(a) Participant and voluntary contributions.--Subject to the forfeiture and attachment provisions of section 8533 (relating to taxation, attachment and assignment of funds) or otherwise as provided by law, a participant shall be immediately vested with respect to all mandatory pickup participant contributions and voluntary contributions paid by or on behalf of the participant to the trust plus interest and investment gains or losses on the participant contributions but minus investment fees and administrative charges.

(b) Employer defined contributions.--

(1) Subject to the forfeiture and attachment provisions of section 8533 or otherwise as provided by law, a participant shall be vested with respect to employer defined contributions paid to the participant's individual investment account in the trust plus interest and investment gains or losses on the employer defined contributions but minus investment fees and administrative charges according to the following schedule:

(i) until such time as the participant has earned three eligibility points as a participant in the plan, 0%; or

(ii) at and after the attainment of three eligibility points as a participant in the plan, 100%.

(2) For purposes of this subsection, all eligibility points credited to a member of the system in any class of service shall be used for determining vested status in the plan even if the employee was not a participant in the plan at the time the eligibility points were earned.

(3) Nonvested employer defined contributions, including interest and investment gains and losses that are forfeited by a participant, shall be retained by the board and used for the payment of expenses of the plan.

(c) USERRA leave and eligibility points.--A participant in the plan who is reemployed from USERRA leave or who dies while performing USERRA leave shall receive eligibility points under this section for the school service that would have been performed had the member not performed USERRA leave.

(July 2, 2019, P.L.434, No.72, eff. 60 days)

2019 Amendment. Act 72 amended subsec. (b)(3). See section 6.2 of Act 72 in the appendix to this title for special provisions relating to severability.

Cross References. Section 8409 is referred to in section 8102 of this title.