(a) When used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

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Terms Used In Alabama Code 36-27-59

  • following: means next after. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • person: includes a corporation as well as a natural person. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • year: means a calendar year; but, whenever the word "year" is used in reference to any appropriations for the payment of money out of the treasury, it shall mean fiscal year. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
(1) CORRECTIONAL OFFICER. A full-time correctional officer who is certified as a correctional officer by the Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission. For the purposes of this section, the term also includes the Commissioner of Corrections, as defined in Section 14-1-1.3, and a deputy commissioner of corrections, as defined in Section 14-1-1.5, who has earned and maintains Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission certification as a correctional officer or law enforcement officer.
(2) FIREFIGHTER. A full-time firefighter employed with the State of Alabama, a municipal fire department, or a fire district who has a level one minimum standard certification by the Firefighters Personnel Standards and Education Commission, or a firefighter employed by the Alabama Forestry Commission who has been certified by the State Forester as having met the wild land firefighter training standard of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group.
(3) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER. A full-time law enforcement officer, not covered as a state policeman, employed with any state agency, department, board, commission, or institution or a full-time law enforcement officer employed by a local unit of the Employees’ Retirement System under Section 36-27-6 who is certified as a law enforcement officer by the Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission.
(b)

(1) Any firefighter, law enforcement officer, or correctional officer covered under the Employees’ Retirement System or the Teachers’ Retirement System as a Tier I plan member, upon attainment of the requisite years of creditable service or who otherwise qualifies for service or disability retirement, shall be awarded one year of hazardous duty time for every five years of service as a firefighter, a law enforcement officer, or a correctional officer provided that the person has made the additional contribution provided in subdivision (2) or paid the additional contribution required in subsection (c) for each year of service used in determining hazardous duty time for the person. Proportional credit shall be awarded for any period of service less than five years.
(2) Effective January 1, 2001, and each pay period thereafter, each active employee who is a firefighter, law enforcement officer, or correctional officer, as defined in subsection (a), shall contribute to the Teachers’ or Employees’ Retirement System of Alabama six percent of his or her earnable compensation. For all pay dates beginning on or after October 1, 2011, each active employee who is a firefighter, law enforcement officer, or correctional officer, as defined in subsection (a), except those employees participating pursuant to Section 36-27-6, shall contribute to the Teachers’ or Employees’ Retirement System of Alabama eight and one-quarter percent (8.25%) of his or her earnable compensation. For all pay dates beginning on or after October 1, 2012, each active employee who is a Tier I plan member and who is a firefighter, law enforcement officer, or correctional officer, as defined in subsection (a), except those employees participating pursuant to Section 36-27-6, shall contribute to the Teachers’ or Employees’ Retirement System of Alabama eight and one-half percent (8.5%) of his or her earnable compensation. Any employer participating under Section 36-27-6, by adoption of a resolution, may elect for the increases in employee contributions provided by Act 2011-676 to be withheld from the earnable compensation of employees of the employer.
(c) Any member of the Employees’ Retirement System or the Teachers’ Retirement System eligible under subsection (b) may receive credit for his or her eligible prior service provided the member pays to the Secretary-Treasurer of the Employees’ Retirement System or the Secretary-Treasurer of the Teachers’ Retirement System one percent of his or her current annual earnable compensation or previous year’s annual earnable compensation, whichever is higher, for each year of claimed credit . The member may purchase his or her claimed credit in increments of five years, unless the total service credit is less than five years, in which case the service shall be purchased in its entirety. The member shall provide certification from each employing agency, on forms prescribed by the Teachers’ or Employees’ Retirement System, of each year of claimed service, as a prerequisite to payment under this section.
(d) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any Tier II plan member.
(e) The designation of the Commissioner of Corrections and a deputy commissioner of corrections as correctional officers or law enforcement officers for purposes of this section shall be applied retroactively to March 1, 2022.
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