§1755. Creditable service; service certificate; adjusted service date; repayment of withdrawn contributions

A. Benefits and allowances as provided by this Chapter shall be based on total creditable service as prescribed below:

(1) Membership service: Service rendered by an employee after the agreement date for which contributions have been made and not withdrawn.

(2) Prior service: Service rendered by an employee prior to the agreement date and credited under the terms of the agreement or service rendered prior to the agreement date and purchased pursuant to Subsection F of this Section.

B. Immediately after the revision date, the board shall issue a service certificate to each member who has received credit for any service other than membership service. Such certificate shall include an adjusted service date which shall be the service date adjusted by the period of time for which credit has been approved. Service certificates shall be presented, thereafter, for any service date adjustments as a result of acquired credits or interruptions of service under rules prescribed by the board.

C.(1) A member who had withdrawn his contributions shall be entitled to credit for all previously credited service after at least six months of current membership service, upon repayment of withdrawn contributions for such service plus interest at the system's then currently assumed actuarial valuation rate of interest, compounded annually, from date of withdrawal of such contributions.

(2) Any payment for service credit pursuant to this Section received by the system on or after January 1, 2002, may be accomplished by a trustee-to-trustee transfer of monies to this fund from an annuity in compliance with Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code or any successor thereto, or from a deferred compensation plan in compliance with Section 457 of the Internal Revenue Code or any successor thereto, so long as such transfer otherwise complies with all other applicable provisions of federal and state law.

D. Notwithstanding any provisions of this Section, any member who after having been a member of this system withdraws or withdrew from membership and thereafter returns to membership in a plan other than the plan in which he was previously a member, shall receive credit for such service only after payment of an amount to be determined by an actuarial study, based on the increased or decreased benefits of the new plan.

E.(1)(a) The provisions of this Subsection are limited in scope and shall only apply to members of this system whose employing municipality irrevocably elects such coverage. The board of trustees shall cause to be promulgated all regulations necessary to govern the procedures for municipalities to irrevocably elect coverage under the provisions of this Subsection.

(b) All unused earned annual and sick leave which has been accrued and accumulated by an employee, except as hereinafter provided, and for which payment cannot be made in accordance with law, ordinance, or any civil service rule at the time of retirement, shall be credited at the time of retirement to the member on the following basis:

Days

Percentage

of a Year

1- 26

10

27- 52

20

53- 78

30

79-104

40

105-130

50

131-156

60

157-182

70

183-208

80

209-234

90

235-260

100

(2) There shall be no limit on the amount of unused earned sick and annual leave that a member may convert to retirement credit on the basis of the above formula. No member, survivor, or beneficiary shall use any unused earned sick and annual leave to attain eligibility for any benefits provided by this Chapter.

(3) At the time the member retires, the employer shall submit to the board a report of unused earned sick and annual leave, computed in days only, plus unreported earnings and contributions.

(4) When extending credit for unused earned leave, fractional days of one-half or more shall be granted as one day and less than one-half day shall be disregarded. Any member who had previously terminated his employment for any period of time, but who later becomes reemployed as an active contributing member in this system, shall have contributed to the system for not less than eighteen months subsequent to his reemployment date before using converted unused earned sick and annual leave for purposes of benefit computation. Additional membership service obtained by conversion of unused earned sick and annual leave shall not be used in computation of average compensation.

(5) The actuarial cost of providing the conversion authorized by this Subsection shall be borne solely by and shall be paid to the board by the municipality that employed the member within thirty days of the date that the member retires.

F.(1) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary and notwithstanding any agreement made pursuant to R.S. 11:1733, any member may purchase service credit for any amount of service not certified as prior service credit pursuant to R.S. 11:1733(A)(4) by his employing city, town, or village, but which service was rendered while employed with such city, town, or village prior to the agreement date.

(2) A member making a service credit purchase pursuant to this Subsection shall be required to pay into the system an amount calculated in accordance with R.S. 11:158(C). The amount payable shall be calculated by use of the actuarial funding method, assumptions, and tables in use at the time of the purchase of the service credit; however, the service hereby purchased shall not include military service credit. The member, in making his application for such service credit, shall furnish supporting documentation of all service for which credit is claimed, in such form as the board requires. No credit for such service shall be allowed until payment in full has been received by the system. Credit obtained under the provisions of this Subsection shall be usable for purposes of meeting the eligibility requirements for retirement and for calculating the value of retirement benefits.

G. The qualified military service of a member who has been reemployed under the terms of Section 414(u) of the United States Internal Revenue Code shall be treated, for vesting and benefit accrual purposes, as service completed under this Section, provided the member timely remits to the system any employee contributions which would have been required but for the member's leave of absence to perform qualified military service, in accordance with the terms of federal law.

Acts 1978, No. 788, §1. Amended by Acts 1981, No. 226, §1; Redesignated from R.S. 33:7194 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §3, eff. June 25, 1991; Acts 1992, No. 542, §1; Acts 2001, No. 695, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2002; Acts 2001, No. 999, §1, eff. June 27, 2001; Acts 2003, No. 684, §1, eff. July 1, 2003; Acts 2009, No. 59, §1, eff. July 1, 2009; Acts 2012, No. 529, §1, eff. June 30, 2012.

NOTE: See Acts 2003, No. 684, §2, relative to retroactive application of Act.