West Virginia Code 8-22A-16 – Refunds to certain members on discharge or resignation; deferred retirement; preretirement death; forfeitures
(a) Any member who terminates covered employment and is not eligible to receive disability 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, on withdrawal, the member shall forfeit his or her accrued benefit and cease to be a member.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 8-22A-16
- Accrued benefit: means on behalf of any member 2. See West Virginia Code 8-22A-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 8-22A-2
- 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 natural person who is entitled to, or will be entitled to, an annuity or other benefit payable by the plan. See West Virginia Code 8-22A-2
- Board: means the Consolidated Public Retirement Board. See West Virginia Code 8-22A-2
- Code: shall mean the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as heretofore and hereafter amended. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
- Covered employment: means either: (1) Employment as a full-time municipal police officer or firefighter and the active performance of the duties required of that employment. See West Virginia Code 8-22A-2
- Credited service: means the sum of a member's years of service, active military duty, and disability service. See West Virginia Code 8-22A-2
- Fund: means the West Virginia Municipal Police Officers and Firefighters Retirement Fund created by this article. See West Virginia Code 8-22A-2
- Member: means , except as provided in §. See West Virginia Code 8-22A-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. See West Virginia Code 8-22A-2
- Plan: means the West Virginia Municipal Police Officers and Firefighters Retirement System established by this article. See West Virginia Code 8-22A-2
- Regular contributory service: means a member's credited service excluding active military duty, disability service and accrued annual and sick leave service. See West Virginia Code 8-22A-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 8-22A-2
(b)(1) 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 accumulated contributions withdrawn from the plan 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. On 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.
(2) The repayment authorized by this subsection shall be made in a lump sum within 60 months of the police officer’s or firefighter’s reemployment in covered employment.
(c) Every member who completes 60 months of regular contributory service may, on cessation of covered employment, either withdraw his or her accumulated contributions in accordance with this section or choose not to withdraw his or her accumulated contribution and receive retirement income payments, if eligible, on attaining normal retirement age.
(d) If a member dies from any cause other than those specified in § 8-22A-20 of this code and does not have 10 or more years of credited service, the member’s accumulated contributions may be paid to a named beneficiary or beneficiaries. If no beneficiary is named, then the accumulated contributions shall be paid to the estate of the deceased member.
(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.