§ 24-7-604 - Overseas service.
24-7-604. Overseas service.
(a) As used in this section, "overseas service" means service in an American-type overseas school sponsored and approved by either the United States Department of State or the Department of Defense, or service rendered in the Peace Corps or Volunteers In Service To America (VISTA).
(b) A member of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System may receive membership service credit for service in an overseas school subject to the following conditions:
(1) To be eligible for overseas service credit, a member must have a minimum of five (5) years of membership service in a position covered by the system;
(2) (A) The overseas service credit to be granted shall be limited to service for which no benefit could be paid by another system similar in purpose to this system, except social security.
(B) The maximum overseas service credited to any member shall be ten (10) years;
(3) To be eligible for a year of overseas service credit, a member must have rendered at least one hundred twenty (120) days of service. Fractions of years of service may be credited in keeping with policies of the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System as provided by 24-7-601;
(4) (A) Contributions must be paid on the later of the member's salary in the overseas school or the annual salary received by him for the first full year of state teaching service preceding the fiscal year in which service is purchased.
(B) (i) The member shall pay the member contribution rate.
(ii) (a) Employer contributions may be paid either by the employer or by the member.
(b) For each year of the member's service overseas, employer contributions shall be based upon the employer contribution rate in effect for that year, provided employer contributions are paid in the year in which the service is rendered. If the employer contributions are not paid when service is rendered, the employer contributions shall be based on the rate in effect in the year preceding the fiscal year in which the service is purchased.
(c) If contributions were not paid to the system promptly, as service was rendered, interest shall be added from the date of purchase to the date of payment in full.