DISABILITY INSURANCE PROGRAM ON-LINE FORM

• The State of Delaware will offer a new disability benefits program to participants in the State Employees' Pension Plan who are employed as of January 01, 2006.

• The new disability insurance program, which includes both short-term and long-term disability plans, will address several inadequacies in the current disability benefits provided through the State Employees' Pension Plan and the lack of a short-term disability plan.

If you become disabled, you are eligible to apply for a disability pension if you have completed five consecutive years of credited service, not counting any claimed or purchased service other than purchased service for sabbatical leave and military service (interrupting employment). Your application is subject to the approval and review of the Medical Committee of the Board of Pension Trustees. During the application process, you will be kept on the active payroll from the inception of your disability to the end of the third month during which you will receive payments at the same rate of compensation you received before you became disabled. You will receive service credit for this period; however, it cannot be used for eligibility purposes.

Your eligibility ceases at the end of the month in which you recover and are offered employment as an employee. Termination of a disability pension does not affect your right to qualify for a regular pension or another disability pension.

You are considered eligible for a disability pension if you have a physical or mental disability which prevents you from performing the duties of your position. If you apply for a disability pension, your examining physician must submit a report on a form supplied by the Office of Pensions. The Medical committee of the Board of Pension Trustees then reviews your case and makes a recommendation to the Executive Secretary to the Board of Pension Trustees, who either grants or denies the application.

Your disability pension will be reduced to the extent that earnings from any gainful occupation or business after you become disabled exceed one-half of your annual rate of compensation received before you became disabled, adjusted annually by any percentage increase in the total "Median Usual Weekly Earnings" as published by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Until you are age 60, you must report annually to the Board of Pension Trustees by April 30 the total of such earnings for the previous calendar year. A form for this purpose will be supplied by the Office of Pensions. After age 60, no earnings limitation applies.