2010 New York Code
RSS - Retirement & Social Security
Article 14 - (500 - 520) COORDINATED-ESCALATOR RETIREMENT PLAN
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  be

included 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.