New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 17 - TREASURY - GENERAL › Chapter 1 - GENERAL ADMINISTRATION › Subchapter 3 - ENROLLMENT, MEMBERSHIP, TRANSFERS AND WITHDRAWALS › Section 17:1-3.10 - Peacetime military service; service credit

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) A member,
				former member, or a person required to be a member of a State-administered
				retirement system who leaves employment covered by a State-administered
				retirement system to enter the uniformed services of the United States may
				obtain service credit in the State-administered retirement system, as provided
				in this section upon returning to covered employment within the time period and
				under the circumstances required for entitlement to reemployment rights under
				Federal law
(
				38 U.S.C. §§
											4301
et seq.).
(b) A member reemployed under this section
				shall be treated as not having incurred a break in service with the employer by
				reason of the member's period of service in the uniformed services. A member
				that authorizes payroll deductions or makes a lump sum payment for the
				USERRA-eligible service will receive the pension service credit with the
				State-administered retirement system. The actual calculation of retirement
				benefits will include the time of uniformed service. Payment to the retirement
				system of any contributions for USERRA-eligible service is optional and
				voluntary on the part of the member.
(c) The types of service or situations
				eligible for reemployment rights include regular active duty, initial active
				duty for training, active and inactive duty training for members of reserve
				components and National Guard units, and situations where an employee leaves
				employment for the uniformed services or for examination of fitness for the
				uniformed services and is not taken into the uniformed services.
1. The person must be a member or be required
				to be a member of a State-administered retirement system prior to leaving
				employment to enter the uniformed services, must give advance written or oral
				notice of such service to the employer, unless precluded by military necessity,
				and must leave the covered employment to enter the uniformed
				services.
2. The person must return
				to employment or submit an application for reemployment covered by a
				State-administered retirement system within the time periods prescribed by
				Federal law. The cumulative length of the absence and of all previous absences
				with that employer shall not exceed five years unless otherwise permitted under
				38
				U.S.C. §
											4312(c) to be
				eligible for reemployment rights. The person must seek reemployment within the
				time period prescribed by Federal law which is generally 90 days following
				release from the uniformed services but which differs based on the length and
				type of service as provided in
				38
				U.S.C. §
											4312(e). In
				all cases, the time limit for return to employment or to submit an application
				for reemployment is extended for up to two years for any injury or illness
				incurred in or aggravated during the uniformed service requiring
				hospitalization or convalescence which continues after release from the
				uniformed service.
3. The person's
				uniformed service must have been honorable or satisfactory.
4. The person shall be denied reemployment
				rights if:
i. The person is not qualified to
				perform the duties of the position for which reemployment is sought;
ii. The accommodation, training or effort
				referred to in
				38 U.S.C. §
												4313(a)(3), (a)(4) or
				(b)(2)(B) would impose an undue hardship on
				the employer;
iii. The employer's
				circumstances have so changed as to make it impossible or unreasonable to
				reemploy the person;
iv. The
				employment from which the person leaves to serve in the uniformed services is
				for a brief, nonrecurring period (temporary employment) and there is no
				reasonable expectation that such employment will continue indefinitely;
				or
v. The person knowingly provides
				written notice of intent not to return to a position of employment after
				service in the uniformed services.
5. The person will not be entitled to service
				credit in a State-administered retirement system if reemployment is validly
				denied.
6. The employer shall have
				the burden of proving that
				17:1-3.1 0(c)4i, ii, iii, iv or v
				above justified the denial of reemployment rights. For the purposes of (c)4v
				above, the employer must show that the person knowingly provided clear written
				notice of intent not to return to a position of employment after service in the
				uniformed service and in doing so was aware of the specific rights and benefits
				to be lost.
7. To receive service
				credit in a State-administered retirement system for peacetime military
				service, prior to October 13, 1994, the person must have applied within one
				year following the date of return to employment or the date initial pension
				contributions are certified to begin in the retirement system if the person's
				former membership was terminated or was in a different retirement
				system.
8. The employer shall
				notify the Division in writing within 30 days that a member has returned from
				service in the uniformed services and shall provide the dates of such
				service.
9. The member may make
				contributions to the retirement system for all of the period of service in the
				uniformed services to obtain credit in the pension system for inclusion of such
				service in the calculation of benefits. The member must file a written request
				with the Division so that a schedule of back deductions will be generated. The
				schedule of back deductions shall be based upon the employee's rate of
				contribution in effect on the date the employee returned to employment
				multiplied by the salary the employee would have received for the period of
				service; or if the determination of such salary is not reasonably certain, on
				the basis of the employee's average rate of compensation during the year
				immediately preceding such service for the period of time in which no credit
				was received in the system for that service. Any payment to the plan described
				in this paragraph shall begin as soon as practicable after the date of
				reemployment and shall continue for the lesser of five years or three times the
				period of the uniformed service. If the member does not request in writing back
				deductions at the time of return to employment, the member may request to
				receive credit for such service until the expiration of either five years or
				three times the period of the uniformed service, whichever is shorter.
				Repayment still must be made in the above referenced time frame.
10. The member is permitted to make
				additional elective deferrals to the Supplemental Annuity Collective Trust
				(SACT), the New Jersey State Employees' Deferred Compensation Plan, the
				Additional Contributions Tax Sheltered Programs (ACTS), and the Alternate
				Benefit Program in an amount not exceeding the maximum amount the employee
				would have been permitted to contribute during the period of military service
				if the employee had actually been employed by the employer during that
				period.
11. If a person retires
				prior to paying the total amount of contributions required to obtain service
				credit for the uniformed service, the total amount of service credit shall be
				in direct proportion as the amount paid bears to the total amount of
				contribution obligation.
12. An
				employer who participates in the Alternate Benefit Program (ABP) and reemploys
				a person under this section, shall be liable to the ABP for funding any
				obligation of that plan to provide benefits under the ABP for the period served
				by a person in the uniformed services, upon that person's reemployment. The
				employer shall allocate the amount of any employer contribution for that person
				in the same manner and extent that the allocation occurs for other employees
				during the same period of service. However, the employer is not required to
				make up the earnings that those contributions would have made had the person
				reemployed under this paragraph been employed continuously.
i. An employee reemployed under this
				paragraph who is a member of the defined contribution plan shall be entitled to
				the above accrued benefits only to the extent that the person makes payments to
				the plan with respect to such employee contributions.
ii. For the purposes of computing the
				employer's liability and the employee's contributions, the employee's
				compensation during the period of service shall be computed at:
(1) The rate the employee would have received
				but for the period of service; or
(2) If the determination of such rate is not
				reasonably certain, on the basis of the employee's average rate of compensation
				during the year immediately preceding such service.
iii. Make-up contributions shall begin on the
				date of reemployment and shall continue for five years or three times the
				period of uniformed service, whichever is shorter.
iv. Any employer who reemploys a person under
				this section shall, within 30 days after the date of reemployment, provide
				information in writing of such reemployment to the Division.