§143. Transfers between systems

A. As provided in Subsection G of this Section, any person who is in active service and is a member of any public retirement or pension system, fund, or plan maintained primarily for officers and employees of the state of Louisiana or of any political subdivision thereof, or of any district, board, commission, or other agency of either, or of any other such public entity who has been a member of such system, fund, or plan for at least six months and who has membership credit in or who transferred service credit from any other such system, fund, or plan shall have the option of transferring all of his credit from every such system, fund, or plan to the system, fund, or plan he is currently contributing to or to the system to which he last contributed.

B. All credit that the employee had in the system, fund, or plan from which he is transferring, whether regular service credit, prior service credit, military service credit, or other credit, shall be transferred, except as provided below:

(1) In the event that the member has six months or more of concurrent service in the transferring and receiving systems, the concurrent service in the transferring system and the funds attributable to such service shall remain in the transferring system.

(2) In the event that the member has less than six months of concurrent service in the transferring and receiving systems, the concurrent service in the transferring system shall be canceled and the funds attributable to such service shall be transferred to the receiving system.

C. Except as provided in Paragraph (D)(6) of this Section and notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the system, fund, or plan from which the person transfers such credit shall transfer to the receiving system, fund, or plan an amount which is the lesser of the following:

(1) The greater of, the actuarial cost to the receiving system for the service transferred, or all employee contributions from the transferring system.

(2) All employee contributions, all employer contributions, provided that in any system, fund, or plan, where the employer contribution is not a fixed percentage of the employee's earnings, an employer contribution which is equal to the employee contribution, in addition to a sum, representing interest, equal to the board-approved actuarial valuation rate of the transferring system, fund, or plan compounded annually, of all contributions per annum for each year of contribution to the date of transfer.

D.(1) In the event that the amount of funds transferred is less than the actuarial cost of the service transferred in the receiving system, the person transferring, except as provided for herein, shall pay the deficit or difference including the interest thereon at the board-approved actuarial valuation rate of the receiving system.

(2) In lieu of paying the deficit or difference plus interest, the person may at his option, but only at the time of transfer, be granted an amount of credit in the receiving system, fund, or plan which is based on the amount of funds actually transferred by the transferring system, fund, or plan plus any additional funds less than the deficit paid by the member.

(3) If the person transferring had any free service credit in the transferring system, he may transfer said service to the receiving system, but only upon payment of the employer and employee contributions that would have been paid if he had been a member of the receiving system at the time of service, plus interest thereon at the board approved actuarial valuation rate of the receiving system from date of such service until paid.

(4) Except as provided in Paragraph (5) of this Subsection, in the event that a person completes a transfer under the provisions of this Section, the retirement percentage factor of the transferring system shall be used to calculate his retirement benefit based on the number of years transferred.

(5) If the accrual rate of the receiving system is greater than the accrual rate of the transferring system, a person executing a transfer pursuant to the provisions of this Section may elect to purchase the accrual rate of the receiving system applicable to the member on the date of such purchase for the purpose of applying that accrual rate to the transferred service credit by paying an amount calculated on an actuarial basis which totally offsets the increase in accrued liability of the receiving system resulting from the accrual rate adjustment.

(6) Any member of the Louisiana judiciary who took office prior to July 1, 1986, and who transfers service credit from the District Attorneys' Retirement System to another retirement system shall not be required to pay the actuarial cost for such transfer between systems, and the actuarial cost of such transfer shall be paid from the interest earnings of the receiving system which exceed the actuarially projected interest earnings in the fiscal years following such transfer.

E. After the date on which the transfer is completed, the system, fund, or plan from which the member transfers shall have no future liability with respect to the person who transferred.

F.(1)(a) Except as provided in Paragraph (2) of this Subsection, any member who transfers credit to the system, fund, or plan to which he last contributed shall be subject to the provisions of this Paragraph.

(b) A member shall be allowed to execute a reverse transfer only one time, and the transfer must be executed immediately prior to retirement from the receiving system.

(c) The request for a reverse transfer shall be accompanied by the member's application for retirement from the receiving system. On the day of the transfer, the member must terminate employment that made him eligible to be a member of the transferring system, and the member's date of retirement shall be made effective on the next business day following the transfer.

(d) The member shall be allowed to apply such transferred credit toward attainment of the retirement eligibility requirements of the receiving system.

(e) Any member who would not be eligible to retire from the receiving system after the transfer shall not be eligible to execute such a transfer under the provisions of this Paragraph.

(f) Any member who executes a reverse transfer and is reemployed by an employer who is covered by the transferring system shall be ineligible for membership in the transferring system after the effective date of the transfer.

(g) After the transfer is executed, the member who is transferring credit shall be ineligible for active contributing membership in the receiving system, unless the member is both:

(i) Employed in a capacity which would require membership in the receiving system as a condition of employment.

(ii) Compliant with all applicable provisions of law regarding the reemployment of a retiree.

(h) A reverse transfer shall be subject to the provisions of Subsection D of this Section.

(2)(a) The provisions of this Paragraph shall apply only to persons who are not state employees and only to applications for transfer submitted to the receiving system on or before December 31, 2013.

(b) Any person to whom this Section applies may execute a reverse transfer from the retirement system to which he is currently contributing to any other system to which he previously contributed if at the time he began contributing to the current system he was legally permitted to elect instead to remain a contributing member of the previous system.

(c) The member shall be allowed to apply such transferred credit toward attainment of the retirement eligibility requirements of the receiving system.

(d) After the transfer is complete, the member shall be an active, contributing member of the receiving system.

G.(1) Each board of trustees or other such governing board shall adopt such rules and regulations, not in conflict herewith, as are necessary to carry out the provisions and intent of this Section and to prevent any duplication of credit.

(2) No governing authority shall approve a transfer in which the transferred amount is less than one hundred percent of the increase in accrued liability to the receiving system created by such transfer; however, the person can pay the difference in the assets to be transferred and the actuarial cost to the receiving system.

(3) The transfer of service credit and funds out of a system shall be at the sole option of the member.

H.(1) A member of a receiving system, fund, or plan must make a written application to the receiving system, fund, or plan requesting a transfer under this Section.

(2)(a) In the event that a member dies after a written application for a transfer under this Section is received in the office of a receiving system, fund, or plan which normally accepts such transfers, such system, fund, or plan shall complete the transfer, and it shall be considered as completed the day before the death of the member.

(b) A survivor, heir, or the estate of a deceased person or member shall not be allowed to request a transfer under this Section.

Acts 1984, No. 733, §1; Acts 1985, No. 462, §1; Acts 1987, No. 725, §1; Acts 1988, No. 749, §1; Acts 1990, No. 233, §1; Redesignated from R.S. 42:697.1 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §3, eff. June 25, 1991; Acts 1995, No. 1112, §1; Acts 1997, No. 582, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1999; Acts 1997, No. 1201, §1, eff. July 15, 1997; Acts 2001, No. 1079, §2, eff. July 1, 2001; Acts 2013, No. 220, §3, eff. June 11, 2013; Acts 2013, No. 365, §§1 and 2, eff. June 30, 2013.

{{ NOTE: See Acts 1984, No. 733, §2.}}

NOTE: See Acts 2013, No. 365, §2 regarding certain transfers of service credit from the New Orleans Fire Fighters' Pension and Relief Fund to the Firefighters' Retirement System.