New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:4 – Creditable Service
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I. With respect to service rendered prior to the date of membership, each employee, teacher, permanent policeman or permanent fireman who has become a member of the New Hampshire retirement system following prior service in any predecessor system, shall have included as creditable service hereunder all service credited to him under the terms of one or more of the predecessor systems, provided his membership continues unbroken until his retirement. Should the employee, teacher, permanent policeman or permanent fireman whose membership is broken again become a member, he shall enter the retirement system as a member not entitled to such prior service credit, except as provided in N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:7.
II. Creditable service at retirement on which the retirement allowance of a member shall be based shall consist of his membership service since he became a member or since he last became a member in the event of a break in membership, and the prior service, if any, which is credited to him under paragraph I.
III. (a) The board shall fix and determine by appropriate rules and regulations how much service in any year is equivalent to one year of service, but in no case shall it allow credit for a period of absence without pay of more than a month‘s duration, nor shall more than one year of service be creditable for all service in a calendar year. Service rendered for the full normal working time in any year shall be equivalent to one year’s service.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (a) or any other law to the contrary, any member who receives a weekly award under the provisions of N.H. Rev. Stat. Chapter 281-A from the commissioner of labor, for injury arising out of and in the course of employment, shall be entitled to creditable service for said period not in excess of one year. To receive creditable service, a member shall file a department of labor memo of payment of disability compensation form, with the board of trustees, verifying the first and last payment of disability compensation for each new unrelated injury.
III-a. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph III of this section, any group I or group II member who is absent without salary due to a disability for which the member is compensated by a salary continuance plan which is funded wholly or partially by the member’s employer shall continue to accrue creditable service until the earlier of such time as the member returns to work, dies, retires, is no longer compensated by such salary continuance plan, or is no longer employed by the employer. Amounts received under such salary continuance plan are earnable compensation to the extent attributable to employer funding and shall be subject to the regular member contributions required under N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:16 and the required employer and state contributions, if applicable, as are in effect from time to time. All such contributions shall be remitted to the retirement system in accordance with remittance procedures of the board of trustees. Any group I or group II member who is absent without salary due to a disability for which the member is compensated by a salary continuance plan which has not been funded in whole or in part by the member’s employer shall not accrue any creditable service for the period of such absence. Further, amounts received from such salary continuance plan shall not be included as earnable compensation for purposes of the retirement system.
III-b. Notwithstanding any provision of paragraph III to the contrary, any teacher in service on or after July 1, 1995, who equally shares a job-sharing fulltime position with another teacher shall be eligible for membership in the retirement system. Any such teacher shall accrue full creditable service for the entire period of job-sharing and shall be credited with earnable compensation at the compensation actually paid to such teacher. Creditable service and earnable compensation for any currently active or retired teacher who shared a job-sharing teaching position with another teacher during any period prior to July 1, 1995, shall not be recalculated to conform with the provisions of this paragraph but shall remain in effect as each was originally granted.
IV. Any member in active service who terminates his or her employment, or takes a leave of absence, in order to enter directly into the armed forces of the United States or other qualified military service within the meaning of section 414(u)(5) of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, shall be entitled to apply for service credit for the period of such qualified military service, provided he or she again becomes employed within a year after the termination of such service, unless he or she is prevented from such reemployment by virtue of disability incurred during the period of such qualified military service, and provided further that he or she elects to make, and makes within a period of time equal to 3 times the length of time of such service, but not more than 5 years, all payments to the system he or she would have been required to make had he or she been so employed during the period of such qualified military service.
V. Notwithstanding the payment provisions of paragraph IV any member entitled to apply for such military service, shall receive up to 3 years cumulatively at no cost to the member.
VI. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a member in active service in the retirement system who has completed 10 years of creditable service in the state, shall be entitled to receive credit, upon payment by the member of the full actuarial cost of such credit and upon approval of the board, for not more than 3 years of additional creditable service for prior active service in the armed forces of the United States, subject to the following:
(1) The member is honorably discharged or is an officer honorably separated from the military service of the United States, or is in active status in the New Hampshire national guard or organized reserve. A member on active status in the New Hampshire national guard or organized reserve may apply such service time on a ratio of 5 years active national guard or reserve service to one year of available additional creditable service under this paragraph.
