of the legislature drawing an annual salary, or

(d) A chaplain of a county penal institution having served as such

chaplain for not less than thirty years, or

8. A commissioner of elections.

c. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision b of this section,

the state civil service commission may approve the continuance in

service of members who have attained age seventy. Such approvals shall

be for periods not to exceed two years each. No such approval shall be

given unless:

1. The head of the department in which the member is employed shall

file a written statement with the comptroller approving such

continuance, and

2. The medical board shall certify that such member is physically fit

to perform the duties of his position, and

3. The state civil service commission shall find that:

(a) Such member is less than seventy-eight years of age, and

(b) His continuance in service would be advantageous because of his

expert knowledge and special qualifications.

The service of any such member may, however, be terminated at any time

by the head of the department in which he is employed, upon sixty days

written notice to such member.