(a) A member’s interest in the following shall be fully and immediately vested and nonforfeitable:

(1) members’ contributions, pursuant to § 8208;

(2) rollover of member’s contributions pursuant to Subsection (a) of § 8209.1, including amounts rolled over from other qualified retirement plans; and

(3) rollover of employer’s contributions held in the
Transfer Incentive Reserve pursuant to Subsection (b) of § 8209.1.

(b) A member’s interest in the balance of that member’s Employer Contribution Account described in § 8209 shall be fully and immediately vested and nonforfeitable upon the occurrence of any one (1) or more of the following events:

(1) the member’s attainment of normal retirement age, as defined in the Defined Contribution Retirement System Plan Document while the member is employed by the government;

(2) the member’s death while the member is employed by the government;

(3) the member’s disability, as defined in the Defined Contribution Retirement System Plan Document, while the member is employed by the government; or

(4) the termination of all or a portion of the Defined Contribution Retirement System, including the Employer Contribution Account.

(c) In addition to the events described in Subsection (b), a member’s interest in the balance of that member’s Employer Contribution Account described in § 8209 shall be fully and

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immediately vested and nonforfeitable upon the member’s completion of five (5) or more years of employment pursuant to § 8201(e), and as described in the Defined Contribution Retirement
System Plan Document.
(d) Upon a member’s termination of employment, all nonvested amounts shall constitute a forfeiture as of the date of termination of employment and shall be transferred and maintained in a suspense account pursuant to Subsection (e).

(e) The remaining balance, if any, in the member’s account after the distribution shall be credited to a suspense account. Any account balances credited to the suspense account shall be maintained by the board for a period of five (5) years following termination of the member’s employment. In the event that the member does not return to the employ of the employer within said five (5) years, the amount attributable to such member shall be released from the suspense account and shall be first applied to the payment of the plan’s administrative expenses authorized by § 8217 of this Chapter. Any remaining balance shall be applied to employer contributions in future years. The aggregate amount of
forfeitures released from the suspense account at the end of each
fiscal year, after deducting the payment of the plan’s administrative expenses authorized by § 8217 of this Chapter, will be applied as contributions of contributing employers in proportion to the aggregate amount of contributions made by the contributing employer for the five (5) fiscal years ending with the fiscal year in which the forfeitures are released from the suspense account bears to the total contributions made by all contributing employers for the same five (5) fiscal year period. Upon certification to the several contributing employers of the aggregate account balances plus earnings thereon which have been irrevocably forfeited pursuant to this § 8210, the several contributing employers shall be permitted in the next succeeding fiscal year, or years, to reduce their total aggregate contribution requirement pursuant to § 8209 of this Article, for the then current fiscal year by an amount equal to the aggregate amounts irrevocably forfeited and certified as such to each contributing employer, if any balance remains after deducting the payment of the plan’s administrative expenses authorized by § 8217 of this Chapter.

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SOURCE: Amended by P.L. 25-019:9 (May 14, 1999). Repealed/reenacted by P.L. 25-157:8 (July 10, 2000). Amended by P.L.
26-013:1 (May 18, 2001). Subsections (b) and (c) amended by P.L. 25-
162:10, 11 (Sept. 20, 2000) respectively. The heading for § 8210 was amended by P.L. 28-141:6 (July 18, 2006).