Alaska § 14.25.157 - Occupational death benefits.

§ 14.25.157. Occupational death benefits.

 (a) If (1) the death of a member occurs before the member first attains eligibility for normal retirement, and (2) the proximate cause of death is a bodily injury sustained or hazard undergone while in the performance and within the scope of the member's duties of employment, and (3) the injury or hazard is not the proximate result of wilful negligence on the part of the member, the administrator shall pay a monthly survivor's pension equal to 40 percent of the member's base salary at the time of termination of employment, divided by 12, to the member's surviving spouse. If there is no surviving spouse, the administrator shall pay the monthly survivor's pension in equal parts to the dependent children of the member. On the date the normal retirement of the member would have occurred if the member had lived, monthly payments must equal the monthly amount of the normal retirement benefit to which the member, had the member lived and continued employment until the member's normal retirement date, would have been entitled with an average base salary as existed at the member's death and the credited service to which the member would have been entitled. If the member does not have a spouse or dependent children at the time of death or if the member designates as beneficiary under AS 14.25.166 someone other than the surviving spouse or dependent children, the administrator shall pay the member's designated beneficiary those benefits available to a beneficiary under AS 14.25.160 (b) and (c) and may not pay a benefit to the surviving spouse or dependent children.

 (b) The first payment of the surviving spouse's pension or of a dependent child's pension shall accrue from the first day of the month following the member's death and is payable the last day of the month. The last payment shall be made for the last month in which there is an eligible surviving spouse or dependent child.

 (c) Benefits are not payable under this section if benefits are payable under AS 14.25.155 , 14.25.160, 14.25.162, 14.25.164, or 14.25.167.

 (d) If a member's death is caused by an act of assault, assassination, or terrorism directly related to the person's status as a member, whether the act occurs on or off the member's job site, the death shall be considered to have occurred in the performance of and within the scope of the member's duties for purposes of (a)(2) of this section. If the expressed or apparent motive and intent of the perpetrator of the harm inflicted upon the member was due to the performance of the member's job duties or employment as a member, the death shall be considered to be directly related to the member's status as a member. A member's job duties are those performed within the course and scope of the member's employment with an employer.