2005 West Virginia Code - §5-10C-4. — Pick-up of members\' contributions by participating public employers.

§5-10C-4. Pick-up of members' contributions by participating public employers.
(a) The state of West Virginia for its public employees and county boards of education for its teachers shall pick-up and pay the contributions which such employees are required by law to make to the retirement system in which they are a member for all compensation earned by its member employees after the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred eighty-six. Any political subdivision that is a participating public employer in the West Virginia public employees retirement system shall pick-up and pay the contributions which such employees are required by law to make to the retirement system in which they are members for all compensation earned by its member employees after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five. Counties shall pick-up and pay the contributions which such employees are required by law to make to the deputy sheriff retirement system in which they are members for all compensation earned by its member employees after the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight. Any election made by a political subdivision to pick-up and pay employee contributions prior to the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, remains in effect and is not altered or amended by the amendments made to this section during the regular legislative session, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five.
(b) When the participating public employer picks up and pays the contributions of its member employees, the contributions shall be treated as employer contributions in determining the tax treatment thereof under article twenty-one, chapter eleven of this code, and the federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and the contributions shall not be included in the gross income of the employee in determining his or her tax treatment under those provisions until they are distributed or made available to the employee or his or her beneficiary. The participating public employer shall pay these employee contributions from the same source of funds used in paying compensation to the employee, by effecting an equal cash reduction in the gross salary of the employee, or by an off-set against future salary increases, or by a combination of reduction in gross salary and off-set against future salary increases.
(c) When employee contributions are picked up and paid by the participating public employer, they shall be treated by the board of trustees in the same manner and to the same extent as employee contributions made prior to the date on which employee contributions are picked up by the participating public employer.
(d) The amount of employee contributions picked up by the participating public employer shall be paid to the retirement system in the manner and form, and in the frequency required by the board of trustees and shall be accompanied by supporting data that the board of trustees may prescribe. When paid to the retirement system, each of these amounts shall be credited to the deposit fund account of the member for whom the contribution was picked up and paid by the participating public employer.