2017 Nebraska Revised Statutes
Chapter 79 - SCHOOLS
79-978 Terms, defined.

79-978. Terms, defined.

For purposes of the Class V School Employees Retirement Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) Accumulated contributions means the sum of amounts contributed by a member of the system together with regular interest credited thereon;

(2) Actuarial equivalent means the equality in value of the retirement allowance for early retirement or the retirement allowance for an optional form of annuity, or both, with the normal form of the annuity to be paid, as determined by the application of the appropriate actuarial table, except that use of such actuarial tables shall not effect a reduction in benefits accrued prior to September 1, 1985, as determined by the actuarial tables in use prior to such date;

(3) Actuarial tables means:

(a) For determining the actuarial equivalent of any annuities other than joint and survivorship annuities, a unisex mortality table using twenty-five percent of the male mortality and seventy-five percent of the female mortality from the 1994 Group Annuity Mortality Table with a One Year Setback and using an interest rate of eight percent compounded annually; and

(b) For joint and survivorship annuities, a unisex retiree mortality table using sixty-five percent of the male mortality and thirty-five percent of the female mortality from the 1994 Group Annuity Mortality Table with a One Year Setback and using an interest rate of eight percent compounded annually and a unisex joint annuitant mortality table using thirty-five percent of the male mortality and sixty-five percent of the female mortality from the 1994 Group Annuity Mortality Table with a One Year Setback and using an interest rate of eight percent compounded annually;

(4) Annuitant means any member receiving an allowance;

(5) Annuity means annual payments, for both prior service and membership service, for life as provided in the Class V School Employees Retirement Act;

(6) Audit year means the period beginning January 1 in any year and ending on December 31 of that same year except for the initial audit year which will begin September 1, 2016, and end on December 31, 2016. Beginning September 1, 2016, the audit year will be the period of time used in the preparation of the annual actuarial analysis and valuation and a financial audit of the investments of the retirement system;

(7) Beneficiary means any person entitled to receive or receiving a benefit by reason of the death of a member;

(8) Board of education means the board of education of the school district;

(9)(a) Compensation means gross wages or salaries payable to the member during a fiscal year and includes (i) overtime pay, (ii) member contributions to the retirement system that are picked up under section 414(h) of the Internal Revenue Code, as defined in section 49-801.01, (iii) retroactive salary payments paid pursuant to court order, arbitration, or litigation and grievance settlements, and (iv) amounts contributed by the member to plans under sections 125, 403(b), and 457 of the Internal Revenue Code, as defined in section 49-801.01, or any other section of the code which defers or excludes such amounts from income.

(b) Compensation does not include (i) fraudulently obtained amounts as determined by the board, (ii) amounts for accrued unused sick leave or accrued unused vacation leave converted to cash payments, (iii) insurance premiums converted into cash payments, (iv) reimbursement for expenses incurred, (v) fringe benefits, (vi) per diems paid as expenses, (vii) bonuses for services not actually rendered, (viii) early retirement inducements, (ix) cash awards, (x) severance pay, or (xi) employer contributions made for the purposes of separation payments made at retirement and early retirement inducements.

(c) Compensation in excess of the limitations set forth in section 401(a)(17) of the Internal Revenue Code, as defined in section 49-801.01, shall be disregarded;

(10) Council means the Nebraska Investment Council created and acting pursuant to section 72-1237;

(11) Creditable service means the sum of the membership service and the prior service, measured in one-tenth-year increments;

(12) Early retirement date means, for members hired prior to July 1, 2016, who have attained age fifty-five, that month and year selected by a member having at least ten years of creditable service which includes a minimum of five years of membership service. Early retirement date means, for members hired on or after July 1, 2016, that month and year selected by a member having at least five years of creditable service and who has attained age sixty;

(13) Early retirement inducement means, but is not limited to:

(a) A benefit, bonus, or payment to a member in exchange for an agreement by the member to retire with a reduced retirement benefit;

(b) A benefit, bonus, or payment paid to a member in addition to the member's retirement benefit;

(c) Lump-sum or installment cash payments, except payments for accrued unused leave converted to cash payments;

(d) An additional salary or wage component of any kind that is being paid as an incentive to leave employment and not for personal services performed for which creditable service is granted;

(e) Partial or full employer payment of a member's health, dental, life, or long-term disability insurance benefits or cash in lieu of such insurance benefits that extend beyond the member’s termination of employment and contract of employment dates. This subdivision does not apply to any period during which the member is contributing to the retirement system and being awarded creditable service; and

(f) Any other form of separation payments made by an employer to a member at termination, including, but not limited to, purchasing retirement contracts for the member pursuant to section 79-514, or depositing money for the member in an account established under section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code except for payments for accrued unused leave;

(14) Employee means the following enumerated persons receiving compensation from the school district: (a) Regular teachers and administrators employed on a written contract basis; and (b) regular employees, not included in subdivision (14)(a) of this section, hired upon a full-time basis, which basis shall contemplate a workweek of not less than thirty hours;

(15) Employer means a school district participating in a retirement system established pursuant to the Class V School Employees Retirement Act;

(16) Fiscal year means the period beginning September 1 in any year and ending on August 31 of the next succeeding year;

(17) Hire date or date of hire means the first day of compensated service subject to retirement contributions;

