Pennsylvania Code › Title 22 - EDUCATION › Part XIII - Public School Employes' Retirement Board › Chapter 211 - PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS › Section 211.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a) The definitions
				in section 8102 of the Retirement Code (relating to definitions) are applicable
				to Chapters 211, 213 and 215 (relating to preliminary provisions; contributions
				and benefits; and general administration) as clarified or supplemented by the
				definitions in subsection (b).
(b)
				The following words and terms, when used in this part, have, consistent with
				the Retirement Code definitions, the following meanings, unless the context
				clearly indicates otherwise:
Active member
-
(i) A school employee for whom pickup
				contributions, as defined in section 8102 of the Retirement Code (relating to
				definitions), are properly being made to the Fund, including those granted a
				sabbatical leave of absence, or who are on an approved leave of absence for
				professional study, as an exchange teacher, or service with a collective
				bargaining organization, under section 8102 and section 8302 of the Retirement
				Code (relating to credited school service), or for whom the contributions
				otherwise required for current school service are not being made solely by
				reason of any provision in the Retirement Code relating to the limitations
				under sections 401(a)(17) or 415(b) of the IRC (
				26 U.S.C.A. §§
											401(a)(17) and
				415(b)
				).
(ii) The term excludes employees
				who are on leave of absence without pay.
Actuarially equivalent
-Two benefits are said
				  to be actuarially equivalent if they have equal present values, computed on the
				  basis of statutory interest and the mortality tables currently adopted and used
				  by the Board.
Annuitant
-A member on or after the effective
				  date of retirement, until the annuity is terminated, but excludes a beneficiary
				  or survivor annuitant.
Beneficiary
-The person, (as defined in
				  1
				  Pa.C.S. §
											1991 (relating to definitions)),
				  last designated by a member in writing to the Board to receive accumulated
				  deductions or a lump sum benefit upon the member's death.
Board
-The Public School Employees'
				  Retirement Board.
Certified members
-See definition of
				  "professional members" in this section.
Employer
-
(i) A governmental entity directly
				responsible for the employment and payment of the school employee and charged
				with the responsibility of providing public education within this
				Commonwealth.
(ii) The term
				includes all governmental entities whose employees under prior law and
				regulations are members of the System as of the effective date of the
				Retirement Code.
Final average salary
-The highest average
				  compensation received as an active member during any three nonoverlapping
				  periods of 12 consecutive months. In the case of a part-time employee,
				  compensation shall be annualized by multiplying actual earnings by the
				  reciprocal of the fractional portion of time worked during nonoverlapping
				  periods of 12 consecutive months or equivalent consecutive pay periods during
				  which compensation is received; and, in the case of a member with multiple
				  service credit, the salary shall be determined by reference to include
				  compensation received as a school employee or a State employee, or both. In the
				  case of a member who first became a member on or after July 1, 1996,
				  compensation shall be subject to the application of section
				  8325.1 of the Retirement Code
				  (relating to annual compensation limit under section 401(a)(17) of the IRC).
				  Final average salary is an average of the 3 highest school years. For
				  terminations before the end of the school year, salary for that part of the
				  year may be used in combination with a proportionate percentage of a prior
				  year. School years with part-time service may be annualized for salary
				  calculation. Either annualized or actual retirement-covered compensation is
				  allocated to months for each school year. For final average salary purposes,
				  retirement-covered compensation is credited in the school year in which it is
				  earned, not paid. Retirement-covered compensation is not recognized for any
				  period of creditable nonschool service purchased by a member.
Full-day session
-That period of time
				  determined by the employer, without objection from the Department of Education,
				  during which a school employee is employed daily for instructional
				  purposes.
Full time employee
-An employee employed at
				  least 5 hours per day or 25 hours per week or its equivalent.
Fund
-The Public School Employees' Retirement
				  Fund.
