West Virginia Code 15-2-37 – Refunds to certain employees upon discharge or resignation; deferred retirement
(a) Any employee who is discharged by order of the superintendent or otherwise terminates employment with the agency, at the written request of the member to the board, is entitled to receive from the fund a sum equal to the aggregate of the principal amount of moneys deducted from his or her salary and paid into the fund plus four percent interest compounded thereon calculated annually as provided and required by this article.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 15-2-37
- Agency: means the West Virginia State Police. See West Virginia Code 15-2-25b
- 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.
- Board: means the West Virginia Consolidated Public Retirement Board created pursuant to §. See West Virginia Code 15-2-25b
- Employee: means any person regularly employed in the service of the agency as a law-enforcement officer before March 12, 1994, and who is eligible to participate in the fund. See West Virginia Code 15-2-25b
- Member: means any person who has contributions standing to his or her credit in the fund and who has not yet entered into retirement status. See West Virginia Code 15-2-25b
- of equal actuarial value: means a benefit of equal value computed upon the basis of the mortality table and interest rates as set and adopted by the retirement board in accordance with the provisions of this article: Provided, That when used in the context of compliance with the federal maximum benefit requirements of section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code, "actuarially equivalent" shall be computed using the mortality tables and interest rates required to comply with those requirements. See West Virginia Code 15-2-25b
- Surviving spouse: means the person to whom the member was legally married at the time of the member's death and who survived the member. See West Virginia Code 15-2-25b
- system: means the West Virginia State Police Death, Disability and Retirement Fund. See West Virginia Code 15-2-25b
(b) Any member withdrawing contributions who may thereafter be reemployed by the agency shall not receive any prior service credit in the fund on account of former service. The employee may redeposit in the fund established in article two-a of this chapter the amount of the refund, together with interest thereon at the rate of seven and one-half percent per annum from the date of withdrawal to the date of redeposit, in which case he or she shall receive the same credit on account of his or her former service as if no refund had been made. He or she shall become a member of the retirement system established in article two-a of this chapter.
(c) Every employee who completes ten years of service with the agency is eligible, upon separation of employment, either to withdraw his or her contributions in accordance with subsection (a) of this section or to choose not to withdraw his or her accumulated contributions with interest. Upon attainment of age sixty-two, a member who chooses not to withdraw his or her contributions is eligible to receive a retirement annuity. Any member choosing to receive the deferred annuity under this subsection is not eligible to receive the annual annuity adjustment provided in section twenty-seven-a of this article. When the board retires any member under any of the provisions of this section, the member is entitled to receive annually and shall be paid from the fund in equal monthly installments during the lifetime of the member while in status of retirement one or the other of two amounts, whichever is greater, subject to reduction if necessary to comply with the maximum benefit provisions of Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code and section forty-four of this article:
(1) An amount equal to five and one-half percent of the aggregate of salary paid to the employee during the whole period of service as an employee of the agency; or
(2) The sum of $6,000.
(d) A member may choose, in lieu of a life annuity available under the provisions of subsection (c) of this section, an annuity in a reduced amount payable during the member's lifetime, with one half of the reduced monthly amount paid to his or her surviving spouse, for the spouse's remaining lifetime after the death of the retirant. Reduction of this monthly benefit amount shall be calculated to be of equal actuarial value to the life annuity the member could otherwise have chosen.
(e) A member retiring under the provisions of this section may receive retirement annuity payments on the day following his or her attaining age sixty-two. Upon receipt of properly executed forms from the agency and the member, the board shall process the member's retirement benefit and commence annuity payments as soon as administratively feasible.