(2) The member is not at the time of application for credit receiving any retirement benefits under this chapter or under any predecessor system.
(b) Credit for active service in the armed services shall not be made until the member has paid either in lump sum or, if permitted by the board of trustees, by installment deductions from pay from an employer. The actuary‘s statement shall be the full actuarial cost of service credit determined by the actuary based on methods and assumptions recommended by the actuary and approved by the board of trustees.
(c) Additional creditable service purchased under this paragraph shall not be used as creditable service for the purpose of determining service retirement eligibility or for the purpose of eligibility for medical and surgical benefits as a retired employee under N.H. Rev. Stat. § 21-I:30, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52-a, or N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52-b.
VII. [Repealed.]
VIII. Any employee, teacher, permanent policeman, or permanent fireman who has completed at least 5 years of membership service and who terminates his or her employment in order to enter directly into the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps, shall be entitled to service credit for the period of such Peace Corps or AmeriCorps service, provided he or she again becomes employed within a year after the termination of such service and provided further that he or she elects to make, and makes while in active service and within a period of time equal to 3 times the length of time of such service, but not more than 5 years, all payments of the full actuarial cost to the system. The full actuarial cost of service credit purchases under this paragraph shall be determined by the actuary based on methods and assumptions recommended by the actuary and approved by the board of trustees. The member may be required to prepay all or part of the actuarial calculation fee, as determined by the board. Credit shall not be granted until the active member has fully paid for such service credit in a lump sum or by installment payments as permitted by the board. The member’s payment shall be credited to the member annuity savings fund. The amount of service credit purchased under this paragraph shall not exceed the least of (a) 2 years or (b) the member’s actual period of Peace Corps and AmeriCorps service or (c) 5 years minus the period of nonqualified service credit purchased by the member pursuant to former N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:4, VII. Creditable service purchased under this paragraph shall not be used for the purpose of eligibility for medical and surgical benefits as a retired employee under N.H. Rev. Stat. § 21-I:30, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52-a, or N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52-b.
IX. Notwithstanding any provision of this section, a member in active service in the retirement system who commenced group II service between January 1, 2002 and June 30, 2011, shall be entitled to receive credit for not less than one year nor more than 4 years of nonqualified service credit within the meaning of section 415 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, upon payment by the member of the full actuarial costs of such credit and upon approval of the board, subject to the following:
(a) Credit shall not be granted until the active member has fully paid for the nonqualified service in a lump sum or by installment payments as permitted by the board. The member’s payment shall be credited to the member annuity savings fund. The actuary’s statement shall be the full actuarial cost of service credit determined by the actuary based on methods and assumptions recommended by the actuary and approved by the board of trustees.
(b) “Nonqualified service credit” means time that is not otherwise purchasable under this chapter.
(c) Requests concerning the purchase of nonqualified service credit pursuant to this paragraph shall be limited to 2 such requests per member per calendar year.
(d) Members may only purchase as many years as designated for them under N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:5, II(d), which will reduce the minimum age or creditable service for a regular service retirement to the previous minimum age of 45 with a minimum of 20 years of creditable service, but only reduced based on the number of years purchased.
(e) Additional creditable service purchased under this paragraph shall not be used as creditable service for the purpose determining eligibility for medical and surgical benefits as a retired employee under N.H. Rev. Stat. § 21-I:30, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52-a, or N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52-b.
II. Creditable service at retirement on which the retirement allowance of a member shall be based shall consist of his membership service since he became a member or since he last became a member in the event of a break in membership, and the prior service, if any, which is credited to him under paragraph I.
