A. Accidental Disability: A physical or mental condition that the Local Board finds totally and permanently prevents an employee from performing a reasonable range of duties within the employee's department. The condition must have been incurred in the performance of the employee's duties and the result of physical contact with inmates, prisoners, parolees or persons on probation, responding to a confrontational situation with inmates, prisoners, parolees or persons on probation or a job-related motor vehicle accident while on official business.

B. Accumulated Member Contributions: The sum of all member contributions deducted from a member's salary and paid to the fund, plus member contributions transferred to CORP from another State of Arizona retirement plan covering public employees, plus previously withdrawn accumulated member contributions which are repaid to CORP in accordance with the Arizona Revised Statutes, minus any benefits paid to or on behalf of a member.

C. Actuarial Present Value: The cost of the increase in benefits that a member will receive for his expected lifetime. This increase is based primarily on the number of years of service that the member buys back and his anticipated age at retirement. The Actuarial Present Value is calculated by a group of independent statisticians who compute insurance risks and premiums.

D. Average Monthly Salary: The combined amount of salary paid to a member by a participating employer during a period of 36 consecutive months of service in which a member received the highest salary within the last 10 years of service. (If a member has less than 36 months of service, Average Monthly Salary is the combined amount of salary paid to a member divided by the member's months of service).

E. Beneficiary: An individual who is being paid or who has entitlement to the future payment of benefits by reason of another individual's membership in CORP.

F. Claimant: A member, beneficiary or estate that files an application for benefits with the retirement plan.

G. Credited Service: Those paid periods of service as a member of the retirement plan for which member contributions are on deposit in the fund, plus credited service transferred to the retirement plan from another retirement system or plan for public employees of this State.

H. Defined Benefits: A retirement plan in which an employee’s future retirement benefit is determined by a specific formula. Under this plan the employer saves and invests the funds in a common investment system to finance benefits. The benefits are normally tied to the employee’s earnings, length of service or both.

I. Defined Contribution Plan: A retirement plan in which contributions are accrued in an individual’s personal account to be managed and invested by the individual. The amount of a member’s future retirement benefit is based upon the amount of money on account at the time of retirement.

J. Employee: A person determined by the local board to be employed by a participating employer in a CORP-designated position.

K. Employer: An agency or department of this State which has one or more employees in a CORP-designated position. In this handbook, the employer is the Arizona Department of Corrections.

L. Fund: Accumulated monies of CORP.

M. Fund Manager: A five member Board appointed by the Governor and Legislature charged with oversight of the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System.

N. Local Board: A Retirement Board consisting of persons appointed or elected to administer the CORP Retirement Plan as it applies to the employer’s members of CORP.

O. Member: A full-time employee in a CORP-designated position who works at least 40 hours a week and for more than six months in a calendar year.

P. Participating employer: An employer which the fund manager has determined to have one or more employees in a CORP-designated position.

Q. Pension: A series of monthly payments by CORP.

R. Retired member: An individual who is being paid a benefit as a result of the individual's membership in CORP.

S. Retirement: Termination of employment after a member has fulfills all requirements for a pension.

T. Retirement Plan or Plan: The Corrections Officer Retirement Plan (CORP).

U. Salary: The base pay including shift differential pay and holiday pay paid to a member in a CORP-designated position that is paid on a regular monthly, semimonthly or biweekly payroll basis.

V. Service: Employment rendered to a participating employer as an employee in a CORP-designated position. Any absence that is authorized by an employer, including any periods during which the employee is on an employer sponsored long-term disability program, is considered as service if the employee returns or is deemed by the employer to have returned to a CORP-designated position within the period of the authorized absence.

W. Survivor: Surviving spouse, child or designated beneficiary of a deceased member.

X. Total and Permanent Disability: A physical or mental condition that is not an accidental disability, that the Local Board finds totally and permanently prevents a member from engaging in any gainful employment and that is the direct and proximate result of the member's performance of his duty as an employee of an employer.