15-5-122 shall be the first laid off. If more than one (1)

15-5-122 shall be the first laid off. If more than one (1) person were employed in accordance with W.S. 15-5-122 simultaneously, and those persons were employed after the person last certified for employment, the person with the least seniority for his previous employing entity shall be the first laid off.

(b) If a disabled, paid fireman, drawing a disability pension, becomes fit for active duty and his disability pension is discontinued within eighteen (18) months from the date of disability, he shall be returned to service in the department without any loss of rank, seniority or other privileges, provided he has not been discharged or reduced in grade for cause.

(c) Former firemen who have been laid off within two (2) years because of reduction in force, and firemen who have been on a disability pension for more than eighteen (18) months but who have thereafter become fit for active duty, shall be given a priority, in the order of their original employment, upon application for any vacancy which cannot be filled by personnel then within the department, provided that the former firemen and formerly disabled firemen are then persons of good standing and qualified for the vacancy.

15-5-116. Politically related activities prohibited.

No officer or employee of a department shall discharge or change the amount of compensation of any other officer or employee, or promise or threaten to do so, for giving, withholding or neglecting to make contributions or perform services for any political purpose, nor shall any officer or employee solicit political contributions from any civil service employee.

15-5-117. Duties of commission; employee roster.

The commission shall keep at its office a roster showing the name, residence, position, date employed, compensation and duties of each person in the service. The commission has access to all public records and papers.

15-5-118. Duties of commission; employee certification.

The commission shall certify to the city clerk the names of employees in the service, stating in each case the character and date of commencement of service and any change in service. The governing body shall not allow a bill for service, nor shall the city clerk issue a warrant for the payment of any compensation to any person not so certified.

15-5-119. Duties of commission; rules; other powers.

(a) The commission, together with a committee of three (3) designated by the mayor from the governing body shall adopt, and the commission shall enforce all rules and regulations necessary for the government of their proceedings. The commission shall:

(i) Adopt rules for:

(A) The classification of employment; and

(B) Promotion on the basis of merit, experience and good record.

(ii) Prepare eligibility lists from which vacancies are to be filled;

(iii) Prescribe the procedure for the investigation of breaches of rules and regulations.

(b) The commission may compel the attendance of witnesses and do all other things necessary to carry out the purposes and intent of this article.

15-5-120. Prohibitions with respect to examinations.

(a) No person shall willfully or corruptly, by himself or in cooperation with anyone else:

(i) Defeat, deceive or obstruct any person in respect to his rights to examination;

(ii) Falsely mark, grade, estimate or report upon the examination or proper standing of any person examined, or aid in doing so;  (iii) Make any false representations concerning the examination or the person examined;

(iv) Furnish to any person any special or secret information for the purpose of improving or injuring the prospects or chances of any person examined or to be examined, appointed, employed or promoted.

15-5-121. Penalties.

Any person who violates any provision of this article is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00), or imprisonment for not more than thirty (30) days, or both.

15-5-122. Fire and police services provided under cooperative agreements; exemption from civil service provisions; service credit.

(a) The examination, preference and initial employment criteria of W.S. 15-5-105 through 15-5-108 shall not apply to a person employed in a fire or police department if:

(i) The person was employed by a fire, emergency medical or police department of a county, special district, joint powers board or municipality not subject to this article;

(ii) The person becomes employed by a municipality subject to this article as a result of a contract or agreement between the municipality and the person's previous employing entity to jointly provide fire, emergency medical services or police protection pursuant to W.S. 18-2-108, 16-1-101 or the Wyoming Joint Powers Act; and

(iii) The new employing municipality agrees to apply the provisions of this section to the person.

(b) A person meeting the conditions of subsection (a) of this section shall:

(i) Be credited with his years of employment in his position for the previous employing entity for purposes of classification under this article, including, but not limited to, the provisions of W.S. 15-5-109. Employment for the previous employing entity shall not be credited for purposes of W.S. 15-5-115, except as between persons employed pursuant to this section simultaneously;

(ii) Not be considered to be employed in violation of the maximum age requirement for purposes of W.S. 15-5-204(d).

