(a) Any emergency medical services officer first employed by a county or political subdivision in covered employment after the effective date of this article or 911 personnel hired on or after July 1, 2022, by a participating public employer shall be a member of this retirement plan as a condition of employment and upon membership does not qualify for membership in any other retirement system administered by the board, so long as he or she remains employed in covered employment: Provided, That any emergency medical services officer or 911 personnel who has concurrent employment in an additional job or jobs which would require the emergency medical services officer or 911 personnel to be a member of the West Virginia Deputy Sheriff Retirement System, the West Virginia Municipal Police Officers and Firefighters Retirement System, or the West Virginia Natural Resources Police Officer Retirement System shall participate in only one retirement system administered by the board, and the retirement system applicable to the concurrent employment for which the employee has the earliest date of hire shall prevail.

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(b) Any emergency medical services officer employed in covered employment by an employer which is currently a participating public employer of the Public Employees Retirement System shall notify in writing both the county commission in the county or officials in the political subdivision in which he or she is employed and the board of his or her desire to become a member of the plan by December 31, 2007. Any emergency medical services officer who elects to become a member of the plan ceases to be a member or have any credit for covered employment in any other retirement system administered by the board and shall continue to be ineligible for membership in any other retirement system administered by the board so long as the emergency medical services officer remains employed in covered employment by an employer which is currently a participating public employer of this plan: Provided, That any emergency medical services officer who does not affirmatively elect to become a member of the plan continues to be eligible for any other retirement system as is, from time to time, offered to other county employees but is ineligible for this plan regardless of any subsequent termination of employment and rehire.

(c) Any emergency medical services officer who was employed as an emergency medical services officer prior to the effective date, but was not employed on the effective date of this article, shall become a member upon rehire as an emergency medical services officer. For purposes of this section, the member’s years of service and credited service prior to the effective date shall not be counted for any purposes under this plan unless the emergency medical services officer has not received the return of his or her accumulated contributions in the Public Employees Retirement System pursuant to § 5-10-30 of this code. The member may request in writing to have his or her accumulated contributions and employer contributions from covered employment in the Public Employees Retirement System transferred to the plan. If the conditions of this subsection are met, all years of the emergency medical services officer’s covered employment shall be counted as years of service for the purposes of this article.

(d) Any emergency medical services officer employed in covered employment on the effective date of this article who has timely elected to transfer into this plan as provided in subsection (b) of this section shall be given credited service at the time of transfer for all credited service then standing to the emergency medical services officer’s service credit in the Public Employees Retirement System regardless of whether the credited service (as that term is defined in § 5-10-2 of this code) was earned as an emergency medical services officer. All credited service standing to the transferring emergency medical services officer’s credit in the Public Employees Retirement System at the time of transfer into this plan shall be transferred into the plan created by this article and the transferring emergency medical services officer shall be given the same credit for the purposes of this article for all service transferred from the Public Employees Retirement System as that transferring emergency medical services officer would have received from the Public Employees Retirement System as if the transfer had not occurred. In connection with each transferring emergency medical services officer receiving credit for prior employment as provided in this subsection, a transfer from the Public Employees Retirement System to this plan shall be made pursuant to the procedures described in this article: Provided, That any member of this plan who has elected to transfer from the Public Employees Retirement System into this plan pursuant to subsection (b) of this section may not, after having transferred into and becoming an active member of this plan, reinstate to his or her credit in this plan any service credit relating to periods in which the member was not in covered employment as an emergency medical services officer and which service was withdrawn from the Public Employees Retirement System prior to his or her elective transfer into this plan.

(e) Once made, the election made under this section is irrevocable. All emergency medical services officers employed by an employer which is a participating public employer of the Public Employees Retirement System after the effective date and emergency medical services officers electing to become members as described in this section shall be members as a condition of employment and shall make the contributions required by this article.

(f) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, any individual who is a leased employee is not eligible to participate in the plan. For purposes of this plan, a “leased employee” means any individual who performs services as an independent contractor or pursuant to an agreement with an employee leasing organization or similar organization. If a question arises regarding the status of an individual as a leased employee, the board has final power to decide the question.