§153. Purchase of service credit for military service

A. Any member of a state or statewide public retirement system shall be eligible to purchase credit for regular or nonregular military service, subject to the provisions of this Section.

B. For purposes of this Section:

(1) Regular military service shall mean any state or federal full-time active duty military service.

(2) Nonregular military service shall mean any state or federal military service, which is not regular service, for which retirement points are assigned for participation in such service, and shall include but not be limited to duty served in the state national guard, coast guard, or any reserve component of the United States armed forces.

C.(1)(a) Any member shall be entitled to purchase credit for up to four years of either regular or nonregular military service, or a combination of both not exceeding four years total, provided an application is filed with the appropriate retirement system, together with proof of the inclusive dates of military service performed.

(b) Credit for regular service shall be based on one day of retirement credit for each day of full-time active duty service.

(c)(i) Credit for nonregular service shall be based on one day of retirement credit for each one of the member's accrued retirement points.

(ii) Any member seeking to purchase credit for nonregular military service shall also submit with his application to purchase such credit an official copy of the record of his retirement points as maintained by the member's respective military branch.

(2) In order to purchase such credit for military service, the member shall pay into the system the amount required under the provisions of R.S. 11:158. The amount to be paid shall be paid in one lump sum or in such installments as shall be agreed upon by the member and the system's board of trustees, but such amount shall be paid in full within three years after the date of application for such credit.

D.(1) No member shall be entitled to purchase credit for military service if he has previously received credit for such service in any other public retirement system domiciled in this state if he is receiving any form of retirement benefits from that system.

(2)(a)(i) Except as provided in Subparagraph (b) of this Paragraph, no member shall be entitled to purchase credit for military service if he has previously received credit for such service in any retirement system for members of the armed forces of the United States from which plan the member is drawing a regular retirement benefit.

(ii) The restriction set forth in this Subparagraph shall not apply to members who are drawing disability benefits based on twenty-five percent or less disability received as a result of military service.

(b) Any member who is receiving retirement benefits pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 1223 of Title 10 of the United States Code shall be eligible to purchase credit for military service pursuant to the provisions of this Section, and any such service being purchased may be regular or nonregular service, provided that the service being purchased was rendered prior to the initial date of employment which made him eligible to participate in the applicable Louisiana state or statewide public retirement system.

E.(1)(a) Except as otherwise provided in this Paragraph, military service shall not be used for purposes of acquiring eligibility for disability or survivor's benefits and shall only be used for purposes of acquiring eligibility for normal retirement benefits.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph or any other provision of law to the contrary, any retiree who has earned benefits equal to one hundred percent of his average compensation shall be eligible to purchase credit on an actuarial basis under the provisions of this Section, but only for the limited purpose of using such credit for survivor benefits.

(2) In those systems which authorize retirement with twenty or more years of service at any age, or twenty or more years of service at age fifty, military service credit shall not be computed until after the completion of twenty full years of service. In addition, such military service credit shall not be used to meet the minimum eligibility requirement of any regular retirement of less than twenty years.

F. Military service credit shall not be used as the highest thirty-six or sixty successive months, or as the highest thirty-six or sixty joined months of employment where interruption of service occurred, in computing the average compensation for retirement benefit computation.

G. No member who has been released or discharged from service under less than honorable conditions shall be eligible to purchase credit for military service pursuant to the provisions of this Section.

H. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a member of either the Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System or the Sheriffs' Pension and Relief Fund shall be entitled to purchase or receive credit for military service pursuant to this Section regardless of whether he has previously received credit for such service in any retirement plan for members of the armed forces of the United States, from which plan the member is drawing a regular retirement benefit, based on age and service.

I. Each state and statewide public retirement system shall cause to be promulgated such regulations as are necessary for the administration of purchases made pursuant to this Section.

J.(1) All purchases of credit for regular military service and service in the state national guard or reserve forces of the United States that were transacted on or before June 30, 1999, shall be governed by the provisions of R.S. 11:153 as that law was in force and effect on the date of the purchase.

(2) All purchases of credit for service in the state national guard, coast guard, or reserve forces, which are or were transacted between July 1, 1999 and June 30, 2001, both inclusive, shall be governed by the provisions of R.S. 11:153.1 as that law was in force and effect on the date of the purchase.

(3) The provisions of this Section shall apply to all purchases of credit for any military service transacted on and after July 1, 2001.

K. Notwithstanding the provision of this Section or any other provision of the law to the contrary, military service shall be used for the purpose of acquiring eligibility for normal benefits for those members in the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana with twenty years of service at age sixty-five who are veterans of the Korean Conflict employed by a public school system in a parish with a population of four hundred twenty-five thousand or more and who retired between June first and June fifteenth, 2000, and who received written correspondence from the system during the month of July, 2000, regarding the system's incorrect calculation of benefits, and as to those members the prohibition against computing the military service credit until after completion of twenty full years of service shall not apply.

L. Creditable service for service in the uniformed services gained through the application of USERRA shall not be considered a purchase of military service credit for purposes of this Section.

Added by Acts 1982, No. 769, §1; Acts 1985, No. 858, §1, eff. July 23, 1985; Acts 1991, No. 205, §1; Acts 1991, No. 607, §1; Redesignated from R.S. 42:697.11 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §3, eff. June 25, 1991; Acts 1992, No. 255, §1; Acts 1995, No. 131, §1; Acts 1997, No. 348, §1, eff. June 20, 1997; Acts 2001, No. 419, §1, eff. July 1, 2001; Acts 2001, No. 1035, §1; Acts 2001, No. 1039, §1; Acts 2003, No. 1183, §1, eff. July 1, 2003; Acts 2018, No. 225, §1, eff. May 15, 2018.