(1) For purposes of this section, ‘forest protective association’ or ‘association’ has the meaning for that term provided in ORS § 477.001.

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(2) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, a person employed by a forest protective association at a time when the association was under contract or cooperative agreement with the forester or State Board of Forestry by authority of ORS Chapter 477 and this chapter, with specific reference to ORS § 477.406 to 477.412, or predecessor statutes, shall receive the following credits when transferring directly from association employment to employment by the State Forestry Department:

(a) Sick leave accrual earned during employment as an association employee.

(b) Rate of accumulating annual leave based on years of service as an association employee.

(c) Credit for current service under the Public Employees Retirement System equal to periods of service as an association employee as determined by the Public Employees Retirement Board, if the person, before the effective date of retirement of the person as a member of the system, applies in writing to the retirement board for that credit or any part thereof and pays to the retirement board in a lump sum for credit to the member account of the member an amount determined by the retirement board to be equal to the total amount of employee and employer contributions with interest that would have accumulated had the person been a member of the system as an employee of the State Forestry Department in a position equivalent to that held by the person for the periods of service or part thereof as an association employee.

(3) The credits granted by subsection (2) of this section shall be granted if the employee makes an immediate transfer from association employment to state employment, and if the person earned employment credits as an association employee under standards comparable to laws and rules of the State of Oregon governing similar credits in state employment.

(4) Unless the employee transferring to employment with the State Forestry Department first becomes a member of the Public Employees Retirement System before January 1, 2000, as described in subsection (6) of this section:

(a) The employee may acquire credit under subsection (2)(c) of this section only after the employee has been a member of the Public Employees Retirement System for at least 60 calendar months; and

(b) The maximum number of years of retirement credit that a person may acquire under subsection (2)(c) of this section is five years.

(5) If a person subject to the limitation imposed by subsection (4)(b) of this section is also eligible for credit under ORS § 238.145, and the person is subject to the limitation imposed by ORS § 238.145 (4), the total years of credit that the person may acquire under this section and under the provisions of ORS § 238.145 may not exceed five years.

(6) A person becomes a member of the Public Employees Retirement System before January 1, 2000, for the purposes of this section if:

(a) The person is a member of the system on January 1, 2000; or

(b) The person was a member of the system before January 1, 2000, ceased to be a member of the system under the provisions of ORS § 238.095, 238.265 or 238.545 before January 1, 2000, but restores part or all of the forfeited creditable service from before January 1, 2000, under the provisions of ORS § 238.105 or 238.115 after January 1, 2000. [1969 c.249 § 5; 1973 c.46 § 6; 1987 c.617 § 14; 1999 c.317 § 13; 2001 c.945 § 67]