Arizona Laws 38-854. Guarantees from prior systems
A. An employee covered under the prior systems set forth in sections 9-912 to 9-934, inclusive, and in sections 9-951 to 9-971, inclusive, or prior statutes amended thereby and antecedent thereto, and covered under such prior systems on June 30, 1968, and who becomes a member of this system shall nevertheless retain the right to elect, prior to retirement, benefits under this system or to elect benefits under the employee’s prior system for which the employee’s service and age make the employee eligible, provided that an employee shall elect in writing at the time benefits are claimed the system under which the employee elects to have the employee’s eligibility for benefits and the amount thereof determined. Such election shall be irrevocable on retirement and shall be filed with the employee’s local board.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 38-854
- Accumulated contributions: means , for each member, the sum of the amount of the member's aggregate contributions made to the fund and the amount, if any, attributable to the employee's contributions before the member's effective date under another public retirement system, other than the federal social security act, and transferred to the fund minus the benefits paid to or on behalf of the member. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Actuarial equivalent: means equality in present value of the aggregate amounts expected to be received under two different forms of payment, based on mortality and interest assumptions adopted by the board. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Board: means the board of trustees of the system, who are the persons appointed to invest and operate the fund. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Compensation: means , for the purpose of computing retirement benefits, base salary, overtime pay, shift differential pay, military differential wage pay, compensatory time used by an employee in lieu of overtime not otherwise paid by an employer and holiday pay paid to an employee by the employer for the employee's performance of services in an eligible group on a regular monthly, semimonthly or biweekly payroll basis and longevity pay paid to an employee at least every six months for which contributions are made to the system pursuant to section 38-843, subsection D. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Employee: means any person who is employed by a participating employer and who is a member of an eligible group but does not include any persons compensated on a contractual or fee basis. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Fund: means the public safety personnel retirement fund, which is the fund established to receive and invest contributions accumulated under the system and from which benefits are paid. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Pension: means a series of monthly amounts that are payable to a person who is entitled to receive benefits under the plan but does not include an annuity that is payable pursuant to Section 38-846. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Service: means the last period of continuous employment of an employee by the employers before the employee's retirement, except that if such period includes employment during which the employee would not have qualified as a member had the system then been effective, such as employment as a volunteer firefighter, then only twenty-five percent of such noncovered employment shall be considered as service. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- State: means the state of Arizona, including any department, office, board, commission, agency or other instrumentality of this state. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- System: means the public safety personnel retirement system established by this article. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Writing: includes printing. See Arizona Laws 1-215
B. An employee of the state highway patrol who was a member of the state highway patrol retirement system on June 30, 1968 and who became a member on July 1, 1968 and who qualifies for a pension under the system, shall have the employee’s pension determined in an actuarial equivalent form of payment such that the system’s benefits shall not be less than the amount payable during this period under the preexisting system. Any such employee shall nevertheless retain rights to elect to receive any benefit for which the employee’s service and age make the employee eligible, including but not limited to the following:
1. The employee shall be entitled to a pension if the employee’s employment terminates after attainment of age sixty and completion of at least twenty years of service in an amount equal to fifty per cent of the employee’s average monthly compensation.
2. The employee shall be entitled to a separation benefit in the form of a deferred vested pension if the employee’s employment terminates after completion of at least twenty years of service, provided that the employee leaves the employee’s accumulated contributions on deposit with the fund.