2015 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 11 - Consolidated Public Retirement
RS 11:2254 - Creditable service

§2254. Creditable service

A. Creditable service at retirement on which the retirement allowance of a member shall be based shall consist of the membership service rendered by him since he last became a member. Additionally, any active contributing member shall be entitled to receive credit for service as an employee, as the term "employee" is defined in this Chapter, for which the member has not received credit, provided that such service credit is purchased, at the option of the member, under the provisions of R.S. 11:158. No credit shall be given unless and until this amount is paid in full.

B. Any member who has terminated membership in the system and withdrawn his contributions and who later becomes a member of this system shall, after eighteen months of additional service and membership, be eligible to obtain credit for his previous service in the system, provided that he pays back into the system the amount of contributions which was refunded to him plus interest at the system's then currently assumed actuarial valuation rate of interest, compounded annually, from date of refund until date paid.

C. Any member terminated by his employer, which termination has subsequently been declared to have been wrongful, who has withdrawn his contributions during this period of wrongful termination, may repay the refunded contributions without the payment of interest on the refunded amount within thirty days of the exhaustion of all legal remedies or legal delays for appealing decisions regarding such wrongful termination, or within thirty days after reinstatement in his position of employment, whichever is longer. If the repayment of refunded contributions does not take place within this thirty-day period, the member shall repay the amount of the refunded contributions in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 11:144.

D. The system shall permit direct rollovers from other qualified retirement plans. "Direct rollovers" for purposes of this Section shall mean trustee to trustee transfers of sums from other qualified plans which are permitted to roll over sums to other qualified plans under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. Amounts so rolled over may be used to purchase service credits at the accrual rate established by the system actuary using actuarial assumptions consistently applied, subject to the limitations of Section 415(n) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. Any such service credit may only be purchased if authorized by statutory authority, other than this Subsection, specifically identifying the type of credit authorized to be purchased. Amounts may not be rolled over which are in excess of the amounts which may be used to purchase creditable service under Section 415(n). No member shall receive a benefit for purchased creditable service if to do so would cause the member to receive a retirement benefit for the same service under more than one retirement plan. The system shall also permit members and retirees to make direct trustee to trustee rollovers of those distributions which are eligible for tax-free rollover treatment to other qualified plans as provided in Section 401(a)(31) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

E. The qualified military service of a member who has been reemployed in accordance with 26 U.S.C. 414(u) shall be treated for vesting and benefit accrual purposes as service completed under Subsection A of this Section if the member timely remits to the system any employee contributions which would have been required but for the member's leave of absence to perform qualified military service in accordance with the terms of federal law.

Added by Acts 1979, No. 434, §1. Amended by Acts 1980, No. 178, §1; Redesignated from R.S. 33:2154 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §3, eff. June 25, 1991; Acts 1993, No. 324, §1; Acts 1993, No. 756, §1; Acts 2006, No. 492, §1, eff. July 1, 2006; Acts 2006, No. 507, §1, eff. June 22, 2006; Acts 2012, No. 480, §1, eff. July 1, 2012.