ENROLLED
H. B. 4537
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss and Delegates Martin,
Jenkins, Michael, Staton, Varner, and Hubbard)
[Passed March 14, 1998; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT 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repayment of any amounts withdrawn with interest thereon;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; clarifying
that a legislative employee is entitled to the service credit
provided regardless when the service occurred; clarifying that regular session legislative employment for seven consecutive
years may be served in either or both houses of the
Legislature; clarifying that service credit awarded for
legislative employment pursuant to this section shall be used
not only for the purpose of calculating that member's
retirement annuity but also for determining eligibility as it
relates to credited service; providing that any legislative
employee may request a recalculation of credited service to
comply with the provisions of this section; and providing that
the service credit requirements of this section shall be
applied retroactively to all periods of legislative employment
prior to the passage of this section, including any periods of
legislative employment occurring before the seven consecutive
calendar year employment referenced in this section.
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; retroactive provisions.
(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 each ten
days employed in 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 credit earned 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 terms of
employment are 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
shall 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 houses
in which the employee served, shall receive service credit of six
months for all regular sessions served as certified by the clerk of
the houses 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 houses 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 section shall be used for the purpose
of calculating that member's retirement annuity, pursuant to
section twenty-two of this article, and determining eligibility as
it relates to credited service, notwithstanding any other provision
of this section. Certification of employment for a complete
legislative session and for days of interim sessions shall be
determined by the clerk of the houses 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 twenty-seven 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 been employed
during regular sessions for seven consecutive years or has become
a full-time employee of the Legislature, that employee shall
receive the service credit provided in this section for all regular
and interim sessions worked by that employee, as certified by the
clerk of the houses in which the employee served, regardless of
when the session or interim legislative employment occurred:
Provided, That regular session legislative employment for seven
consecutive years may be served in either or both houses of the
Legislature.
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, 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 this
legislative service credit shall also be used for months of service
in order to meet the sixty-month requirement for the payments of a
member's retirement annuity: 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 section:
And provided further, That any legislative employee may request a
recalculation of his or her credited service to comply with the
provisions of this section at any time.
(e) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, the seven
consecutive calendar years requirement and the service credit
requirements set forth in this section shall be applied
retroactively to all periods of legislative employment prior to the
passage of this section, including any periods of legislative
employment occurring before the seven consecutive calendar years
referenced in this section.
§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 section 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.
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