West Virginia Code 18-7A-14 – Contributions by members; contributions by employers; forfeitures
(a) At the end of each month every member of the retirement system shall contribute six percent of that member's monthly gross salary to the retirement board: Provided, That any member employed by a state institution of higher education shall contribute on the member's full earnable compensation, unless otherwise provided in section fourteen-a of this article. The sums are due the State Teachers Retirement System at the end of each calendar month and shall be paid not later than fifteen days following the end of the calendar month. Each remittance shall be accompanied by a detailed summary of the sums withheld from the gross compensation of each member for that month on forms, either paper or electronic, provided by the State Teachers Retirement System for that purpose.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 18-7A-14
- board: means a county board of education. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Employer: means the agency of and within the state which has employed or employs a member, a county board of education which has employed or employs a member, or an electing charter school which has employed or employs a member. See West Virginia Code 18-7A-3
- Gross salary: means the fixed annual or periodic cash wages paid by a participating public employer to a member for performing duties for the participating public employer for which the member was hired. See West Virginia Code 18-7A-3
- Member: means any person who has accumulated contributions standing to his or her credit in the State Teachers Retirement System. See West Virginia Code 18-7A-3
- 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.
- Retirement board: means the Consolidated Public Retirement Board created pursuant to §. See West Virginia Code 18-7A-3
- Retirement system: means the State Teachers Retirement System established by this article. See West Virginia Code 18-7A-3
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
(b) Annually, the contributions of each member shall be credited to the member's account in the State Teachers Retirement System Fund. The contributions shall be deducted from the gross salaries of the members as prescribed in this section and every member shall be considered to have given consent to the deductions. No deductions, however, shall be made from the earnable compensation of any member who retired because of age or service and then resumed service unless as provided in section thirteen-a of this article.
(c) The aggregate of employer contributions, due and payable under this article, shall equal annually the total deductions from the gross salary of members required by this section. Beginning July 1, 1994, the rate shall be seven and one-half percent; beginning on July 1, 1995, the rate shall be nine percent; beginning on July 1, 1996, the rate shall be ten and one-half percent; beginning on July 1, 1997, the rate shall be twelve percent; beginning on July 1, 1998, the rate shall be thirteen and one-half percent; and beginning on July 1, 1999, and thereafter, the rate shall be fifteen percent: Provided, That the rate shall be seven and one-half percent for any individual who becomes a member of the State Teachers Retirement System for the first time on or after July 1, 2005, or any individual who becomes a member of the State Teachers Retirement System as a result of the voluntary transfer contemplated in article seven-d of this chapter.
(d) Payment by an employer to a member of the sum specified in the employment contract minus the amount of the employee's deductions shall be considered to be a full discharge of the employer's contractual obligation as to earnable compensation.
(e) Each employer shall file with the retirement board a completed enrollment form showing the contributor's date of birth and other data needed by the retirement board.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, forfeitures under the retirement system shall not be applied to increase the benefits any member would otherwise receive under the retirement system.