2023 New York Laws › EDN - Education › Title 1 - General Provisions › Article 11 - State Teachers' Retirement System for Public School Teachers › 522 - Transfer of Contributions Between Retirement Systems.

§ 522. Transfer  of  contributions  between retirement systems. 1. Any
  contributor, withdrawing from the retirement system  and  at  such  time
  giving  notice  to  the  retirement  board  of his intention of becoming
  within two years a member of another teachers' retirement  system  which
  is  being  operated  on an actuarial basis either under the laws of this
  state or under the laws of another state,  provided  the  system  has  a
  provision similar to this provision permitting reciprocal transfer, may,
  upon  depositing  within two years his accumulated contributions in such
  other  retirement  system  or  if  the   member   had   no   accumulated
  contributions  credited  to  his  individual  account  in the retirement
  system, upon joining such other  retirement  system  within  two  years,
  apply   to  the  retirement  board  for  a  transfer  from  the  pension
  accumulation fund to the corresponding fund  of  such  other  retirement
  system  of  the  amount  of  his  pension reserve as of the time when he
  withdrew his contributions from the annuity  savings  fund  or  filed  a
  notice  of  withdrawal  with  the system, and the retirement board shall
  transfer to such other retirement system the  amount  of  such  reserve,
  provided  that, if such other retirement system is not under the laws of
  this state, credit for a pension benefit of equivalent  actuarial  value
  to  the  amount of reserve transferred shall be given the teacher in the
  other retirement system and that the retirement board is satisfied  that
  the  retirement  system  to  which said transfer is made is on a solvent
  basis.
2.  Any  contributor  entering  the  retirement  system  after  having
  withdrawn  from another retirement system and having given notice at the
  time of withdrawal to the retirement board of such system of his or  her
  intention  of becoming a member of the retirement system, may deposit in
  the  annuity  savings  fund  the  amount  of  his  or  her   accumulated
  contributions  withdrawn  from  such  other  retirement system or if the
  member  had  no  accumulated  contributions  credited  to  his  or   her
  individual account in such other retirement system, such member shall in
  lieu  of depositing moneys in the annuity savings fund, file a notice of
  intent to transfer pursuant to rules  and  regulations  adopted  by  the
  retirement  board.  Upon the filing of a notice of intent to transfer as
  provided by this subdivision, the pension reserve to his or  her  credit
  in  such  other  retirement  system,  if such other retirement system is
  operated upon an actuarial basis under the laws of this state, shall  be
  transferred,  and  if  such  other  system is operated upon an actuarial
  basis under the laws of another state, may be transferred to the pension
  accumulation fund. Notwithstanding anything  to  the  contrary  in  this
  article,  such contributor shall be classified in this retirement system
  as a present teacher or as a new entrant accordingly as he or she  would
  have  been  classified  had the service rendered in the other retirement
  system been rendered while a member of this retirement system. A  person
  so   transferred  to  this  retirement  system  or  who  has  heretofore
  transferred to this retirement system shall be deemed  to  have  been  a
  member  of this retirement system during the entire period of membership
  service credited to him or her in the system from which he  or  she  has
  transferred. Such transferee, however, shall not receive more than three
  per   cent   interest  on  his  or  her  contributions  and  accumulated
  contributions unless he or she has continuously been a member in  either
  the  system  from  which he or she has transferred or in this retirement
  system since a date prior to the first day  of  July,  nineteen  hundred
  forty-eight.  This  shall  not  be  construed to prevent a change in the
  interest rate to such member if  the  interest  rate  payable  to  other
  members  of  this  retirement system is changed. In case he or she comes
  from a retirement system not under the laws of this  state,  he  or  she
  shall  be  given a prior service certificate showing a period of service

