NY Ret & SS L § 76 (2021)
2021 New York Laws RSS - Retirement and Social Security Article 2 - New York State Employees' Retirement System Title 8 - General Provisions Relating to Retirement; Retirement Plans Applicable to Members Generally 76 - Vested Retirement Allowance.

§  76.  Vested  retirement  allowance.  a.  A  member who discontinues   service other than by death or retirement:1. who has credit for at least five years of total service, or2. who has credit for at least five years of total service,  including   a  minimum  of  five  years  of  member  service during which the member   contributed    to    the    system    and/or    participated    in    an   increased-take-home-pay  or  non-contributory  plan,  and  who  does not   withdraw his or her accumulated contributions, shall be entitled to make   application pursuant to section seventy of this  article  for  a  vested   retirement  allowance  to  be effective on or after the first day of the   month following his or  her  attainment  of  sixty  years  of  age.  The   retirement  allowance  provided by this section shall vest automatically   upon such discontinuance of service by such member.3. In the case of such a member who discontinues service other than by   death  or  retirement  after  March   thirty-first,   nineteen   hundred   sixty-five,  who had been contributing toward and/or participating in an   increased-take-home-pay or non-contributory plan  for  retirement  on  a   basis other than retirement at age sixty for five years preceding his or   her  discontinuance  of  service,  he  or  she shall be entitled to make   application for a vested retirement allowance  to  be  effective  on  or   after  the  first  day  of  the month following his or her attainment of   fifty-five years of age.4. In the case of a member who  discontinues  service  other  than  by   death   or   retirement   after  March  thirty-first,  nineteen  hundred   sixty-six, who had been contributing toward retirement on the  basis  of   the  plan  contained in section eighty of this article for at least five   years, he or she shall receive at  retirement,  on  the  date  when  the   member  would  have  completed  twenty  years  of  service had he or she   continued in the service covered by such section, a retirement allowance   as computed in accordance with the provisions of subdivision b  of  this   section.b.  The  vested  retirement  allowance  shall  be computed and paid in   accordance with the provisions of the plan of which the member had  been   a  participant  provided,  however,  that, except for those eligible for   benefits pursuant to sections eighty or eighty-a of this chapter, if the   service fraction used to compute the retirement allowance or the pension   provides a benefit greater than that which would have been provided  had   the  service fraction one-sixtieth been used to compute the benefit, the   service fraction one-sixtieth  shall  be  used  to  compute  the  vested   retirement  allowance unless such plan shall specify another fraction to   be used to compute the vested retirement  allowance.  Except  for  those   covered  for  retirement pursuant to sections eighty or eighty-a of this   chapter the vested retirement allowance shall not  be  paid  before  the   member attains age fifty-five.c.  In  the  event  of the death of such member prior to the effective   date of his retirement his accumulated contributions shall  be  paid  to   his  beneficiary  or estate in accordance with section fifty-one of this   article.d. A member may withdraw his accumulated  contributions  at  any  time   subject  to  the  limitations  contained  in  section  fifty-one of this   article. The withdrawal of a member's  accumulated  contributions  shall   terminate his right to a vested retirement allowance.