104.1003. Definitions.
Definitions.
104.1003. 1. Unless a different meaning is plainly required by thecontext, the following words and phrases as used in sections 104.1003 to104.1093 shall mean:
(1) "Act", the year 2000 plan created by sections 104.1003 to104.1093;
(2) "Actuary", an actuary who is experienced in retirement planfinancing and who is either a member of the American Academy of Actuariesor an enrolled actuary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of1974;
(3) "Annuity", annual benefit amounts, paid in equal monthlyinstallments, from funds provided for in, or authorized by, sections104.1003 to 104.1093;
(4) "Annuity starting date" means the first day of the first monthwith respect to which an amount is paid as an annuity pursuant to sections104.1003 to 104.1093;
(5) "Beneficiary", any person or entity entitled to receive anannuity or other benefit pursuant to sections 104.1003 to 104.1093 basedupon the employment record of another person;
(6) "Board of trustees", "board", or "trustees", a governing body orbodies established for the year 2000 plan pursuant to sections 104.1003 to104.1093;
(7) "Closed plan", a benefit plan created pursuant to this chapterand administered by a system prior to July 1, 2000. No person firstemployed on or after July 1, 2000, shall become a member of the closedplan, but the closed plan shall continue to function for the benefit ofpersons covered by and remaining in the closed plan and theirbeneficiaries;
(8) "Consumer price index", the Consumer Price Index for All UrbanConsumers for the United States, or its successor index, as approved by theboard, as such index is defined and officially reported by the UnitedStates Department of Labor, or its successor agency;
(9) "Credited service", the total credited service to a member'scredit as provided in sections 104.1003 to 104.1093; except that in no caseshall more than one day of credited service be credited to any member orvested former member for any one calendar day of eligible credit asprovided by law;
(10) "Department", any department or agency of the executive,legislative, or judicial branch of the state of Missouri receiving stateappropriations, including allocated funds from the federal government butnot including any body corporate or politic unless its employees areeligible for retirement coverage from a system pursuant to this chapter asotherwise provided by law;
(11) "Early retirement eligibility", a member's attainment offifty-seven years of age and the completion of at least five years ofcredited service;
(12) "Effective date", July 1, 2000;
(13) "Employee" shall be any person who is employed by a departmentand is paid a salary or wage by a department in a position normallyrequiring the performance of duties of not less than one thousand fortyhours per year, provided:
(a) The term "employee" shall not include any patient or inmate ofany state, charitable, penal or correctional institution, or any person whois employed by a department in a position that is covered by astate-sponsored defined benefit retirement plan not created by thischapter;
(b) The term "employee" shall be modified as provided by otherprovisions of sections 104.1003 to 104.1093;
(c) The system shall consider a person who is employed in multiplepositions simultaneously within a single agency to be working in a singleposition for purposes of determining whether the person is an employee asdefined in this subdivision;
(d) Beginning September 1, 2001, the term "year" as used in thissubdivision shall mean the twelve-month period beginning on the first dayof employment;
(e) The term "employee" shall include any person as defined underparagraph (b) of subdivision (20) of subsection 1 of section 104.010 who isfirst employed on or after July 1, 2000, but prior to August 28, 2007;
(14) "Employer", a department;
(15) "Executive director", the executive director employed by a boardestablished pursuant to the provisions of sections 104.1003 to 104.1093;
(16) "Final average pay", the average pay of a member for thethirty-six full consecutive months of service before termination ofemployment when the member's pay was greatest; or if the member was onworkers' compensation leave of absence or a medical leave of absence due toan employee illness, the amount of pay the member would have received butfor such leave of absence as reported and verified by the employingdepartment; or if the member was employed for less than thirty-six months,the average monthly pay of a member during the period for which the memberwas employed. The board of each system may promulgate rules for purposesof calculating final average pay and other retirement provisions toaccommodate for any state payroll system in which pay is received on amonthly, semimonthly, biweekly, or other basis;
(17) "Fund", a fund of the year 2000 plan established pursuant tosections 104.1003 to 104.1093;
(18) "Investment return", or "interest", rates as shall be determinedand prescribed from time to time by a board;
(19) "Member", a person who is included in the membership of thesystem, as set forth in section 104.1009;
(20) "Normal retirement eligibility", a member's attainment of atleast sixty-two years of age and the completion of at least five or moreyears of credited service or, the attainment of at least forty-eight yearsof age with a total of years of age and years of credited service which isat least eighty or, in the case of a member of the highway patrol who shallbe subject to the mandatory retirement provisions of section 104.080, themandatory retirement age and completion of five years of credited serviceor, the attainment of at least forty-eight years of age with a total ofyears of age and years of credited service which is at least eighty;
(21) "Pay" shall include:
(a) All salary and wages payable to an employee for personal servicesperformed for a department; but excluding:
a. Any amounts paid after an employee's employment is terminated,unless the payment is made as a final installment of salary or wages at thesame rate as in effect immediately prior to termination of employment inaccordance with a state payroll system adopted on or after January 1, 2000;
b. Any amounts paid upon termination of employment for unused annualleave or unused sick leave;
c. Pay in excess of the limitations set forth in Section 401(a)(17)of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended and other applicablefederal laws or regulations;
d. Any nonrecurring single sum payments; and
e. Any amounts for which contributions have not been made inaccordance with section 104.1066;
(b) All salary and wages which would have been payable to an employeeon workers' compensation leave of absence during the period the employee isreceiving a weekly workers' compensation benefit, as reported and verifiedby the employing department;
(c) All salary and wages which would have been payable to an employeeon a medical leave due to employee illness, as reported and verified by theemploying department;
(d) For purposes of members of the general assembly, pay shall be theannual salary provided to each senator and representative pursuant tosection 21.140, RSMo, plus any salary adjustment pursuant to section21.140, RSMo;
(22) "Retiree", a person receiving an annuity from the year 2000 planbased upon the person's employment record;
(23) "State", the state of Missouri;
(24) "System" or "retirement system", the Missouri state employees'retirement system or the Missouri department of transportation and highwaypatrol employees' retirement system, as the case may be;
(25) "Vested former member", a person entitled to receive a deferredannuity pursuant to section 104.1036;
(26) "Year 2000 plan", the benefit plan created by sections 104.1003to 104.1093.
2. Benefits paid under the provisions of this chapter shall notexceed the limitations of Internal Revenue Code Section 415, the provisionsof which are hereby incorporated by reference. Notwithstanding any otherlaw to the contrary, the board of trustees may establish a benefit planunder Section 415(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.Such plan shall be created solely for the purposes described in Section415(m)(3)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The boardof trustees may promulgate regulations necessary to implement theprovisions of this subsection and to create and administer such benefitplan.
(L. 1999 S.B. 308 & 314, A.L. 2001 S.B. 371, A.L. 2003 S.B. 248, et al., A.L. 2007 S.B. 406)