ARTICLE 2 - FIREMEN PENSIONS AND DEATH BENEFITS

15-5-201. Definitions.

(a) As used in this article:

(i) Repealed by Laws 1981, ch. 41, § 3.

(ii) "Benefit unit" means each of the following:

(A) Each paid fireman;

(B) Each person receiving a monthly pension under W.S. 15-5-204;

(C) Each person receiving a disability pension under W.S. 15-5-204;

(D) Each account of a deceased or retired fireman from which monthly pension payments are being made to any person under W.S. 15-5-205 and 15-5-206.

(iii) "Compensation Act" means the Wyoming Worker's Compensation Act, W.S. 27-14-101 through 27-14-902;

(iv) "Fireman first class" means the highest salary grade which a fireman can obtain within his department without any promotion in rank. The term specifically excludes chiefs, officers, engineers, fire equipment operators, secretaries, mechanics, inspectors and all other specialized grades, ratings and ranks;

(v) Repealed by Laws 1981, ch. 41, § 3.

(vi) Repealed by Laws 1981, ch. 41, § 3.

(vii) Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 90, § 3.

(viii) "Injured, disabled or killed in the line of duty" means that a paid or volunteer fireman is injured or disabled when he meets with bodily or mental injury while actually engaged in the repair, upkeep or care of fire apparatus, or in the performance of duties prescribed in the maintenance and operation of a fire department;

(ix) "Maximum monthly salary of a fireman first class" means the gross monthly salary of a fireman first class, including the greatest longevity or additional monthly salary increase for length of service, as established by the city, town or county which employed the retired, disabled or deceased paid fireman, and including contributions required by W.S. 15-5-203;

(x) "Minimum annual cash requirement of the account" means the amount of cash needed to meet the known required disbursements from the firemen's pension account during the upcoming fiscal year, reduced by the anticipated cash account balance of the firemen's pension account on hand at the end of the current fiscal year;

(xi) "Paid fireman" means an individual regularly employed and paid by any city, town, county or fire protection district for devoting his entire time of employment to the care, operation and requirements of a regularly constituted fire department;

(xii) Repealed by Laws 1981, ch. 41, § 3.

(xiii) "Twenty years active service" means that an individual's principal means of livelihood for twenty (20) years has been employment by one (1) or more cities, towns, counties or fire protection districts as a member of a regularly constituted fire department and that the individual has been carried on the payrolls thereof for that period of time;

(xiv) "Volunteer fireman" means an individual who devotes less than his entire time of employment to, but who is carried on the rolls of a regularly constituted fire department, the members of which may be partly paid and partly volunteer. Payment of compensation for services actually rendered by enrolled volunteers does not take them out of this classification. Any individual who volunteers assistance but is not regularly enrolled as a fireman is not a volunteer within the meaning of this article;

(xv) "Board" means the retirement board created by W.S. 9-3-404;  (xvi) "Employer" means any incorporated municipality, county or fire protection district offering fire protection or public safety services employing one (1) or more members;

(xvii) "Surviving spouse" shall not include any person who was first married to a paid fireman or retired fireman on or after April 1, 2022.

15-5-202. Pension account; creation; administration; donations; investment; dual participation prohibited.

(a) There is created a firemen's pension account for the purpose of paying the awards, benefits and pensions under the provisions of this article. The account shall be administered by the board through the director. The board has full custody and control of the account with full power over its administration. The director of the state department of audit or his designee shall make a biennial audit of the account and the receipts thereto and disbursements therefrom and report his findings to the governor and the legislature. The account shall be administered without liability on the part of the state beyond the amount of the funds. All expenses of administration shall be paid from the account.

(b) Repealed By Laws 1997, ch. 69, § 2.

(c) The board is empowered to:

(i) Receive and credit to the account any and all gifts, donations and contributions as may be made by individuals and organizations for the benefit of the account;

(ii) Invest all account monies not immediately necessary for disbursements in any of the securities and in any amounts authorized by W.S. 9-3-408.

