West Virginia Code 16-5V-18 – Refunds to certain members upon discharge or resignation; deferred retirement; forfeitures
(a) Any member who terminates covered employment and is not immediately eligible to receive disability or retirement income benefits under this article is, by written request filed with the board, entitled to receive from the fund the member's accumulated contributions. Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, upon withdrawal, the member shall forfeit his or her accrued benefit and cease to be a member.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 16-5V-18
- Accrued benefit: means on behalf of any member two and six-tenths percent per year of the member's final average salary for the first 20 years of credited service. See West Virginia Code 16-5V-2
- Accumulated contributions: means the sum of all retirement contributions deducted from the compensation of a member, or paid on his or her behalf as a result of covered employment, together with regular interest on the deducted amounts. See West Virginia Code 16-5V-2
- Board: means the Consolidated Public Retirement Board. See West Virginia Code 16-5V-2
- Covered employment: means either: (1) Employment as a full-time emergency medical technician, emergency medical technician/paramedic or emergency medical services/registered nurse and the active performance of the duties required of emergency medical services officers. See West Virginia Code 16-5V-2
- Credited service: means the sum of a member's years of service, active military duty, disability service and accrued annual and sick leave service. See West Virginia Code 16-5V-2
- Effective date: means January 1, 2008. See West Virginia Code 16-5V-2
- Fund: means the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement Fund created by this article. See West Virginia Code 16-5V-2
- Member: means either: (1) A person first hired as an emergency medical services officer by an employer which is a participating public employer of the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System after the effective date of this article, as defined in subsection (r) of this section. See West Virginia Code 16-5V-2
- Normal retirement age: means the first to occur of the following:
(1) Attainment of age 50 years and the completion of 20 or more years of regular contributory service, excluding active military duty, disability service and accrued annual and sick leave service. See West Virginia Code 16-5V-2
- Plan: means the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System established by this article. See West Virginia Code 16-5V-2
- Public Employees Retirement System: means the West Virginia Public Employee's Retirement System created by West Virginia Code. See West Virginia Code 16-5V-2
- retirement: means the first day of the month following or coincident with the latter of the last day the member worked in covered employment or the member's normal retirement age and after completing proper written application for retirement on an application supplied by the board. See West Virginia Code 16-5V-2
- Retirement income payments: means the monthly retirement income payments payable under the plan. See West Virginia Code 16-5V-2
(b) Any member who ceases employment in covered employment and active participation in this plan and who thereafter becomes reemployed in covered employment may not receive any credited service for any prior withdrawn accumulated contributions from either this plan or the Public Employees Retirement System unless following his or her return to covered employment and active participation in this plan, the member redeposits in the fund the amount of the accumulated contributions withdrawn from previous covered employment, together with interest on the accumulated contributions at the rate determined by the board from the date of withdrawal to the date of redeposit. Upon repayment he or she shall receive the same credit on account of his or her former covered employment as if no refund had been made.
The repayment authorized by this subsection shall be made in a lump sum within sixty months of the emergency medical services officer's reemployment in covered employment or, if later, within sixty months of the effective date of this article.
(c) A member of this plan who has elected to transfer from the Public Employees Retirement System into this plan pursuant to subsection (b), section six of this article may not, after having transferred into and become an active member of this plan, reinstate to his or her credit in this plan any service credit relating to periods of nonemergency medical services officer service withdrawn from the Public Employees Retirement System prior to his or her elective transfer into this plan.
(d) Every member who completes sixty months of covered employment is eligible, upon cessation of covered employment, to either withdraw his or her accumulated contributions in accordance with this section or to choose not to withdraw his or her accumulated contribution and to receive retirement income payments upon attaining early or normal retirement age.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, forfeitures under the plan may not be applied to increase the benefits any member would otherwise receive under the plan.