Governmental entity
-In addition to those
				  enumerated in the Retirement Code, the term includes any agency or authority,
				  being a corporate body or body politic created by law, or any entity created by
				  those agencies or authorities, charged with the responsibility of providing
				  public education within this Commonwealth.
Government service
-Service as an
				  administrator, teacher, or instructor in the field of public school education
				  for an agency or department of the government of the United States.
Inactive member
-
(i) A member for whom no pickup
				contributions, as defined in section 8102 of the Retirement Code, are being
				made, who has accumulated deductions standing to the member's credit in the
				Fund and for whom no pickup contributions have been made within the last 2
				school years, except in the case of an active member for whom the contributions
				otherwise required for current school service are not being made solely by
				reason of any provision in the Retirement Code relating to the limitations
				under sections 401(a)(17) of the Internal Revenue Code, who has accumulated
				deductions standing to his credit in the Fund and for whom contributions have
				been made within the last 2 school years or a multiple service member who is
				active in the State Employees' Retirement System.
(ii) The term also includes a member who is
				on furlough and has elected to leave the accumulated deductions in the Fund at
				statutory interest during the furlough period, which period may not exceed 2
				school years; or a member who is on leave of absence without pay.
IRC-Internal Revenue Code
-
				  26 U.S.C.A. §§
											1 -
				  7872.
Member's annuity
-An amount determined by
				  dividing the accumulated deductions of the member by the cost of a $1 annuity
				  based on the nearest age of the member at the effective date of retirement and
				  computed on the basis of statutory interest and mortality tables adopted and
				  used by the Board.
Noncertified members
-See definition of
				  "nonprofessional members" in this section.
Nonprofessional members or noncertified
				  members
-The term includes school employees who are not "professional
				  employees," as defined in section 1101 of the Public School Code of 1949
				  (24
				  P. S. §
											11-1101), and who also qualify for
				  membership in the System under section 8301 of the Retirement Code (relating to
				  mandatory and optional membership).
Professional members
or
certified
				  members
-"Professional employees," as defined in section 1101 of the
				  Public School Code of 1949, including all temporary professional employees,
				  professional employees, substitutes and commissioned officers currently
				  employed by a school district or intermediate unit and qualifying for
				  membership in the System under section 8301 of the Retirement Code (relating to
				  mandatory and optional membership).
Public school
-Any or all classes or schools
				  within this Commonwealth conducted under the order and superintendence of the
				  Department of Education including, but not limited to: all educational classes
				  of an employer charged with the responsibility of public education within this
				  Commonwealth as well as those classes financed wholly or in part by the Federal
				  Government, State-owned colleges and universities, the Pennsylvania State
				  University, community colleges, area vocational-technical schools, intermediate
				  units, the State Board of Education, Scotland School for Veterans' Children,
				  Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology and the Pennsylvania State Oral School
				  for the Deaf. In all cases of doubt, the Board will determine whether any
				  particular governmental entity is eligible as an employer within the meaning of
				  the Retirement Code.
Retirement Code
-The Public School Employees'
				  Retirement Code,
				  24 Pa.C.S. §§
											8101-8535.
Salary deductions
-The amounts certified by
				  the Board to be deducted from the compensation, as determined for retirement
				  purposes, of an active member and paid into the Fund for the purposes of
				  purchasing current service, previous school service, pickup contributions and
				  creditable nonschool service, as the case may be.
School employee
-
(i) A person engaged in work relating to a
				public school for any governmental entity and for which work the person is
				receiving regular remuneration as an officer, administrator or employee
				excluding, however, any independent contractor or a person compensated on a fee
				basis.
(ii) The term does not
				include a person who is rendering services to the school district on a
				commission or fee basis, whether an elected official or not.
School year
-The 12-month period which the
				  governmental entity uses for purposes of administration, regardless of the
				  actual time during which a member renders service. A member will not be
				  credited, during a school year, with credited service in excess of 1
				  year.
Statutory interest
-As applied to
				  contributions of members, interest at 4% per annum compounded annually.