In this Division, the following words and phrases have the following meanings:
Administrator means either the Chief Administrative Officer or the entity that contracts with the County to administer this disability plan.
Applicant means an employee who has filed an application for benefits under Division 2 of Article VIII, or for whom the Chief Administrative Officer has filed an application.
Certified representative means an employee organization certified under Sections 33-79, 33-106, or 33-151 to represent a bargaining unit. Continued non-service-connected disability means a condition of the employee that:
(1) continues after the period of initial non-service-connected disability closes;
(2) makes the employee unable to engage in any available employment commensurate with the employee’s training or retraining, education, and experience; and
(3) is likely to be permanent.
Continued service-connected disability for a non-public safety employee means a condition of a non-public safety employee that:
(1) continues after the period of initial service-connected disability closes;
(2) makes the employee unable to engage in available employment commensurate with the employee’s training or retraining, education, and experience; and
(3) is likely to be permanent.
Continued service-connected disability for a public safety employee means a condition of a public safety employee that:
(1) continues after the period of initial service-connected disability closes;
(2) makes the employee unable to:
(A) engage in available employment commensurate with the employee’s training or retraining, education, and experience; and
(B) earn substantially similar final earnings; and
(3) is likely to be permanent.
County means Montgomery County Government and, when applicable, any agency that adopts this plan under an adoption agreement approved by the Chief Administrative Officer.
Disability Arbitration Board or Board means the 3 persons designated under Section 33-43(m) to review an appeal of the final decision of the Administrator regarding an application for disability benefits. Disability Review Panel or Panel means the 4 medical doctors appointed as Panel members by the Chief Administrative Officer under Section 33-43(c). Employee means a County employee who:
(1) participates in the retirement savings plan under this Article or in the elected officials’ plan under Article III or the guaranteed retirement income plan under Article III; and
(2) is regularly scheduled to work 20 hours or more per week.
Final earnings means the annual average of the regular salary of an employee less any shift pay differential for the 18-month period immediately before the disability or any period of 18 consecutive months, whichever is greater. If a participant is required to take any furlough, as defined in personnel regulations adopted under Section 33-7(b) or a collective bargaining agreement, final earnings must include any amount the participant would have received if the participant had not been required to take any furlough. Initial non-service-connected disability means a condition of an employee that:
(1) is the natural and proximate result of an accident, illness, or injury;
(2) is not due to the employee’s willful misconduct or willful negligence;
(3) makes the employee incapable of performing the job that the employee performed immediately before the accident, illness, or injury; and
(4) is not an initial service-connected disability.
Initial service-connected disability means a condition of an employee that:
(1) is the natural and proximate result of an accident, illness, or injury occurring, an occupational disease incurred, or a condition aggravated while in the performance of duty as an employee;
(2) is not due to the employee’s willful misconduct or willful negligence; and
(3) makes the employee incapable of performing the job that the employee performed immediately before the accident, illness, or injury.
Medical doctor means a doctor of medicine or osteopathy who graduated from a medical school accredited by the American Medical Association and is licensed to practice medicine in Maryland.
Non-public safety employee means any employee who is not a public safety employee.
Partial incapacity means a member’s inability to perform one or more essential functions of the position the member holds because of impairment that:
(1) is unlikely to resolve in the next 12 months;
(2) may be permanent; and
(3) does not prevent the member from performing any other substantial gainful activity.
Plan means the disability benefits plan established under this Division.
Public safety employee means any employee who is a:
(1) sworn, ranking officer of the Police Department;
(2) paid firefighter, paid fire officer, or paid rescue service employee of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service;
(3) sworn deputy sheriff;
(4) correctional officer; or
(5) County employee who provides services to a correctional facility and designated as a public safety employee by the Chief Administrative Officer.
Residual functional capacity means what the individual can still do, despite the individual’s impairment. The County must give the term residual functional capacity the same meaning as the term is given by the Social Security Administration.
Substantial gainful activity means a level of productive work that requires significant physical or mental duties, or a combination of both, performed for pay or profit on a full-time or part-time basis. An individual is able to perform a substantial level of work if the individual is able to earn more than the Social Security Administration’s current monthly earnings limit for a disabled person. The County must give the term substantial gainful activity the same meaning as the term is given by the Social Security Administration.
Total Incapacity means the member’s inability to perform substantial gainful activity because of an impairment that:
(1) is unlikely to resolve in the next 12 months; and
(2) may be permanent. (1994 L.M.C., ch. 13, § 2; 1998 L.M.C., ch. 30, § 1; , § 1; , § 1; , § 1; , § 1; , § 1; , § 1; , § 1; , § 1; , § 1.)
