Senate Bill No. 576
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[Originating in the Committee on Pensions;
reported March 1, 1995.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections fourteen and forty-eight,
article ten, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
increased pension benefit; reemployment after retirement; and
option for holder of elected public office.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections fourteen and forty-eight, article ten, chapter
five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 10. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT.
§5-10-14. Service credit.
(a) The board of trustees shall credit each member with the
prior service and contributing service to which he or she is
entitled based upon such rules and regulations as the board of
trustees shall from time to time adopt: Provided, That in no case shall less than ten days of service rendered by a member in any
calendar month be credited as a month of service; nor shall less
than ten months of service rendered in any calendar year be
credited as a year of service; nor shall more than one year of
service be credited any member for all service rendered by him or
her in any calendar year; nor shall any member who was not in the
employ of a political subdivision within a period of thirty years
immediately preceding the date the political subdivision became a
participating public employer be credited with prior service:
Provided, however, That said member is not required to have been
employed by a participating public employer of this state within a
period of fifteen years subsequent to the date that participating
public employer elected to become a participating employer.
(b) The board of trustees shall grant service credit to
employees of boards of health, the clerk of the House of Delegates
and the clerk of the state Senate, or to any former and present
member of the state teachers retirement system who have been
contributing members for more than three years, for service
previously credited by the state teachers retirement system and
shall require the transfer of the member's contributions to the
system and shall also require a deposit, with interest, of any
withdrawals of contributions any time prior to said member's
retirement. Repayment of withdrawals shall be as directed by the board of trustees.
(c) Court reporters who are acting in an official capacity,
although paid by funds other than the county commission or state
auditor, may receive prior service credit for such time as served
in such capacity.
(d) Employees of the state Legislature whose term of
employment is otherwise classified as temporary and who are
employed to perform services required by the Legislature for its
regular sessions or during the interim between regular sessions and
who have been or are so employed during regular sessions or during
the interim between sessions for eight or more years, may receive
service credit for the time as served in that capacity.
(e) Former justices of the peace and constables who continue
to actively serve as employees or elected officials of state or
local governments that are participating public employers shall be
entitled to credit for retirement purposes for those years of
service as a justice of the peace or constable: Provided, That
they have a minimum of five years contributing service and they
compensate the retirement fund in an amount equal to the amount
which they would have contributed for a like period of time,
according to a formula determined by the retirement board, plus an
amount equal to the determined employer's contribution for the same
period. For purposes of calculating the contributions, the salary for constables shall be deemed to be five thousand dollars per year
and the salary for justices of the peace shall be deemed to be
seven thousand five hundred dollars per year. In addition, they
shall deposit the compounded yearly interest on the aggregate of
the employee and employer contributions at a rate or rates to be
determined by the retirement board: Provided, however, That those
former justices of the peace and constables who elect to seek
credit under this subsection shall be allowed until the thirtieth
day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, to compensate
the retirement fund as provided herein: Provided further, That
any retiree of the public employees retirement system who has
received retirement benefits for over five years and who has over
twenty years of credit service in the retirement plan will be
allowed to purchase up to ten years of service as a constable or
justice of the peace at an amount of one thousand dollars if the
funds are repaid to the public employees system by the first days
of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five. Upon repayment,
the retirement benefit will be recalculated and the increased
benefit will be paid to the member prospectively from the first day
of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five.
§5-10-48. Reemployment after retirement; option for holder of
elected public office.
(a) In the event a retirant becomes employed by a
participating public employer, payment of his or her annuity shall be suspended during the period of his or her reemployment and he or
she shall become a contributing member to the retirement system.
If his or her reemployment is for a period of one year or longer,
his or her annuity shall be recalculated and he or she shall be
granted an increased annuity due to such additional employment,
said annuity to be computed according to section twenty-two of this
article. A retirant may accept temporary employment from a
participating employer so long as he or she does not receive
compensation in excess of ten thousand dollars.
(b) In the event a retirant is elected to a public office or
appointed to hold an elected public office, he or she has the
option, notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, to either:
(1) Continue to receive payment of his or her annuity while
holding such public office, in addition to the salary he or she may
be entitled to as such office holder; or
(2) Suspend the payment of his or her annuity and become a
contributing member of the retirement system as provided in
subsection (a) of this section.