Tex. Government Code § 813.506 — TX Code / Code gv / Chapter 813 / Section 813.506
§ 813.506. CUSTODIAL OFFICER SERVICE.
Status: in_force

(a) The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the managed health care unit of The University of Texas Medical Branch, and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center by rule shall adopt standards for determining eligibility for service credit as a custodial officer, based on the need to encourage early retirement of persons whose duties are hazardous and require them to have routine contact with inmates of or defendants confined in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on a regular basis.

(b) To be creditable as custodial officer service, service performed must be performed as a parole officer or caseworker or must meet the requirements of the rules adopted under Subsection (a) and be performed by persons in one of the following job categories:

(1) all persons classified as Correctional Officer I through warden, including training officers and special operations reaction team officers;

(2) all other employees assigned to work on a unit and whose jobs require routine contact with inmates or defendants, including but not limited to farm managers, livestock supervisors, maintenance foremen, shop foremen, medical assistants, food service supervisors, stewards, education consultants, commodity specialists, and correctional counselors;

(3) employees assigned to administrative offices whose jobs require routine contact with inmates or defendants at least 50 percent of the time, including but not limited to investigators, compliance monitors, accountants routinely required to audit unit operations, sociologists, interviewers, classification officers, and supervising counselors; and

(4) administrative positions whose jobs require response to emergency situations involving inmates or defendants, including but except as specified not limited to the director, deputy directors, assistant directors, and not more than 25 administrative duty officers.

(b-1) The Texas Juvenile Justice Department shall adopt standards for determining eligibility for service credit as a custodial officer employed by the department based on the need to encourage early retirement of persons whose duties are hazardous. To be creditable as custodial officer service under the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, service must be performed:

(1) as a juvenile correctional officer, as that term is defined by Section 242.009, Human Resources Code, or a caseworker; or

(2) in a position, other than a position described by Subdivision (1), the primary duties of which include the custodial supervision of or other close, regularly planned contact with youth in the custody of the department.

(c) The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the managed health care unit of The University of Texas Medical Branch or the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, or the Board of Pardons and Paroles, as applicable, shall determine a person's eligibility to receive credit as a custodial officer. A determination under this subsection may not be appealed by an employee but is subject to change by the retirement system.

(d) As part of the audit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice by the state auditor in accordance with Chapter 321, the state auditor may verify the accuracy of reports submitted to the retirement system under this section.