Illinois Code § 7-116

§ 7-116.

"Final rate of earnings": (a) For retirement and survivor annuities, the monthly earnings obtained by dividing the total earnings received by the employee during the period of either (1) for Tier 1 regular employees, the 48 consecutive months of service within the last 120 months of service in which his total earnings were the highest, (2) for Tier 2 regular employees, the 96 consecutive months of service within the last 120 months of service in which his total earnings were the highest, or (3) the employee's total period of service, by the number of months of service in such period. (b) For death benefits, the higher of the rate determined under paragraph (a) of this Section or total earnings received in the last 12 months of service divided by twelve. If the deceased employee has less than 12 months of service, the monthly final rate shall be the monthly rate of pay the employee was receiving when he began service. (c) For disability benefits, the total earnings of a participating employee in the last 12 calendar months of service prior to the date he becomes disabled divided by 12. (d) In computing the final rate of earnings: (1) the earnings rate for all periods of prior service shall be considered equal to the average earnings rate for the last 3 calendar years of prior service for which creditable service is received under Section 7-139 or, if there is less than 3 years of creditable prior service, the average for the total prior service period for which creditable service is received under Section 7-139; (2) for out of state service and authorized leave, the earnings rate shall be the rate upon which service credits are granted; (3) periods of military leave shall not be considered; (4) the earnings rate for all periods of disability shall be considered equal to the rate of earnings upon which the employee's disability benefits are computed for such periods; (5) the earnings to be considered for each of the final three months of the final earnings period for persons who first became participants before January 1, 2012 and the earnings to be considered for each of the final 24 months for participants who first become participants on or after January 1, 2012 shall not exceed 125% of the highest earnings of any other month in the final earnings period; and (6) the annual amount of final rate of earnings shall be the monthly amount multiplied by the number of months of service normally required by the position in a year. (Source: P.A. 102-210, eff. 1-1-22.)