501 - Definitions.
§ 501. Definitions. The following words and phrases as used in this article shall have the following meanings unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context. 1. "Active service" shall mean service while being paid on the payroll of a participating employer. 2. "Cost-of-living index" shall mean the consumer price index (all items--United States city averages) published by the United States bureau of labor statistics. 3. "Credited service" shall mean all service which has been credited to a member pursuant to section five hundred thirteen or which was credited to such member in a public retirement system of the state before such member became subject to this article and which is allowable as previous service pursuant to section five hundred thirteen. 4. "Creditable service" is service which qualifies to be counted as credited service pursuant to section five hundred thirteen. 5. "Early retirement age" shall mean age fifty-five, for general members, and the age on which a member completes or would have completed twenty years of service, for police/fire members. 6. "Elective member" shall mean a member who is not subject to the provisions of this article on a mandatory basis. 7. "Eligible beneficiary" for the purposes of section five hundred nine of this article shall mean the following persons or classes of persons in the order set forth: (a) a surviving spouse who has not renounced survivorship rights in a separation agreement, until remarriage, (b) surviving children until age twenty-five, (c) dependent parents, determined under regulations promulgated by the comptroller, (d) any other person who qualified as a dependent on the final federal income tax return of the member or the return filed in the year immediately preceding the year of death, until such person reaches twenty-one years of age and (e) with respect to members of the New York city employees' retirement system and the board of education retirement system of the city of New York, a person whom the member shall have nominated in the form of a written designation, duly acknowledged and filed with the head of the retirement system for the purpose of section five hundred eight of this article. In the event that a class of eligible beneficiaries consists of more than one person, benefits shall be divided equally among the persons in such class. For the purposes of section five hundred eight the term "eligible beneficiary" shall mean such person as the member shall have nominated to receive the benefits provided in this article. To be effective, such a nomination must be in the form of a written designation, duly acknowledged and filed with the head of the retirement system for this specific purpose. In the event such designated beneficiary does not survive him, or if he shall not have so designated a beneficiary, such benefits shall be payable to the deceased member's estate or as provided in section one thousand three hundred ten of the surrogate's court procedure act. 8. "Excess contributions" shall mean any contributions (and interest thereon) made by a member prior to becoming subject to this article which, if not withdrawn, would have been used to purchase an additional annuity at retirement had the member continued in the plan of which he was a member before becoming subject to this article. 9. "Federal social security program" shall mean the federal old age and survivor's assistance program under the federal social security act. 10. "Federal social security primary insurance amount" shall mean the primary insurance amount as defined in section 215 (a) (1) (A) of the federal social security act.11. "Federal social security benefit computation period" shall mean a member's benefit computation years as determined pursuant to section 215 (b) of the federal social security act. 12. "General member" shall mean a member subject to the provisions of this article who is not a police/fire member. 13. "Head of the retirement system" shall mean the comptroller, with respect to the state employees' retirement system and the state policemen's and firemen's retirement system, and the retirement board of the other public retirement systems of the state. 14. "In service" shall mean any period during which a member is on the payroll of a public employer, in the service upon which membership is based, and any period during which the member was not on the payroll if he or she; (a) was on the payroll and paid within the previous twelve months, (b) had not been gainfully employed since ceasing to be on such payroll, (c) had credit for at least one year of continuous service since last entering or reentering the service of the public employer and (d) was not eligible for or receiving a service retirement or disability benefit. 15. "Mandatory retirement age" shall mean age seventy, for general members, and age sixty-two, for police/fire members. 16. "Member" shall mean any person included in the membership of a public retirement system of this state as provided in section five hundred of this article. 17. "Normal retirement age" shall be age sixty-two, for general members, and the age at which a member completes or would have completed twenty-two years of service, for police/fire members. 18. "Participating employer" shall mean a public employer who is participating in a public retirement system of the state. 19. "Primary social security retirement benefit" shall mean the benefit payable to a covered employee, at age sixty-two or later, under the federal social security program, exclusive of any family benefits, calculated as provided in subdivision c of section five hundred eleven. 20. "Primary social security disability benefit" shall mean the benefit payable to a disabled covered employee under the federal social security program, exclusive of any family benefits, calculated as provided in subdivision c of section five hundred eleven. 21. "Police/fire member" shall mean a member subject to the provisions of this article who, if employed in the same capacity on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred seventy-six, would have been eligible for membership in the New York state policemen's and firemen's retirement system, the New York city police pension fund or the New York city fire department pension fund, or for participation in the uniformed transit police force plan or housing police force plan in the New York city employees' retirement system. 22. "Public employer" shall mean an employer who is eligible to participate in a public retirement system of the state. 23. "Public retirement system of the state" shall mean the New York state employees' retirement system, New York state policemen's and firemen's retirement system, New York state teacher's retirement system, New York city employees' retirement system, New York city teacher's retirement system, New York city police pension fund, New York city fire department pension fund and the New York city board of education retirement system. 24. "Wages" shall mean regular compensation earned by and paid to a member by a public employer, except that for members who first join the state and local employees' retirement system on or after January first, two thousand ten, overtime compensation paid in any year in excess of the overtime ceiling, as defined by this subdivision, shall not beincluded in the definition of wages. "Overtime compensation" shall mean, for purposes of this section, compensation paid under any law or policy under which employees are paid at a rate greater than their standard rate for additional hours worked beyond those required, including compensation paid under section one hundred thirty-four of the civil service law and section ninety of the general municipal law. The "overtime ceiling" shall mean fifteen thousand dollars per annum on January first, two thousand ten, and shall be increased by three percent each year thereafter. For the purpose of calculation a member's primary federal social security retirement or disability benefit, wages shall, in any calendar year, be limited to the portion of the member's wages which would be subject to tax under section three thousand one hundred twenty-one of the internal revenue code of nineteen hundred fifty-four, or any predecessor or successor provision relating thereto, if such member was employed by a private employer.