Section 23-303 - Eligibility service - Break in service rules.
§ 23-303. Eligibility service - Break in service rules.
(a) "Break in service" defined.- In this section, "break in service" means a period of separation from employment in a fiscal year after the one in which a member first becomes employed, if during that fiscal year the member does not complete more than 350 hours of employment while a member.
(b) Scope of section.-
(1) This section applies to a member of the Employees' Pension System or the Teachers' Pension System who was a member of one of those State systems.
(2) This section does not apply to:
(i) a retiree of the Employees' Pension System or the Teachers' Pension System; or
(ii) a member of the Employees' Pension System or Teachers' Pension System who is subject to the contributory pension benefit or the Alternate Contributory Pension Selection.
(c) In general.- A member is entitled to the eligibility service to which the member was entitled before the separation from employment if:
(1) the member has not incurred a break in service;
(2) the member was entitled to a vested allowance at the time of the separation from employment; or
(3) (i) the member has completed 1 year of eligibility service after a break in service; and
(ii) the number of consecutive years in which the member incurred a break in service is less than the years of eligibility service as a member before the break in service.
(d) Determination of prior eligibility service.- To determine if a member is eligible for prior eligibility service under subsection (c)(3)(ii) of this section, the Board of Trustees shall determine the number of years of prior eligibility service:
(1) as of the day the member separated from employment; but
(2) excluding any eligibility service lost because of a prior break in service.
(e) Termination of rights in other system.- When a member receives credit for eligibility service under subsection (c) of this section from the other system, the member has no further rights in the other system.
[An. Code 1957, art. 73B, §§ 4-301, 5-301; 1994, ch. 6, § 2; 1998, ch. 530, § 2; 1999, ch. 176, § 1; 2007, ch. 337.]