Updated October 21, 2026. Quick answer: The LACERS Tier 1 summary plan description says a member who becomes disabled while active may be eligible for a Disability Retirement, that the condition need not be job-related, and that the allowance is generally one-third of Final Compensation. It requires five or more years of Continuous Service and says the application must be filed within 12 months of the last day on the City payroll (or within 12 months of the final settlement date for a related Workers’ Compensation claim), or the eligibility is lost.
What this covers
The Disability Retirement section opens “If you become disabled while an active Member, you may be eligible for a Disability Retirement.” It continues “Your disabling condition need not be job-related, but it must prevent you from performing your regular job duties.” The Los Angeles Administrative Code adds a condition on the Board’s finding. Section 4.1008(b), as restated by Ordinance No. 182629 (2013), says the member is retired “if said Board finds that such disability was not due to intemperance or the willful misconduct of such member, the member shall be retired”. It has the member examined by “at least three regularly licensed, practicing physicians selected by the Board, unless the member is terminally ill, in which case the Board shall only require the member to be examined by one such physician selected by the Board.” This page follows that section and quotes it. The wider set of LACERS choices is on LACERS retirement decisions and public pension retirement decisions.
The allowance
The document says “A Disability Retirement Allowance is generally paid as one-third of your Final Compensation.” “Your allowance may be larger if you have over 23.3 years of City Service.” It adds “A Disability Retirement Allowance is not tax-free.”
It also flags a case where the other benefit pays more: “If you become disabled, but have over 15.4 years of Service Credit and are eligible for a Normal Service Retirement, you may be paid more from a Service Retirement than a Disability Retirement.” “A Disability Retirement Allowance is determined by a different formula than a Service Retirement Allowance.”
Eligibility and the filing deadline
The document says “You become eligible to apply for a Disability Retirement after you have five or more years of Continuous Service (City employment and/or full reciprocal service).”
On timing it says “You must file your Disability Retirement application with LACERS within 12 months of your last day on the City payroll or within 12 months of the final settlement date for a related Workers’ Compensation claim.” “If you do not apply in time, you lose your eligibility for this benefit.”
The Administrative Code words the deadline differently. Section 4.1008(a), as restated by Ordinance No. 182629 (2013), says “Any such application may be made at any time within, but not exceeding, one (1) year after the discontinuance of the service of such employee or the termination of any duly authorized sick leave with payment provided such incapacity has been continuous from the discontinuance of such service.” So the code runs the one year from the end of service or of paid sick leave and ties it to incapacity that has been continuous since service ended. The plan description’s Workers’ Compensation settlement-date alternative is not in that 2013 text, so ask LACERS before relying on it.
For a member short of the five-year test it lists what “may help you become eligible for Disability Retirement”: purchase of Workers’ Compensation “State rate” time, re-deposits, back contributions and reciprocity. The first three are covered on LACERS service credit purchases.
Processing, approval and medical review
The document says “It generally takes four to six months to complete the processing of your Disability Retirement application” because of medical examinations. On approval, “usually your allowance will be paid retroactively from the day after your last day on payroll.”
The allowance is not permanent by default: “Disability Retirement Allowances are payable while you remain disabled.” “you may be required to undergo periodic re-examinations.” “If you are found to no longer be disabled, you may be returned to active duty if you did not resign or have your employment terminated, and your Disability Retirement Allowance will cease.”
The Administrative Code limits who can be re-examined. Section 4.1008(e), as restated by Ordinance No. 182629 (2013), says “The Board may, from time to time in its discretion, require any beneficiary under the age of sixty (60) years who shall have been retired because of disability to submit to medical examination by three regularly licensed practicing physicians selected by the Board.” A disability retiree who has reached age 60 is outside that sentence.
A worked illustration, not a document example
Take an invented member whose monthly Final Compensation is $4,000. One-third of that, computed as 4,000 / 3, is $1,333.33 a month before taxes. The document’s 15.4-year comparison can be checked against its 2.16% Retirement Factor. The computed product 15.4 x 2.16% is 33.264%, which is just under one-third, so the service formula overtakes the one-third disability rule at about 15.4 years of Service Credit for a member who is eligible for it. The inputs are invented, and the illustration ignores the over-23.3-years rule and every tax and option effect.
What to do and where to look
The document’s first step is to contact a LACERS Disability Counselor. Weighing a disability allowance against a service retirement is a separate question for your own numbers. The tax treatment of the pension payments is on whether California taxes pensions.
Edition
This page reads Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (LACERS), Tier 1 Benefits Summary Plan Description, the current file LACERS served on 2026-10-21. It covers Tier 1 only (members who joined on or before February 20, 2016); Tier 3 members have a separate summary plan description that this page does not read. Check the edition, your tier and your own membership record with LACERS; the document’s text controls over this summary.
Common mistakes
- Missing the deadline. The document says “If you do not apply in time, you lose your eligibility for this benefit.”
- Assuming the condition must be job-related. The document says it “need not be job-related”.
- Assuming the allowance is permanent. The document says it is “payable while you remain disabled.”
Related: LACERS retirement decisions, public pension retirement decisions, survivor benefits with a government pension, and whether California taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (LACERS), Tier 1 Benefits Summary Plan Description: www.lacers.org
- Related official page (not quoted): LACERS home page: www.lacers.org
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Topic no. 410, Pensions and annuity income: www.irs.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Publication 575, Pension and Annuity Income: www.irs.gov
Read from the pension system handbooks linked above on October 21, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a pension system or a qualified professional is the right place to confirm anything consequential.