Terms Used In New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:4
- Active member: means a member who is employed by a retirement system participating employer and who is both receiving earnable compensation and earning service credit for which the retirement system receives payment of full employer and member contributions under N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Actuary: shall mean (a) a member of the American Academy of Actuaries or (b) an individual who has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the state insurance commissioner that he has the educational background necessary for the practice of actuarial science and has had at least 7 years of actuarial experience. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
- Armed forces: means the United States Army, Army Reserve, Navy, Naval Reserve, Marine Corps, Marine Corps Reserve, Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Space Force, Coast Guard, Coast Guard Reserve, Army National Guard, and the Air National Guard. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:50
- board: shall mean the board provided for in N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Board of trustees: or "board" shall mean the board provided for in N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
- Creditable service: shall mean prior service plus membership service, as provided in N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Earnable compensation: shall mean :
(a) For members who have attained vested status prior to January 1, 2012 the full base rate of compensation paid, as determined by the employer, plus any overtime pay, holiday and vacation pay, sick pay, longevity or severance pay, cost of living bonus, annual attendance stipend or bonus, additional pay for extracurricular and instructional activities for full-time teachers and full-time employees who are employed in paraprofessional or support position, additional pay for instructional activities of full-time faculty of the community college system, and any military differential pay, plus the fair market value of non-cash compensation paid to, or on behalf of, the member for meals or living quarters if subject to federal income tax, but excluding other compensation except cash incentives paid by an employer to encourage members to retire, supplemental pay paid by the employer while the member is receiving workers' compensation, and teacher development pay that is not part of the contracted annual salary. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1 - Employee: shall mean any regular classified, nonclassified, or unclassified officer or employee of the state or any department, commission, institution or agency of the state government by which an employee is paid through the office of the state treasurer, or employees of the general court who work on a full-time basis and are eligible for other state benefits, but whose salary is calculated on a per diem basis, or any employee of the retirement system, or any full-time employee of the community college system of New Hampshire who is an active retirement system member or who elects membership in the retirement system, or of any of the groups authorized to participate under this chapter but excluding any person who is a teacher, permanent policeman, or permanent fireman as defined in this section, or who is a member or attache of the general court or member of the executive council. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Employer: shall mean (a) the state or any department, commission, institution, or agency of the state government by which an employee is paid through the office of the state treasurer with respect to their employees, (b) the state, the local school district, or other employers of teachers eligible for membership in the system with respect to the teachers in their employ, (c) any police department or police force of the state, or of any county, city, town, village, or precinct in the state with respect to the permanent policemen in their employ, (d) any fire department of the state, or of any county, city, town, village, or precinct in the state with respect to the permanent firemen in their employ, (e) any political subdivision that has elected to participate under N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of these laws, shall mean the section next preceding or following that in which such reference is made, unless some other is expressly designated. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:13
- Member: shall mean any person included in the membership of the retirement system, as provided in N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Member annuity: shall mean annual payments for life derived from the accumulated contributions of the member. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Membership service: shall mean service rendered while a member of the retirement system. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- month: shall mean a calendar month, and the word "year" a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed; and the word "year" shall be equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:8
- Permanent fireman: for the purposes of membership in group II and other provisions of this chapter, shall mean any person, whether elected or appointed, who is regularly employed on a full-time basis by the state in a job certified by the director of personnel as conforming to the requirements of this paragraph, or by any of its political subdivisions in a job certified by the governing body of the political subdivision as conforming to the requirements of this paragraph, which job shall be in one of the following categories
(a) A firefighter who:
(1) Has the authority and responsibility to engage in the prevention, control, or extinguishment of fires, and who performs activities that are required for and directly concerned with the prevention, control, or extinguishment of fires, including incidental non-firefighting functions. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1 - Permanent policeman: for the purposes of membership in group II and other provisions of this chapter, shall mean any person, whether elected or appointed, who is regularly employed on a full-time basis by the state in a job certified by the director of personnel as conforming to the requirements of this paragraph, or by any of its political subdivisions in a job certified by the governing body of the political subdivision as conforming to the requirements of this paragraph, which job shall be in one of the following categories:
(a) A police officer, conservation officer of the fish and game department, or inspector of the state liquor commission who:
