NY Ret & SS L § 609 (2021)
2021 New York Laws RSS - Retirement and Social Security Article 15 - Coordinated Retirement Plan 609 - Credit for Service.

§ 609. Credit for service. a. Part-time service.   1.  A  member who works less than full time, which for the purposes of this section shall mean less than thirty hours  a  week,  shall  receive retirement  credit  for  such  service  in accordance with the following provisions:  (i) a member employed on an hourly basis who works for five hundred or more hours a year and who is on the payroll for a minimum of five months in the year shall receive credit on a prorated basis, but  in  no  event shall less than six hours constitute a full day's retirement credit;  (ii)  a  member  employed on a per diem basis who works at least sixty days in a year and who is on the payroll for a minimum of five months in the year shall receive retirement credit on a day-for-day basis, but  in no  event  shall  less than six hours constitute a full day's retirement credit;  (iii) if the annual salary of a member paid on a basis other than  per diem  or  per hour would be less than the product of the state's minimum wage during such period and two thousand hours, the presumption shall be that such a member is a part-time employee  and  any  retirement  credit granted  shall  be  prorated; provided, however, such a member shall not receive greater credit than a member working on a per diem basis.   2. Except for retirement credit for military service as  specified  in subdivision  c  of  this  section, a member shall not receive retirement credit for any day that he is  not  on  the  payroll  of  the  state,  a political    subdivision   thereof,   or   a   participating   employer. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section,  with  respect  to members  of the New York state employees' retirement system, teachers as defined in section one hundred thirty-six  of  the  civil  service  law, employed  full  time for the school year, shall be deemed on the payroll of the state, for twelve months in crediting retirement  service  credit for service rendered. For the purposes of this paragraph the comptroller shall define school year by regulation.   2-a. Except for retirement credit for military service as specified in subdivision  c  of  this  section, a member shall not receive retirement credit for any day that he is  not  on  the  payroll  of  the  state,  a political    subdivision   thereof,   or   a   participating   employer. Notwithstanding any other provision of this  section  to  the  contrary, with  respect  to  members  of  the  New York state and local employees' retirement system, a member who is employed by a  community  college  as defined  in  section six thousand three hundred one of the education law or who is employed by any unit of the state university of  New  York  as defined  in section three hundred fifty of the education law, and who is in the classified service as that term is defined in  section  forty  of the  civil  service law, and who is employed for the full academic year, full academic year shall mean the fall and spring semesters during which academic courses are offered, shall be deemed to be on  the  payroll  of such  community  college  or  state  university  for  twelve  months  in crediting retirement service credit for service rendered.   2-b. Except for retirement credit for military service as specified in subdivision c of this section, a member  shall  not  receive  retirement credit  for  any  day  that  he  is  not  on the payroll of the state, a political   subdivision   thereof,   or   a   participating    employer. Notwithstanding  any  other provision of this section to the contrary, a member of the New York state and local employees' retirement system  who is  employed  by  a community college as defined in section six thousand three hundred one of the education law or who is employed by any unit of the state university of New York as defined  in  section  three  hundred fifty  of  the  education law, and who is in the unclassified service of the civil service as defined in subdivisions  (h)  and  (i)  of  section  thirty-five  of  the civil service law, and who is employed for the full academic year, full  academic  year  shall  mean  the  fall  and  spring semesters  during which academic courses are offered, shall be deemed to be  on  the  payroll  of  such community college or state university for twelve  months  in  crediting  retirement  service  credit  for  service rendered.   3.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provision of law, for the purposes of retirement service credit, retirement  contribution  and  final  average salary  of members of the New York state and local employees' retirement system, a member who has been granted service credit  for  a  period  of time  for  which he or she received compensation or wages shall not lose such credit by virtue of the fact that  the  employer  has  subsequently been  reimbursed  by a workers' compensation carrier with respect to all or a portion of the compensation or wages paid for such period.   4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law,  for  the  purposes  of retirement  credit,  retirement  contribution  and  final average salary under this chapter, the compensation of a member of the  New  York  city employees'  retirement  system who is either (i) a Triborough bridge and tunnel member as defined in section six hundred four-c of  this  article as  added  by  chapter  four hundred seventy-two of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-five or as defined in section six hundred four-c of  this article  as  added by chapter ninety-six of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-five or to whom article sixteen of this chapter is applicable, or (ii) a New York city transit authority member as defined in section  six hundred  four-b  of  this article, for the period during which he or she receives a workers' compensation benefit shall be deemed to be the  full compensation  or salary such employee would have earned or been entitled to receive had he or she not received the workers' compensation benefit. During the period of time a member receives  payment  of  such  workers' compensation benefit, such member shall be deemed on the payroll in full status for the aforementioned purposes.   b. Previous service.   1.  A  member  shall be eligible to obtain retirement credit hereunder for previous service with a public employer  if  retirement  credit  had previously  been granted for such service or if such service which would have been creditable in one of the  public  retirement  systems  of  the state,  as  defined  in subdivision twenty-three of section five hundred one of this chapter, at the time  such  service  was  rendered,  if  the individual  had  been  a member of such retirement system and the member has rendered a minimum of two  years  of  credited  service  after  July first,  nineteen  hundred  seventy-six  or after last rejoining a public retirement system, if later; provided, however, retirement credit may be granted for service which predates the date of entry into the retirement system if such service is otherwise creditable and the member  satisfied the  minimum  service requirements set forth in this subdivision and was rendered by an employee of a public employer during which employment  he was  ineligible  to  join  a public retirement system provided that such public employer was participating in a public retirement system  of  the state at the time of such employment, or is so participating at the time that such credit for such previous service is being sought.   2.  