AN ACT RELATIVE TO JOSEPH FERNANDES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Notwithstanding chapter 32 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the town of Norwood shall provide Joseph Fernandes, a police officer who sustained catastrophic and permanently disabling injuries in the line of duty, with a pension benefit that is equal to the amount he would have received as compensation if he had continued his duties as a Norwood police officer. The benefit shall be retroactive to the last date on which he received his regular compensation from the town of Norwood. Upon his retirement, the Norwood retirement system shall forthwith pay to Joseph Fernandes the amount of his accumulated total deductions in annuity savings and he shall be indemnified for all hospital, medical and related expenses incurred as a result of the injuries that caused his disability.
SECTION 2. Upon the death of Joseph Fernandes, if his wife shall survive him, she shall, so long as she remains unmarried, receive a surviving spouse pension benefit that is equal to 3/4 of the pension that was payable to Joseph Fernandes at his death. If his wife shall remarry or die, then the surviving spouse pension benefit shall be paid for the benefit of Joseph Fernandes' surviving child or children until they shall reach the age of 18 years.