104.1021. Credited service determined by board--calculation.
Credited service determined by board--calculation.
104.1021. 1. The appropriate board shall determine how much creditedservice shall be given each member consistent with this section.
2. If a member terminates employment and is eligible to receive anannuity pursuant to the year 2000 plan, or becomes a vested former memberat the time of termination, the member's or former member's unused sickleave as reported through the financial and human resources systemmaintained by the office of administration, or if a department's employeesare not paid salaries or wages through such system, as reported directly bythe department, for which the member has not been paid will be converted tocredited service at the time of application for retirement benefits. Themember shall receive one-twelfth of a year of credited service for each onehundred and sixty-eight hours of such unused sick leave. The employingdepartment shall not certify unused sick leave unless such unused sickleave could have been used by the member for sickness or injury. The rateof accrual of sick leave for purposes of computing years of servicepursuant to this section shall be no greater than ten hours per month.Such credited service shall not be used in determining the member'seligibility for retirement or final average pay. Such credited serviceshall be added to the credited service in the last position of employmentheld as a member of the system.
3. If a member is employed in a covered position and simultaneouslyemployed in one or more other covered or noncovered positions, creditedservice shall be determined as if all such employment were in one position,and covered pay shall be the total of pay for all such positions.
4. In calculating any annuity, "credited service" means a periodexpressed as whole years and any fraction of a year measured in twelfthsthat begins on the date an employee commences employment in a coveredposition and ends on the date such employee's membership terminatespursuant to section 104.1018 plus any additional period for which theemployee is credited with service pursuant to this section.
5. A member shall be credited for all military service aftermembership commences as required by state and federal law.
6. Any member who had active military service in the United StatesArmy, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Army or Air National Guard, CoastGuard, or any reserve component thereof prior to last becoming a member, orwho is otherwise ineligible to receive credited service pursuant tosubsection 1 or 5 of this section, and who became a member after theperson's discharge from military service under honorable conditions mayelect, prior to retirement, to purchase credited service for all suchmilitary service, but not to exceed four years, provided the person is notreceiving and is not eligible to receive retirement credits or benefitsfrom any other public or private retirement plan, other than a UnitedStates military service retirement system, for the military service to bepurchased along with the submission of appropriate documentation verifyingthe member's dates of active service. The purchase shall be effected bythe member paying to the system an amount equal to the state'scontributions that would have been made to the system on the member'sbehalf had the member been a member for the period for which the member iselecting to purchase credit and had the member's pay during such period ofmembership been the same as the annual pay rate as of the date the memberwas initially employed as a member, with the calculations based on thecontribution rate in effect on the date of such member's employment withsimple interest calculated from the date of employment to the date ofelection pursuant to this subsection. The payment shall be made over aperiod of not longer than two years, measured from the date of election,and with simple interest on the unpaid balance. If a member who purchasedcredited service pursuant to this subsection dies prior to retirement, thesurviving spouse may, upon written request, receive a refund of the amountcontributed for such purchase of such credited service, provided thesurviving spouse is not entitled to survivorship benefits payable pursuantto the provisions of section 104.1030.
7. Any member of the Missouri state employees' retirement systemshall receive credited service for the creditable prior service that suchemployee would have been entitled to under the closed plan pursuant tosection 104.339, subsections 2, and 6 to 9 of section 104.340, subsection12 of section 104.342, section 104.344, subsection 4 of section 104.345,subsection 4 of section 104.372, section 178.640, RSMo, and section211.393, RSMo, provided such service has not been credited under the closedplan.
8. Any member who has service in both systems and dies or terminatesemployment shall have the member's service in the other system transferredto the last system that covered such member and any annuity payable to suchmember shall be paid by that system. Any such member may elect to transferservice between systems prior to termination of employment, provided, anyannuity payable to such member shall be paid by the last system thatcovered such member prior to the receipt of such annuity.
9. In no event shall any person or member receive credited servicepursuant to the year 2000 plan if that same service is credited forretirement benefits under any defined benefit retirement system not createdpursuant to this chapter.
10. Any additional credited service as described in subsections 5 to7 of this section shall be added to the credited service in the firstposition of employment held as a member of the system. Any additionalcreditable service received pursuant to section 105.691, RSMo, shall beadded to the credited service in the position of employment held at thetime the member completes the purchase or transfer pursuant to suchsection.
11. A member may not purchase any credited service described in thissection unless the member has met the five-year minimum service requirementas provided in subdivisions (11) and (20) of subsection 1 of section104.1003, the three full biennial assemblies minimum service requirement asprovided in section 104.1084, or the four-year minimum service requirementas provided in section 104.1084.
12. Absences taken by an employee without compensation for sicknessand injury of the employee of less than twelve months or for leave taken bysuch employee without compensation pursuant to the provisions of the Familyand Medical Leave Act of 1993 shall be counted as years of creditedservice.
(L. 1999 S.B. 308 & 314, A.L. 2001 S.B. 371, A.L. 2002 H.B. 1455, A.L. 2003 S.B. 248, et al., A.L. 2007 S.B. 406)