Florida Statutes 121.111 – Credit for military service
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(1) Creditable service of any member shall also include military service as defined in s. 121.021(20)(a) if:
(a) The member is in the active employ of an employer immediately prior to such service and leaves a position, other than a temporary position, for the purpose of induction into the Armed Forces of the United States or entry upon duty in the Armed Forces of the United States. When applied to the Florida Retirement System:
1. The term “position other than a temporary position” means a regularly established position with a Florida Retirement System employer; and
2. A member shall be construed to have left his or her employment for military purposes if he or she reported for active duty within 60 days after leaving such employment;
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 121.111
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Beneficiary: means the joint annuitant or any other person, organization, estate, or trust fund designated by the member to receive a retirement benefit, if any, which may be payable upon the member's death. See Florida Statutes 121.021
- Benefit: means any pension payment, lump-sum or periodic, to a member, retiree, or beneficiary, based partially or entirely on employer contributions or employee contributions, if applicable. See Florida Statutes 121.021
- Compensation: means the monthly salary paid a member by his or her employer for work performed arising from that employment. See Florida Statutes 121.021
- Department: means the Department of Management Services. See Florida Statutes 121.021
- Employer: means any agency, branch, department, institution, university, institution of higher education, or board of the state, or any county agency, branch, department, board, district school board, municipality, metropolitan planning organization, or special district of the state which participates in the system for the benefit of certain of its employees, or a charter school or charter technical career center that participates as provided in…. See Florida Statutes 121.021
- Member: means any officer or employee who is covered or who becomes covered under this system in accordance with this chapter. See Florida Statutes 121.021
- Pension: means monthly payments to a retiree derived as provided in this chapter. See Florida Statutes 121.021
- person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
- Regularly established position: means :(a) With respect to a state employer, a position that is authorized and established pursuant to law and is compensated from a salaries and benefits appropriation pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 121.021
- Retiree: means a former member of the Florida Retirement System or an existing system who has terminated employment and is receiving benefit payments from the system in which he or she was a member. See Florida Statutes 121.021
- system: means the general retirement system established by this chapter, including, but not limited to, the defined benefit program administered under this part, referred to as the "Florida Retirement System Pension Plan" or "pension plan" and the defined contribution program administered under part II of this chapter, referred to as the "Florida Retirement System Investment Plan" or "investment plan. See Florida Statutes 121.021
- Temporary position: means :
(a) With respect to a state employer, a position that is compensated from an other personal services (OPS) account as provided in…. See Florida Statutes 121.021(b) The member is entitled to reemployment under the provisions of the 1Veterans’ Reemployment Rights Act (38 U.S.C. ss. 2021 et seq.);(c) The member applies for reemployment with the same employer within the time set forth in s. 2021 or s. 2024 of the 1Veterans’ Reemployment Rights Act, whichever is applicable, and is reemployed by such employer;(d) The member makes the required employee contributions, if any, and the employer makes the required employer contributions for the employee’s membership class for each month of service credit during such period of military service, based upon the employee’s rate of monthly compensation as of the date that the employee left his or her position, plus 4 percent interest on such contributions compounded annually from the due date of the contribution until July 1, 1975, and 6.5 percent interest compounded annually thereafter, until the payment is made to the proper retirement trust fund; and(e) The period of service claimed pursuant to this subsection does not exceed the periods specified by the provisions of ss. 2021 and 2024 of the 1Veterans’ Reemployment Rights Act which are applicable in the member’s case.(2) Any member whose initial date of employment is before January 1, 1987, who has military service as defined in s. 121.021(20)(b), and who does not claim such service under subsection (1) may receive creditable service for such military service if:(a) The member is vested;(b) Creditable service, not to exceed a total of 4 years, is claimed only as service earned in the Regular Class of membership; and(c) The member pays into the proper retirement trust fund 4 percent of gross salary, based upon his or her first year of salary subsequent to July 1, 1945, that he or she has credit for under this system, plus 4 percent interest thereon compounded annually from the date of first creditable service under this chapter until July 1, 1975, and 6.5 percent interest compounded annually thereafter, until payment is made to the proper retirement trust fund.(d) The member may not receive credit for any wartime military service if the member also receives credit for such service under any federal, state, or local retirement or pension system where “length of service” is a factor in determining the amount of compensation received. However, credit for wartime military service may be received where the member also receives credit under a pension system providing retired pay for nonregular service in the Armed Forces of the United States in accordance with 10 U.S.C. ss. 1331 et seq., as follows:1. Any person whose retirement date under the Florida Retirement System is prior to July 1, 1985, may claim such service at any time, as provided in this subsection, upon payment of contributions and interest as provided in paragraph (c), with interest computed to the retired member’s retirement date. The benefit shall be recalculated and increased to include the additional service credit granted for such wartime military service, and a lump-sum payment shall be made to the retiree for the amount owed due to the additional service credit, retroactive to the date of retirement.2. Any person whose retirement date is on or after July 1, 1985, must claim such service and pay the required contributions, as provided in paragraph (c), prior to the commencement of his or her retirement benefits, as provided in this subsection.(e) Any member claiming credit under this subsection must certify on the form prescribed by the department that credit for such service has not and will not be claimed for retirement purposes under any other federal, state, or local retirement or pension system where “length of service” is a factor in determining the amount of compensation received, except where credit for such service has been granted in a pension system providing retired pay for nonregular service as provided in paragraph (d). If the member dies prior to retirement, the member’s beneficiary must make the required certification before credit may be claimed. If such certification is not made by the member or the member’s beneficiary, credit for wartime military service shall not be allowed.(f) Service credit awarded for wartime military service shall be the total number of years, months, and days from and including the date of entry into active duty through the date of discharge from active duty, up to a maximum of 4 years. If the military service includes a partial year, it shall be stated as a fraction of a year. Creditable military service shall be calculated in accordance with rule 60S-2.005(2)(j), Florida Administrative Code.(3) Except as provided by law or rule, the employer is not required to make contributions for military service credit for any member.