(18) Interest means, for the purchase of service credit, the purchase of prior service credit, restored refunds, and delayed payments, the investment return assumption used in the most recent actuarial valuation;

(19) Member means any employee included in the membership of the retirement system or any former employee who has made contributions to the system and has not received a refund;

(20) Membership service means service on or after September 1, 1951, as an employee of the school district and a member of the system for which compensation is paid by the school district. Credit for more than one year of membership service shall not be allowed for service rendered in any fiscal year. Beginning September 1, 2005, a member shall be credited with a year of membership service for each fiscal year in which the member performs one thousand or more hours of compensated service as an employee of the school district. For an employee who becomes a member prior to July 1, 2018, an hour of compensated service shall include any hour for which the member is compensated by the school district during periods when no service is performed due to vacation or approved leave. For an employee who becomes a member on or after July 1, 2018, an hour of compensated service shall include any hour for which the member is compensated by the school district during periods when no service is performed due to used accrued sick days, used accrued vacation days, federal and state holidays, and jury duty leave for which the member is paid full compensation by the employer. If a member performs less than one thousand hours of compensated service during a fiscal year, one-tenth of a year of membership service shall be credited for each one hundred hours of compensated service by the member in such fiscal year. In determining a member's total membership service, all periods of membership service, including fractional years of membership service in one-tenth-year increments, shall be aggregated;

(21) Military service means service in the uniformed services as defined in 38 U.S.C. 4301 et seq., as such provision existed on March 27, 1997;

(22) Normal retirement date means the end of the month during which the member attains age sixty-five and has completed at least five years of membership service;

(23) Primary beneficiary means the person or persons entitled to receive or receiving a benefit by reason of the death of a member;

(24) Prior service means service rendered prior to September 1, 1951, for which credit is allowed under section 79-999, service rendered by retired employees receiving benefits under preexisting systems, and service for which credit is allowed under sections 79-990, 79-991, 79-994, 79-995, and 79-997;

(25) Regular interest means interest (a) on the total contributions of the member prior to the close of the last preceding fiscal year, (b) compounded annually, and (c)(i) beginning September 1, 2016, at a rate equal to the daily treasury yield curve for one-year treasury securities, as published by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, that applies on September 1 of each year and (ii) prior to September 1, 2016, at rates to be determined annually by the board, which shall have the sole, absolute, and final discretionary authority to make such determination, except that the rate for any given year in no event shall exceed the actual percentage of net earnings of the system during the last preceding fiscal year;

(26) Retirement allowance means the total annual retirement benefit payable to a member for service or disability;

(27) Retirement date means the date of retirement of a member for service or disability as fixed by the board of trustees;

(28) Retirement system or system means the School Employees' Retirement System of (corporate name of the school district as described in section 79-405) as provided for by the act;

(29) Secondary beneficiary means the person or persons entitled to receive or receiving a benefit by reason of the death of all primary beneficiaries prior to the death of the member. If no primary beneficiary survives the member, secondary beneficiaries shall be treated in the same manner as primary beneficiaries;

(30) State investment officer means the state investment officer appointed pursuant to section 72-1240 and acting pursuant to the Nebraska State Funds Investment Act;

(31) Substitute employee means a person hired by an employer as a temporary employee to assume the duties of an employee due to a temporary absence of any employee. Substitute employee does not mean a person hired as an employee on an ongoing basis to assume the duties of other employees who are temporarily absent;

(32) Temporary employee means a person hired by an employer who is not an employee and who is hired to provide service for a limited period of time to accomplish a specific purpose or task. When such specific purpose or task is complete, the employment of such temporary employee shall terminate and in no case shall the temporary employment period exceed one year in duration;

(33) Trustee means a trustee provided for in section 79-980; and

(34) Voluntary service or volunteer means providing bona fide unpaid service to an employer.

Source

• Laws 1951, c. 274, § 1, p. 910;
• Laws 1953, c. 308, § 1, p. 1025;
• Laws 1967, c. 544, § 1, p. 1786;
• Laws 1976, LB 994, § 1;
• Laws 1982, LB 131, § 1;
• Laws 1985, LB 215, § 1;
• Laws 1987, LB 298, § 5;
• Laws 1988, LB 1142, § 9;
• Laws 1988, LB 551, § 2;
• Laws 1989, LB 237, § 1;
• Laws 1991, LB 350, § 1;
• Laws 1992, LB 1001, § 20;
• Laws 1993, LB 107, § 1;
• Laws 1995, LB 505, § 1;
• R.S.Supp.,1995, § 79-1032;
• Laws 1996, LB 900, § 613;
• Laws 1997, LB 347, § 28;
• Laws 1997, LB 623, § 28;
• Laws 1998, LB 497, § 6;
• Laws 2000, LB 155, § 1;
• Laws 2005, LB 364, § 11;
• Laws 2010, LB950, § 17;
• Laws 2015, LB446, § 4;
• Laws 2016, LB447, § 14;
• Laws 2016, LB790, § 7;
• Laws 2017, LB415, § 34.
• Effective Date: May 24, 2017

Cross References

• For supplemental retirement benefits, see sections 79-941 to 79-947.
• Nebraska State Funds Investment Act, see section 72-1260.