H. B. 4537
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss and Delegates Martin,
Jenkins, Michael, Staton, Varner, and Hubbard)
[Introduced February 24, 1998; referred to the Committee
on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections fourteen and eighteen, article
ten, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to providing
members of the public employees retirement system a period of
time to purchase prior credited service which was forfeited
due to the employee having left covered service; requiring
repayment of any amounts withdrawn with interest thereon;
establishing the manner of repayment and setting forth a time
period during which repayment may be made; providing that a
legislative employee may receive three months service credit
for each thirty day session worked prior to one thousand nine
hundred seventy-one; extending the date for a Legislative
employee to purchase retroactive service credit; and
clarifying that a legislative employee is entitled to the
service credit provided regardless when the service occurred.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections fourteen and eighteen, article ten, chapter five
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, all 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 as the board of trustees shall from
time to time adopt and based upon the following:
(1) Ten or more days of service rendered by a member in any
calendar month shall be credited as a month of service: Provided,
That for 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 regular sessions in seven consecutive calendar
years, service credit of one month shall be awarded for all or any
part of each calendar month encompassed within a regular
legislative session, notwithstanding that the actual number of days
served in any one month of the regular session is less than ten
days, and service credit of one month shall be awarded for each ten
days served during the interim between regular sessions, which interim days shall be cumulatively calculated so that any ten days,
regardless of calendar month or year, shall be calculated toward
any award of one month of service credit;
(2) Ten or more months of service rendered in any calendar
year shall be credited as a year of service;
(3) No more than one year of service may be credited to any
member for all service rendered by him or her in any calendar year;
and
(4) Service may be credited to a member who was employed by a
political subdivision if his or her employment occurred within a
period of thirty years immediately preceding the date the political
subdivision became a participating public 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 the 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 time served in that
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 may
receive service credit for the time served in that capacity in
accordance with the following. 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 employed during regular sessions
or during the interim between regular sessions in seven consecutive
calendar years, as certified by the clerk of the house in which the
employee served, shall receive service credit of six months for
each regular session served as certified by the clerk of the house
in which the employee served, or shall receive service credit of
three months for each regular thirty day session served prior to
one thousand nine hundred seventy-one, as certified by the clerk of
the house in which the employee served, and shall receive service
credit of one month for each ten days served during the interim
between regular sessions, which interim days shall be cumulatively
calculated so that any ten days, regardless of calendar month or year, shall be calculated toward any award of one month of service
credit. Service credit awarded for legislative employment pursuant
to this subsection shall be used for the purpose of calculating
that member's retirement annuity only, pursuant to section twenty- two of this article, and notwithstanding any other provision of
this section. Service credit awarded for legislative service
pursuant to this subsection shall not be used to determine when an
employment period begins or ends, or to determine when the period
of eligibility or filing for retirement begins to run.
Certification of employment for a complete legislative session and
for days of interim sessions shall be determined by the clerk of
the house in which the employee served, based upon employment
records. Service of fifty-five days of a regular session
constitutes a presumption of service for a complete legislative
session, and service of thirty days of a thirty day regular session
occurring prior to one thousand nine hundred seventy-one
constitutes a presumption of service for a complete legislative
session. Once a legislative employee has served seven consecutive
sessions or has become a full time employee of the legislature,
that employee shall receive the service credit provided in this
subsection for all regular and interim sessions worked by that
employee regardless of when the sessions occurred.
