2018 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 10 - Public Officers and Employees
Article 11 - Retirement of Public Officers and Employees Generally
Section 10-11-4 - Service credit; requirements for; forfeiture; reinstatement.

A. Personal service rendered an affiliated public employer by a member shall be credited to the member's service credit account in accordance with retirement board rules and regulations. Service shall be credited to the nearest month. In no case shall any member be credited with a year of service for less than twelve months of service in any calendar year or more than a month of service for all service in any calendar month or more than a year of service for all service in any calendar year. In no case shall any member be allowed to purchase service credit unless the purchase is authorized in the Public Employees Retirement Act.

B. Personal service rendered an affiliated public employer prior to August 1, 1947 shall be credited to a member if the member acquires one year of service credit for personal service rendered an affiliated public employer.

C. Personal service rendered an affiliated public employer after July 31, 1947 but prior to the date the public employer became an affiliated public employer is prior service and shall be credited to a member if:

(1) the member has the applicable minimum number of years of service credit required for normal retirement. As used in this paragraph, "service credit" means only the service credit earned by the member during periods of employment with an affiliated public employer; and

(2) the member pays the association the amount determined in accordance with Subsection D of this section.

D. The purchase cost for each month of service credit purchased under the provisions of this section is equal to the member's final average salary multiplied by the sum of the member contribution rate and employer contribution rate determined in accordance with the coverage plan applicable to the member at the time of the written election to purchase. Full payment shall be made in a single lump-sum amount in accordance with the procedures established by the retirement board. The portion of the purchase cost derived from the employer contribution rate shall be credited to the employers accumulation fund and shall not be refunded to the member in the event of cessation of membership. In no case shall any member be credited with a month of service for less than the purchase cost as defined in this section.

E. Service credit shall be forfeited if a member terminates employment with an affiliated public employer and withdraws the member's accumulated member contributions.

F. A member or former member who is a member of another state system or the educational retirement system and who has forfeited service credit by withdrawal of member contributions may reinstate the forfeited service credit by repaying the amount withdrawn plus compound interest from the date of withdrawal to the date of repayment at the rate set by the retirement board. Withdrawn member contributions may be repaid in increments of one year in accordance with the procedures established by the retirement board. Full payment of each one-year increment shall be made in a single lump-sum amount in accordance with procedures established by the retirement board.

History: Laws 1987, ch. 253, § 4; 1992, ch. 116, § 3; 1997, ch. 189, § 2; 2013, ch. 225, § 2.

Repeals and reenactments. — Laws 1987, Chapter 253 repealed former 10-11-4 NMSA 1978, as amended by Laws 1985, ch. 253, § 1, relating to retirement association and retirement board, and enacted a new section, effective July 1, 1987.

The 2013 amendment, effective July 1, 2013, increased the vesting period; in Paragraph (1) of Subsection C, in the first sentence, after "the member", deleted "acquires five" and added "has the applicable minimum number of" and after "service credit", deleted "for personal service rendered an affiliate public employer" and added "required for normal retirement", and added the second sentence.

Severability. — Laws 2013, ch. 225, § 93 provided that if any part or application of Laws 2013, ch. 225 is held invalid, the remainder or its application to other situations or persons shall not be affected.

The 1997 amendment, effective June 20, 1997, added the third sentence in Subsection A and inserted "retirement" preceding "board" throughout the section.

The 1992 amendment, effective July 1, 1992, substituted "service credit" for "credited service" in the section catchline and several times throughout the section; deleted Subsection B, relating to service rendered as a judge; redesignated Subsections C and D as Subsections B and C; substituted "Subsection D" for "Subsection E" in Subsection C(2); and rewrote Subsections E to G and redesignated them as Subsections D to F.

Early retiree purchase of service credits. — Despite the clarity and precision of its formula for computing the cost of a retiring employee's additional purchased service credit, § 139 of Laws 1987, ch. 253 (uncompiled) was ambiguous; it was ambiguous because of its reference to the seventy-fifth fiscal year (the 12-month period ending June 30, 1987), which had already ended when § 139 became effective on July 1, 1987. The section provided that an employee could purchase up to five years of credited service "during the seventy-fifth or seventy-sixth fiscal year," subject to various conditions. Not only was the statute ambiguous by referring to both the seventy-fifth and seventy-sixth fiscal years at the same time, it was also internally inconsistent; the cost for an additional year of service credit had already been fixed by Section 3 of the 1986 amendment to this article (Chapter 89), and no one argues that § 139 was intended to change that cost, retroactively, to comport with the formula spelled out later in § 139. Thus, the early retirees in the seventy-sixth fiscal year under Laws 1987, Ch. 253, § 139 were required to pay an equivalent amount to purchase service credits as paid by early retirees under Laws 1986, ch. 89, § 3. State ex rel. Helman v. Gallegos, 1994-NMSC-023, 117 N.M. 346, 871 P.2d 1352.

Purchase of increased earnings. — Subsection D does not permit a member to purchase increased earnings, and a contract under a former law which resulted solely in increasing final average salary must be refunded together with the amount of interest paid. 1988 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 88-17.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — Disciplinary suspension of public employee as affecting computation of length of service for retirement or pension purposes, 6 A.L.R.2d 506.

67 C.J.S. Officers and Public Employees § 246; 81A C.J.S. States §§ 46, 112 to 119.