(1) Is responsible for the prevention, detection or prosecution of crime and the enforcement of the laws of the state and of its political subdivisions. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1 - Predecessor system: shall mean , where applicable, the Employees' Retirement System of the State of New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Teachers' Retirement System, the New Hampshire Policemen's Retirement System, and the New Hampshire Permanent Firemen's Retirement System, any one of them, or any combination thereof. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Prior service: shall mean service rendered prior to the date of membership in the retirement system for which credit was given under the terms of one or more of the predecessor systems, and as set forth under this chapter. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Qualified military service: means any service in the uniformed services as defined in 38 U. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Retirement: shall mean withdrawal from active service with a retirement allowance granted under the provisions hereof. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Retirement allowance: shall mean the sum of the member annuity and the state annuity. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Retirement system: shall mean the New Hampshire Retirement System as defined in N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Service: shall mean service as an employee, a teacher, a permanent policeman or a permanent fireman which is paid for by an employer. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- State: shall mean the state of New Hampshire. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- Teacher: shall mean any regular or special teacher, principal, supervisor or administrator, librarian or other member of the teaching or professional staff engaged in the service of the public elementary and secondary schools located within the state and supported by and under the control of the state, the local school district, or other employers of teachers eligible for membership in the system. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 100-A:1
- United States: shall include said district and territories. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:4
III. (a) The board shall fix and determine by appropriate rules and regulations how much service in any year is equivalent to one year of service, but in no case shall it allow credit for a period of absence without pay of more than a month‘s duration, nor shall more than one year of service be creditable for all service in a calendar year. Service rendered for the full normal working time in any year shall be equivalent to one year’s service.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (a) or any other law to the contrary, any member who receives a weekly award under the provisions of N.H. Rev. Stat. Chapter 281-A from the commissioner of labor, for injury arising out of and in the course of employment, shall be entitled to creditable service for said period not in excess of one year. To receive creditable service, a member shall file a department of labor memo of payment of disability compensation form, with the board of trustees, verifying the first and last payment of disability compensation for each new unrelated injury.
III-a. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph III of this section, any group I or group II member who is absent without salary due to a disability for which the member is compensated by a salary continuance plan which is funded wholly or partially by the member’s employer shall continue to accrue creditable service until the earlier of such time as the member returns to work, dies, retires, is no longer compensated by such salary continuance plan, or is no longer employed by the employer. Amounts received under such salary continuance plan are earnable compensation to the extent attributable to employer funding and shall be subject to the regular member contributions required under N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:16 and the required employer and state contributions, if applicable, as are in effect from time to time. All such contributions shall be remitted to the retirement system in accordance with remittance procedures of the board of trustees. Any group I or group II member who is absent without salary due to a disability for which the member is compensated by a salary continuance plan which has not been funded in whole or in part by the member’s employer shall not accrue any creditable service for the period of such absence. Further, amounts received from such salary continuance plan shall not be included as earnable compensation for purposes of the retirement system.
III-b. Notwithstanding any provision of paragraph III to the contrary, any teacher in service on or after July 1, 1995, who equally shares a job-sharing fulltime position with another teacher shall be eligible for membership in the retirement system. Any such teacher shall accrue full creditable service for the entire period of job-sharing and shall be credited with earnable compensation at the compensation actually paid to such teacher. Creditable service and earnable compensation for any currently active or retired teacher who shared a job-sharing teaching position with another teacher during any period prior to July 1, 1995, shall not be recalculated to conform with the provisions of this paragraph but shall remain in effect as each was originally granted.
IV. Any member in active service who terminates his or her employment, or takes a leave of absence, in order to enter directly into the armed forces of the United States or other qualified military service within the meaning of section 414(u)(5) of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, shall be entitled to apply for service credit for the period of such qualified military service, provided he or she again becomes employed within a year after the termination of such service, unless he or she is prevented from such reemployment by virtue of disability incurred during the period of such qualified military service, and provided further that he or she elects to make, and makes within a period of time equal to 3 times the length of time of such service, but not more than 5 years, all payments to the system he or she would have been required to make had he or she been so employed during the period of such qualified military service.
V. Notwithstanding the payment provisions of paragraph IV any member entitled to apply for such military service, shall receive up to 3 years cumulatively at no cost to the member.
