(a) Any qualified returning veteran desiring to establish creditable service for a period of qualified service shall so notify the board of trustees of the public retirement system or fund. The board of trustees shall calculate the amount of employee or member contribution which the returning veteran would have paid if he or she had been a member of the system or fund during the period of qualified service. If such contribution is based on the member's salary, the returning veteran's salary shall be deemed to be the rate the member would have received but for the period of qualified service or, if determination of such rate is not reasonably certain, the member's average rate of compensation during the 12 month period immediately preceding the period of qualified service or such lesser time as the member was employed. The returning veteran shall repay the amount so calculated as his or her employee or member contribution, which payment must be completed not later than three times the length of qualified service or five years, whichever period is shorter, computed from the date the returning veteran resumes employment. The board of trustees of any public retirement system may provide by rule for computing the amount of creditable service on payment of less than the total amount of employee contributions.

(b)

(1) At the time a qualified returning veteran applies for creditable service as provided in Code Section 47-1-61, the board of trustees of the public retirement system or fund shall compute the actuarial value of the creditable service to be granted.

(2) The board of trustees of a retirement system or fund which requires employer contributions shall notify the employer of the returning veteran of the actuarial value, less the amount of employee contribution. The employer shall pay such amount to the retirement system over the same period of time allowed for the returning veteran to pay the employee contributions; provided, however, that an employer shall not be required to make any payment until the fiscal year following the year such notice is given.

(3) If the actuary employed by a retirement system or fund created by this title which does not require an employer contribution certifies that the system or fund cannot provide the creditable service requested by one or more returning veterans and retain its actuarial soundness, no discretionary benefit increases shall be granted, and the board of trustees of such system or fund shall notify the Governor and chairpersons of the Senate and House Committees on Retirement, providing a full explanation of the amount of funds necessary to return the system or fund to actuarial soundness.

(4) If a member of a public retirement system dies while performing qualified military service, as such term is defined in Section 414(U) of the federal Internal Revenue Code, the member's beneficiary shall be entitled to all additional benefits to which the beneficiary would have been entitled if the member had resumed employment with the employer, reentered the plan, and died immediately thereafter. Unless otherwise required by Code Section 38-2-279, additional benefits to beneficiaries shall not include benefit accruals for the period of qualified military service.

(5) If an employer pays differential wage payments, as such term is defined in Section 3401(h) of the federal Internal Revenue Code, to a member of a public retirement system while such member is in qualified military service, such payments shall be taken into account as compensation by the public retirement system or fund.