Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 9 > Chapter 1 > Article 13 - Retirement and Retirement Benefits

• Active member: means an employee who is compensated by an employer participating in the system and who is making regular retirement contributions to the system. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Actuarial equivalent: means a benefit of equal value when computed upon the basis of mortality tables adopted by the board and regular interest. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• 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.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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 a person in receipt of a pension, an annuity, a retirement allowance or other benefit provided under the system. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Board: means the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority which shall act under the provisions of this chapter through its Division of Retirement Systems. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Class Three member: means an employee member of the system with an effective date of membership after June 30, 2012. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Contingent beneficiary: Receiver of property or benefits if the first named beneficiary fails to receive any or all of the property or benefits in question before his (her) death.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Creditable service: means a member's earned service, prior service, and purchased service. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Earnable compensation: means the full rate of the compensation that would be payable to a member if the member worked the member's full normal working time; when compensation includes maintenance, fees, and other things of value the board shall fix the value of that part of the compensation not paid in money directly by the employer. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Earned service: means :
  
  (a) paid employment as a teacher or employee of an employer participating in the system where the teacher or employee makes regular retirement contributions to the system; or
  
  (b) service rendered while participating in the State Optional Retirement Program, the Optional Retirement Program for Teachers and School Administrators, or the Optional Retirement Program for Publicly Supported Four Year and Postgraduate Institutions of Higher Education that has been purchased pursuant to § 9-1-1140(F); or
  
  (c) service earned as a participant in the system, the South Carolina Police Officers Retirement System, the Retirement System for Members of the General Assembly, or the Retirement System for Judges and Solicitors that is transferred to or purchased in the system. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Employee: means :
  
  (a) to the extent compensated by this State, an employee, agent, or officer of the State or any of its departments, bureaus, and institutions, other than the public schools, whether the employee is elected, appointed, or employed;
  
  (b) the president, dean, professor, or teacher or any other person employed in any college, university, or educational institution of higher learning supported by and under the control of the State;
  
  (c) an employee, agent, or officer of a county, municipality, or school district, or an agency or department of any of these, which has been admitted to the system under the provisions of § 9-1-470, to the extent the employee, agent, or officer is compensated for services from public funds;
  
  (d) an employee of the extension service and any other employee a part of whose salary or wage is paid by the federal government if the federal funds from which the salary or wage is paid before disbursement become state funds;
  
  (e) an employee of a service organization, the membership of which is composed solely of persons eligible to be teachers or employees as defined by this section, if the compensation received by the employees of the service organization is provided from monies paid by the members as dues or otherwise, or from funds derived from public sources and if the employee contributions prescribed by this title are paid from the funds of the service organization;
  
  (f) an employee of an alcohol and drug abuse planning agency authorized to receive funds pursuant to § 61-12-20;
  
  (g) an employee of a local council on aging or other governmental agency providing aging services funded by the Department on Aging. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Employee annuity: means annual payments for life derived from the accumulated contributions of a member. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Employer: means this State, a county board of education, a district board of trustees, the board of trustees or other managing board of a state-supported college or educational institution, or any other agency of this State by which a teacher or employee is paid; the term "employer" also includes a county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the State, or an agency or department of any of these, which has been admitted to the system under the provisions of § 9-1-470, a service organization referred to in item (11)(e) of this section, an alcohol and drug abuse planning agency authorized to receive funds pursuant to § 61-12-20, and a local council on aging or other governmental agency providing aging services funded by the Department on Aging. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Employer annuity: means annual payments for life derived from money provided by the employer. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Member: means a teacher or employee included in the membership of the system as provided in Article 5 of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• Nonqualified service: means purchased service other than public service, educational service, military service, leave of absence, and reestablishment of withdrawals. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Prior service: means service rendered as a teacher or employee before July 1, 1945, for which credit is allowable under Article 7 of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Public school: means a school conducted within this State under the authority and supervision of a duly elected or appointed school district board of trustees. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Regular interest: means interest compounded annually at a rate determined by the board in accordance with § 9-1-280. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Retirement: means the withdrawal from active service with a retirement allowance granted under the system. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Retirement allowance: means the sum of the employer annuity and the employee annuity or any optional benefit payable in lieu of the annuity. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Revocable trust: A trust agreement that can be canceled, rescinded, revoked, or repealed by the grantor (person who establishes the trust).
• Rule of ninety: means a requirement that the total of the member's age and the member's creditable service equals at least ninety years. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• system: means the South Carolina Retirement System established under § 9-1-20. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Teacher: means a classroom teacher employed in the public schools supported by this State as determined by the board. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• this State: means the State of South Carolina. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.