Previous  service  credit  shall not be granted unless such member applies therefor and repays the amount refunded by a  public  retirement system  of  the  state  for  service rendered after July first, nineteen hundred seventy-six together with interest through the date of repayment at the rate of five percent per  annum  compounded  annually  and  three percent of the wages earned for service prior to that date together with interest  from July first, nineteen hundred seventy-six through the date of payment at the rate of five percent per annum compounded annually and  three percent of the wages earned for service which predates the date of entry into the retirement system together with interest at the  rate  of five percent per annum compounded annually from the date of such service until  the  date  of payment. Anything in this paragraph to the contrary notwithstanding, in order to obtain credit for previous service, members who first join the New York state  teachers'  retirement  system  on  or after  January  first,  two  thousand  ten  shall pay three and one-half percent of wages earned for service which predates  the  date  of  entry into  the  retirement  system together with interest at the rate of five percent per annum compounded annually from  the  date  of  such  service until  the  date  of payment. Anything in this paragraph to the contrary notwithstanding, in order to obtain credit for previous service, members who first join a public retirement system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve shall pay six percent  of  wages  earned  for service  which  predates  the  date  of entry into the retirement system together with interest at the rate of five percent per annum  compounded annually from the date of such service until the date of payment.   * b-1.  Employer  pick-up  of  contributions  in  respect  of previous service.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any member of  the New  York  city  teachers' retirement system eligible to purchase credit for previous service with a public employer pursuant to subdivision b of this section, may elect to purchase  any  or  all  of  such  service  by executing  a  periodic payroll deduction agreement. Such agreement shall set forth the amount of previous service being purchased, the  estimated total  cost of such service credit, and the number of payroll periods in which such periodic payments shall be  made.  Such  agreement  shall  be irrevocable,  shall  not  be subject to amendment or modification in any manner, and shall expire only  upon  completion  of  payroll  deductions required  therein.  Notwithstanding  the  foregoing,  any member who has entered into such a  payroll  deduction  agreement  and  who  terminates employment prior to completion of the payments required therein shall be credited  with  any  service as to which such member shall have paid the contributions required under the terms of such agreement.   * NB Effective until notice of ruling by Internal Revenue Service  per ch. 627/2007 §22   * b-1.  Employer  pick-up  of  contributions  in  respect  of previous service or military service. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any member of the New York city teachers'  retirement  system,  the  New York  state  teachers'  retirement  system, the New York city employees' retirement system, the New  York  city  board  of  education  retirement system,  the  New York state and local employees' retirement system, the New York state and local police and fire retirement system and  the  New York  city  fire department pension fund eligible to purchase credit for previous service with a public employer pursuant  to  subdivision  b  of this  section  or  to  purchase  credit for military service pursuant to article twenty of this chapter, may elect to purchase any or all of such service by executing a periodic payroll deduction agreement where and to the extent such elections  are  permitted  by  the  member's  retirement system  by rule or regulation. Such agreement shall set forth the amount of previous service or military service being purchased,  the  estimated total  cost of such service credit, and the number of payroll periods in which such periodic payments shall be  made.  Such  agreement  shall  be irrevocable,  shall  not  be subject to amendment or modification in any manner, and shall expire only  upon  completion  of  payroll  deductions required  therein.  Notwithstanding  the  foregoing,  any member who has entered into such a  payroll  deduction  agreement  and  who  terminates employment prior to completion of the payments required therein shall be  credited  with  any  service as to which such member shall have paid the contributions required under the terms of such agreement.   * NB  Takes  effect  upon notice of ruling by Internal Revenue Service per ch. 627/2007 §22 -- expires per ch. 691/2004 §8   c. Creditable service. Other than previous  service,  a  member  shall only   be   eligible   to  obtain  credit  for  active  service  with  a participating employer; provided, however,  military  service  with  the federal  government  may  be  credited  pursuant  to section two hundred forty-three of the military law up to a maximum of four years.   d. To facilitate administration of the provisions of this section  the head  of  a retirement system may make interpretations of the provisions of this section which are consistent with the intent  of  this  section, but   such   interpretations  shall  not  take  effect  unless  publicly promulgated.   f. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any member of  the  New York  state and local employees' retirement system who is subject to the provisions of this article and who is employed by a school  district,  a board  of  cooperative  educational services, a vocational education and extension board, an institution for the instruction of the deaf  and  of the  blind as enumerated in section four thousand two hundred one of the education law, or a school district as  enumerated  in  section  one  of chapter   five  hundred  sixty-six  of  the  laws  of  nineteen  hundred sixty-seven as amended to date, shall  have  their  service  credit  for service  rendered  on  or  after  January first, nineteen hundred ninety determined by dividing the number of days worked in a school year by one hundred eighty. For the purpose of this section a school year will begin on July first and end the following June thirtieth.  No  more  than  one year  of service may be credited during any such fiscal year. Credit for service rendered before January first, nineteen hundred ninety shall  be determined  in  the  same  manner  if a person eligible for such benefit shall file the appropriate application with the state comptroller on  or before August second, nineteen hundred ninety-six and, within five years of  filing  such  application,  make  payment for all costs necessary to finance the receipt of such service credit.   g. The provisions of paragraph one of subdivision a  of  this  section shall  not  apply  to members of the New York city employees' retirement system or the New York city board of education retirement system who are subject to the provisions of this article. The crediting of service  for such  members  of  such  retirement  systems  shall  be  governed by the applicable provisions of  subdivision  c  of  section  13-638.4  of  the administrative  code  of  the  city  of  New  York, and other applicable provisions of such code and of the rules and regulations of  such  board of education retirement system.   h.  Notwithstanding  any other provision of law to the contrary, a New York city revised plan member shall not receive service credit  for  any undocumented sick leave that may be credited toward terminal leave.