Any employee may purchase retroactive service credit for
periods of employment in which contributions were not deducted from the employee's pay. In the purchase of service credit for
employment prior to the year one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine
in any department, including the Legislature, which operated from
the general revenue fund and which was not expressly excluded from
budget appropriations in which blanket appropriations were made for
the state's share of public employees' retirement coverage in the
years prior to the year one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine, the
employee shall pay the employee's share. Other employees shall pay
the state's share and the employee's share to purchase retroactive
service credit. Where an employee purchases service credit for
employment which occurred after the year one thousand nine hundred
eighty-eight, that employee shall pay for the employee's share and
the employer shall pay its share for the purchase of retroactive
service credit: Provided, That no legislative employee may be
required to pay any interest or penalty upon the purchase of
retroactive service credit in accordance with the provisions of
this section where the employee was not eligible to become a member
during the years he or she is purchasing retroactive credit for or
had the employee attempted to contribute to the system during the
years he or she is purchasing retroactive service credit for and
such contributions would have been refused by the board: Provided,
however, That a legislative employee purchasing retroactive credit
under this section does so within twenty-four months of becoming a
member of the system or no later than the last day of December, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine two thousand two, whichever
occurs last: Provided further, That once a legislative employee
becomes a member of the retirement system, he or she may purchase
retroactive service credit for any time he or she was employed by
the Legislature and did not receive service credit. Any service
credit purchased shall be credited as six months for each sixty day
session worked and three months for each thirty day session worked,
and credit for interim sessions as provided in this subsection: And
provided further, That no legislative employee may be required to
pay for any service credit beyond the actual time he or she worked
regardless of the service credit which is credited to him or her
pursuant to this subsection..
§5-10-18. Termination of membership; reentry.
(a) When a member of the retirement system retires or dies, he
or she ceases to be a member. When a member leaves the employ of
a participating public employer for any other reason, he or she
ceases to be a member and forfeits service credited to him or her
at that time. If he or she becomes reemployed by a participating
public employer he or she shall be reinstated as a member of the
retirement system and his or her credited service last forfeited by
him or her shall be restored to his or her credit: Provided, That
he or she must be reemployed for a period of one year or longer to
have the service restored: Provided, however, That he or she
returns to the members' deposit fund the amount, if any, he or she withdrew from the fund, together with regular interest on the
withdrawn amount from the date of withdrawal to the date of
repayment, and that the repayment begins within two years of the
return to employment and that the full amount is repaid within five
years of the return to employment.
(b) Effective on the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-seven, and continuing through the first day of July,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, any employee of the
Prestera center for mental health services, valley comprehensive
mental health center, Westbrook health services and eastern
panhandle mental health center who is a member of the retirement
system may elect to withdraw from membership without forfeiting
service credited to him or her.
(c) The Prestera center for mental health services, valley
comprehensive mental health center, Westbrook health services and
eastern panhandle mental health center, and their successors in
interest, shall provide for their employees a pension plan in lieu
of the public employees retirement system on or before the first
day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven, and continuing
thereafter during the existence of the named mental health centers
and their successors in interest.
(d) The administrative bodies of the Prestera center for
mental health services, valley comprehensive mental health center,
Westbrook health services and eastern panhandle mental health center shall, on or before the first day of May, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-seven, give written notice to each employee who is
a member of the public employees retirement system of the option to
withdraw from or remain in the system. The notice shall include a
copy of this section and a statement explaining the member's
options regarding membership. The notice shall include a statement
in plain language giving a full explanation and actuarial
projection figures in support of the explanation regarding the
individual member's current account balance, vested and nonvested,
and his or her projected return upon remaining in the public
employees retirement system until retirement, disability or death,
in comparison with the projected return upon withdrawing from the
public employees retirement system and joining a private pension
plan provided by the community mental health center and remaining
therein until retirement, disability or death. The administrative
bodies shall keep in their respective records a permanent record of
each employee's signature confirming receipt of the notice.
(e) Effective the first day of March, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-eight, and ending the thirty-first day of December,
two thousand two, any member may purchase credited service
previously forfeited by him or her and such credited service shall
be restored to his or her credit: Provided, That he or she returns
to the members' deposit fund the amount, if any, he or she withdrew
from the fund, together with interest on the withdrawn amount from the date of withdrawal to the date of repayment at a rate to be
determined by the board. The repayment under this subsection may
be made by lump sum or repaid over a period of time not to exceed
sixty months. Where the member elects to repay the required amount
other than by lump sum, the member is required to pay interest at
the rate determined by the board until all sums are fully repaid.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide members of the
Public Employees Retirement System a window to purchase credited
service lost when that member previously terminated employment and
subsequently was re-employed. The member must repay any amounts
withdrawn plus interest. The bill also provides repayment options
ranging from lump sum to repayment over a period of time not to
exceed sixty months. The bill also clarifies that a legislative
employee may receive three months service credit for each thirty
day session worked prior to 1971. The bill also extends the time
frame for a legislative employee to purchase retroactive service
credit.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.