VI. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a member in active service in the retirement system who has completed 10 years of creditable service in the state, shall be entitled to receive credit, upon payment by the member of the full actuarial cost of such credit and upon approval of the board, for not more than 3 years of additional creditable service for prior active service in the armed forces of the United States, subject to the following:
(1) The member is honorably discharged or is an officer honorably separated from the military service of the United States, or is in active status in the New Hampshire national guard or organized reserve. A member on active status in the New Hampshire national guard or organized reserve may apply such service time on a ratio of 5 years active national guard or reserve service to one year of available additional creditable service under this paragraph.
(2) The member is not at the time of application for credit receiving any retirement benefits under this chapter or under any predecessor system.
(b) Credit for active service in the armed services shall not be made until the member has paid either in lump sum or, if permitted by the board of trustees, by installment deductions from pay from an employer. The actuary‘s statement shall be the full actuarial cost of service credit determined by the actuary based on methods and assumptions recommended by the actuary and approved by the board of trustees.
(c) Additional creditable service purchased under this paragraph shall not be used as creditable service for the purpose of determining service retirement eligibility or for the purpose of eligibility for medical and surgical benefits as a retired employee under N.H. Rev. Stat. § 21-I:30, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52-a, or N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52-b.
VII. [Repealed.]
VIII. Any employee, teacher, permanent policeman, or permanent fireman who has completed at least 5 years of membership service and who terminates his or her employment in order to enter directly into the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps, shall be entitled to service credit for the period of such Peace Corps or AmeriCorps service, provided he or she again becomes employed within a year after the termination of such service and provided further that he or she elects to make, and makes while in active service and within a period of time equal to 3 times the length of time of such service, but not more than 5 years, all payments of the full actuarial cost to the system. The full actuarial cost of service credit purchases under this paragraph shall be determined by the actuary based on methods and assumptions recommended by the actuary and approved by the board of trustees. The member may be required to prepay all or part of the actuarial calculation fee, as determined by the board. Credit shall not be granted until the active member has fully paid for such service credit in a lump sum or by installment payments as permitted by the board. The member’s payment shall be credited to the member annuity savings fund. The amount of service credit purchased under this paragraph shall not exceed the least of (a) 2 years or (b) the member’s actual period of Peace Corps and AmeriCorps service or (c) 5 years minus the period of nonqualified service credit purchased by the member pursuant to former N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:4, VII. Creditable service purchased under this paragraph shall not be used for the purpose of eligibility for medical and surgical benefits as a retired employee under N.H. Rev. Stat. § 21-I:30, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52-a, or N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52-b.
IX. Notwithstanding any provision of this section, a member in active service in the retirement system who commenced group II service between January 1, 2002 and June 30, 2011, shall be entitled to receive credit for not less than one year nor more than 4 years of nonqualified service credit within the meaning of section 415 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, upon payment by the member of the full actuarial costs of such credit and upon approval of the board, subject to the following:
(a) Credit shall not be granted until the active member has fully paid for the nonqualified service in a lump sum or by installment payments as permitted by the board. The member’s payment shall be credited to the member annuity savings fund. The actuary’s statement shall be the full actuarial cost of service credit determined by the actuary based on methods and assumptions recommended by the actuary and approved by the board of trustees.
(b) “Nonqualified service credit” means time that is not otherwise purchasable under this chapter.
(c) Requests concerning the purchase of nonqualified service credit pursuant to this paragraph shall be limited to 2 such requests per member per calendar year.
(d) Members may only purchase as many years as designated for them under N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:5, II(d), which will reduce the minimum age or creditable service for a regular service retirement to the previous minimum age of 45 with a minimum of 20 years of creditable service, but only reduced based on the number of years purchased.
(e) Additional creditable service purchased under this paragraph shall not be used as creditable service for the purpose determining eligibility for medical and surgical benefits as a retired employee under N.H. Rev. Stat. § 21-I:30, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52, N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52-a, or N.H. Rev. Stat. § 100-A:52-b.