  such that the liability incurred by the retirement system on his or  her
  account  by  reason  of  prior  service  shall be equal in amount to the
  amount of the reserve so transferred, provided that  in  no  case  shall
  such  a  contributor  who  is  classified as a new entrant be given less
  credit in his or her prior service certificate than he or she would have
  received had no reserve been transferred on his or her account. In  case
  a  contributor  transfers  between  retirement systems under the laws of
  this state, he or she shall be credited in the system to which he or she
  is transferring with all service allowed to him  or  her  in  the  first
  system.  Such  contributor,  notwithstanding any other provision of law,
  shall on retirement be entitled to a  pension  based  on  salary  earned
  during  member  service in both retirement systems together, pursuant to
  the statutory requirements of the second retirement system.
3. Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, a former member of
  the New York city teachers' retirement system who  holds  membership  in
  the  New York state teachers' retirement system on the effective date of
  this act and who would have been entitled to transfer service credit  to
  such   latter  retirement  system  pursuant  to  this  section  had  his
  membership in the former retirement system not  terminated,  due  to  no
  negligence on the part of the member, may have his transfer rights under
  this  section  restored  by depositing, within one year of the effective
  date of this act, in the former retirement system an amount equal to the
  contributions withdrawn from such system with regular interest thereon.
4. In the case of a member of the New York city  teachers'  retirement
  system  with  a  membership  date prior to July twenty-seventh, nineteen
  hundred seventy-six and not less than twenty years of  credited  service
  in  that  system  who  has  transferred his/her membership to the system
  pursuant to this section or section forty-three of  the  retirement  and
  social  security  law, as applicable and is a member of the system on or
  after July first,  nineteen  hundred  ninety-eight,  the  actuary  shall
  compute  the  actuarial accrued liability for the member's pension under
  subdivision five of section five hundred  thirty-five  of  this  article
  immediately  following  transfer  as  if  such  member had always been a
  member of the system, using the service credited to  such  member  which
  was  transferred  to  the system, the member's salary in connection with
  such service and the  actuarial  assumptions  used  to  compute  pension
  reserves  pursuant to subdivision one of this section. If the sum of the
  reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any,  and  the  pension  reserve
  received  by  the  system  from  the  New York city teachers' retirement
  system in respect of such  member  exceeds  such  accrued  liability  as
  determined by the actuary, such excess shall be allocated as of the date
  of  the  receipt  of  such  reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay  to  the
  annuity savings fund for the benefit of such member and shall be treated
  as if it had been contributed to such  fund  by  the  member,  provided,
  however,  that,  in no event, may the amount so allocated to the annuity
  savings  fund  as  provided   herein   exceed   the   amount   of   such
  reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay,  if any, actually received from the
  New York city teachers' retirement system. In the  case  of  any  member
  retiring  prior  to  July  first,  two  thousand  one,  any  accumulated
  contributions to the credit of such member in the annuity  savings  fund
  as  of the member's date of retirement resulting from a determination of
  the actuary pursuant to this subdivision shall be paid to the retiree in
  a lump sum with interest at the rate of five per centum per  annum  from
  the  date  of retirement to the date of payment. The retirement board is
  authorized to promulgate such rules  and  regulations  as  it  may  deem
  necessary or appropriate to implement this subdivision.
5.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, except
  for the purposes of providing the benefits, if any, of subdivision  four

  of  this  section,  with  respect  to transfers pursuant to this section
  which occur on or after the effective date of the chapter of the laws of
  two thousand twenty-three that amended this subdivision, no transfer  of
  a  pension  reserve  pursuant  to subdivision one or two of this section
  shall be  required  when  the  member  is  transferring  from  a  public
  retirement  system  of  the  state  with less than ten years of credited
  service with the transferring retirement system at the time the transfer
  is initiated. With respect to transfers pursuant to subdivision  one  or
  two  of  this  section which occur on or after the effective date of the
  chapter of the laws of  two  thousand  twenty-three  that  amended  this
  subdivision,  the  transfer  of a pension reserve shall be required when
  the member is transferring ten or more years of credited service from  a
  public  retirement  system  of  the state to any other public retirement
  system of the state, excluding any transfers within and between the  New
  York  city  employees'  retirement  system,  the New York city teachers'
  retirement system and the New York city board  of  education  retirement
  system.  For  the  purpose of giving the transferring member such status
  and crediting such service in the retirement system to which the  member
  is transferring as such member was allowed in the retirement system from
  which  the member has transferred, the transfer shall be deemed complete
  upon receipt by the transferee retirement system of (a) a statement from
  the transferor retirement system of the transferring  member's  date  of
  membership  in  the  transferor  retirement system, tier status, service
  credited to the transferred membership, and such  other  information  as
  the transferee retirement system may require to effectuate the transfer,
  (b)   such   member's  accumulated  contributions  from  the  transferor
  retirement system, if same had not been previously withdrawn, or  notice
  from   the   transferor  retirement  system  that  such  member  had  no
  accumulated contributions, or  notice  from  the  transferor  retirement
  system  that  such member's accumulated contributions had been withdrawn
  and the amount thereof and, as applicable, receipt from such  member  of
  such  member's  accumulated  contributions  and  interest,  and  (c) the
  pension reserve in the case of a member who transfers  in  ten  or  more
  years  of  credited service, except when transferring within and between
  the New York city  employees'  retirement  system,  the  New  York  city
  teachers'  retirement  system  and  the New York city board of education
  retirement system.