Senate Bill No. 382
(By Senators Kessler, Oliverio, Foster, Green, Hunter, Jenkins,
Minard, Stollings, Wells, White, Barnes, Caruth, Hall and
McKenzie)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported January 30, 2007.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §5-10-48 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to reemployment of public employee
retirees after retirement; and allowing retired employees of
the Supreme Court of Appeals who have retired on senior status
to draw both their public employee retirement benefits and
temporary or per diem compensation from the Supreme Court of
Appeals of up to twenty thousand dollars per year.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5-10-48 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
§5-10-48. Reemployment after retirement; options for holder of
elected public office.
(a) The Legislature finds that a compelling state interest
exists in maintaining an actuarially sound retirement system and
that this interest necessitates that certain limitations be placed upon an individual's ability to retire from the system and to then
later return to state employment as an employee with a
participating public employer while contemporaneously drawing an
annuity from the system. The Legislature hereby further finds and
declares that the interests of the public are served when persons
having retired from public employment are permitted, within certain
limitations, to render post-retirement employment in positions of
public service, either in elected or appointed capacities. The
Legislature further finds and declares that it has the need for
qualified employees and that in many cases an employee of the
Legislature will retire and be available to return to work for the
Legislature as a per diem employee. The Legislature further finds
and declares that in many instances these employees have
particularly valuable expertise which the Legislature cannot find
elsewhere. The Legislature further finds and declares that
reemploying these persons on a limited per diem basis after they
have retired is not only in the best interests of this state, but
has no adverse effect whatsoever upon the actuarial soundness of
this particular retirement system.
(b) For the purposes of this section: (1) "Regularly employed
on a full-time basis" means employment of an individual by a
participating public employer, in a position other than as an
elected or appointed public official, which normally requires
twelve months per year service and/or requires at least one thousand forty hours of service per year in that position; (2)
"temporary full-time employment or temporary part-time employment"
means employment of an individual on a temporary or provisional
basis by a participating public employer, other than as an elected
or appointed public official, in a position which does not
otherwise render the individual as regularly employed; (3) "former
employee of the Legislature" means any person who has retired from
employment with the Legislature and who has at least ten years'
contributing service with the Legislature; and (4) "reemployed by
the Legislature" means a former employee of the Legislature who has
been reemployed on a per diem basis not to exceed one hundred
seventy-five days per calendar year.
(c) In the event a retirant becomes regularly employed on a
full-time basis 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 full-time or temporary part-time employment from a
participating employer without suspending his or her retirement
annuity so long as he or she does not receive annual compensation in excess of fifteen thousand dollars:
Provided, That a retirant
may be employed by the Legislature on a per diem basis
and a senior
status employee of the Supreme Court of Appeals may be employed
after retirement by the Supreme Court of Appeals on a temporary or
per diem basis without suspension of the retirement annuity if the
retirant's annual compensation from the Legislature
or the Supreme
Court of Appeals does not exceed twenty thousand dollars.
(d) In the event a member retires and is then subsequently
elected to a public office or is subsequently appointed to hold an
elected public office, or is a former employee of the Legislature
who has been reemployed by the Legislature, he or she has the
option, notwithstanding subsection (c) of this section, to either:
(1) Continue to receive payment of his or her annuity while
holding such public office or during any reemployment of a former
employee of the Legislature on a per diem basis, in addition to the
salary he or she may be entitled to as such office holder or as a
per diem reemployed former employee of the Legislature; or
(2) Suspend the payment of his or her annuity and become a
contributing member of the retirement system as provided in
subsection (c) of this section. Notwithstanding the provisions of
this subsection, a member who is participating in the system as an
elected public official may not retire from his or her elected
position and commence to receive an annuity from the system and
then be reappointed to the same position unless and until a continuous six-month period has passed since his or her retirement
from the position:
Provided, That a former employee of the
Legislature may not be reemployed by the Legislature on a per diem
basis until at least sixty days after the employee has retired:
Provided, however, That the limitation on compensation provided by
subsection (b) of this section does not apply to the reemployed
former employee:
Provided further, That in no event may
reemployment by the Legislature of a per diem employee exceed one
hundred seventy-five days per calendar year.
(e) A member who is participating in the system simultaneously
as both a regular, full-time employee of a participating public
employer and as an elected or appointed member of the legislative
body of the state or any political subdivision may, upon meeting
the age and service requirements of this article, elect to retire
from his or her regular full-time state employment and may commence
to receive an annuity from the system without terminating his or
her position as a member of the legislative body of the state or
political subdivision:
Provided, That the retired member shall
not, during the term of his or her retirement and continued service
as a member of the legislative body of a political subdivision, be
eligible to continue his or her participation as a contributing
member of the system and shall not continue to accrue any
additional service credit or benefits in the system related to the
continued service.
(f) Notwithstanding the provisions of section twenty-seven-b
of this article, any publicly elected member of the legislative
body of any political subdivision or of the state Legislature, the
Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Clerk of the Senate may
elect to commence receiving in-service retirement distributions
from this system upon attaining the age of seventy and one-half
years:
Provided, That the member is eligible to retire under the
provisions of section twenty or twenty-one of this article:
Provided, however, That the member elects to stop actively
contributing to the system while receiving such in-service
distributions.
(g) The provisions of section twenty-two-h of this article are
not applicable to the amendments made to this section during the
two thousand six regular session.
Note: The purpose of this bill is to allow retired
magistrates, magistrate clerks and other senior status employees
retired from the employ of the Supreme Court of Appeals to work for
the Court after retirement on a temporary or per diem basis and
draw both their retirement benefits and up to $20,000 in
compensation.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.