(d) No paid fireman shall participate as a member of the firemen's pension account established under this article and as a member of the volunteer firefighter, EMT and search and rescue pension account established under W.S. 35-9-616 through 35-9-628 if participation is based upon covered service with the same fire department.

(e) There is created the Fire A legislative reserve account. Funds in the account shall only be expended for the purposes of funding the shortfall in Fire A as identified in the legislative findings under W.S. 15-5-211. Funds in the account shall be invested in the same manner as funds in the firemen's pension account created by W.S. 15-5-202 and all investment earnings from the Fire A legislative reserve account shall be credited to the Fire A legislative reserve account. Funds in the account shall only be expended if funds in the firemen's pension account are insufficient to provide benefits under this article. Funds in the Fire A legislative reserve account shall revert to the general fund once no person remains alive who is entitled to benefits under this article.

15-5-203. Firemen and employer contributions; imposition at discretion of board; amounts; how and when collected, suspended and reinstated.

(a) In addition to the amount appropriated to the firemen's pension account by W.S. 15-5-202, every paid fireman may, at the discretion of the board, be assessed not more than eight percent (8%) of his gross monthly salary for the use and benefit of the account, up to the maximum monthly salary of a fireman first class. Any salary assessment imposed under this subsection shall be withheld monthly from his salary by the treasurer or other disbursing officer of the city, town or county.

(b) Repealed by Laws 1981, ch. 41, § 3.

(c) Repealed by Laws 1981, ch. 41, § 3.

(d) Upon a determination by the board in accordance with subsection (g) of this section, every employer shall pay into the account for each paid fireman it employs an amount not to exceed twenty-one percent (21%) of the salary of a fireman first class. Any contributions imposed under this subsection, together with the paid firemen's contributions, shall be transferred and credited to the account in a manner as the board directs. If the contributions are not transferred to the board when due, they may be recovered, together with interest at the rate of ten percent (10%) per annum in an action brought for that purpose in the district court for the county in which the employer has its principal office.

(e) The contributions required by subsection (a) of this section shall be paid by the employer for paid firemen covered under this article in order to be treated as employer contributions for the sole purpose of determining tax treatment under the United States internal revenue code.  (f) The contributions under subsection (e) of this section shall be paid from the source of funds which is used in paying salary to paid firemen covered under this article. The employer may pay these contributions by a reduction in cash salary of the paid firemen or by an offset against a future salary increase, or by a combination of a reduction in salary and an offset against a future salary increase, provided:

(i) No such salary reduction or offset, or combination thereof, shall exceed the percentage amount actually being deducted from an employee's salary for contributions to the firemen's pension account as of July 1, 1983; and

(ii) Any employer may pay any amount of an employee's share of retirement contributions without a salary reduction or offset, or combination thereof.

(g) Based upon findings and recommendations of the Wyoming retirement system actuary, the board shall determine if contributions under subsections (a) and (d) of this section are necessary for the continued payment of benefits under this article. Any contributions imposed by the board upon paid firemen and employers shall bear the ratio provided for the maximum contribution rates authorized under subsections (a) and (d) of this section. If contributions are reinstated at any time following suspension of contributions, the board shall provide notice of reinstated contributions to firemen and employers not less than six (6) months prior to the date of imposition.

(h) In addition to any other contribution required or authorized by this section, on April 1, 2022 the board shall assess employers for contributions in a total amount of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000.00) in order to achieve a proper actuarial funding level for the firemen's pension account in accordance with the legislative findings under W.S 15-5-211. The total assessment under this subsection shall be paid proportionately by employers with payments allocated to each employer by the board based upon the number of retirees, surviving spouses or other dependents receiving benefits under this article from the firemen's pension account as of April 1, 2022. The state treasurer shall provide a loan to each employer for the payment required under this subsection which amounts shall be credited to the Fire A legislative reserve account. Loans under this subsection shall be repaid without interest over a period of twenty (20) years in equal payments in the time and manner required by the state treasurer and shall be deposited in the legislative stabilization reserve account. If repayment is not paid to the state treasurer when due, the state treasurer shall make the delinquent payment as provided in W.S.