Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 15 > Article 2A - West Virginia State Police Retirement System

• Accumulated contributions: means the sum of all amounts deducted from base salary, together with four percent interest compounded annually. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Active military duty: means full-time active duty with the armed forces of the United States, namely, the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines or Navy. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Agency: means the West Virginia State Police. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• 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.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Base salary: means compensation paid to an employee without regard to any overtime pay. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-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 surviving spouse or other surviving beneficiary who is entitled to, or will be entitled to, an annuity or other benefit payable by the fund. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Board: means the Consolidated Public Retirement Board created pursuant to §. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dependent child: means any unmarried child or children born to or adopted by a member or retirant of the fund who:

  (A) Is under the age of 18. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2

• Dependent parent: means the member's or retirant's parent or step-parent claimed as a dependent by the member or retirant for federal income tax purposes at the time of the member's or retirant's death. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Employee: means any person regularly employed in the service of the agency as a law-enforcement officer after March 12, 1994, and who is eligible to participate in the fund. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Employer error: means an omission, misrepresentation, or deliberate act in violation of relevant provisions of the West Virginia Code, the West Virginia Code of State Regulations, or the relevant provisions of both the West Virginia Code and the West Virginia Code of State Regulations by the participating public employer that has resulted in an underpayment or overpayment of contributions required. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Final average salary: means the average of the highest annual compensation received for employment with the agency, including compensation paid for overtime service, received by the employee during any five calendar years within the employee's last 10 years of service: . See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Internal Revenue Code: means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Judgment: includes decrees and orders for the payment of money, or the conveyance or delivery of land or personal property, or some interest therein, or any undertaking, bond or recognizance which has the legal effect of a judgment. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Law-enforcement officer: means an individual employed or otherwise engaged in either a public or private position which involves the rendition of services relating to enforcement of federal, state or local laws for the protection of public or private safety, including, but not limited to, positions as deputy sheriffs, police officers, marshals, bailiffs, court security officers or any other law-enforcement position which requires certification, but excluding positions held by elected sheriffs or appointed chiefs of police whose duties are purely administrative in nature. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Medical examination: means an in-person or virtual examination of a member's physical or mental health, or both, by a physician or physicians selected or approved by the board. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• 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 15-2A-2
• 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: . See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Partially disabled: means an employee's inability, on a probable permanent basis, to perform the essential duties of a law-enforcement officer by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months, but which impairment does not preclude the employee from engaging in other types of nonlaw-enforcement employment. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Physical or mental impairment: means an impairment that results from an anatomical, physiological or psychological abnormality that is demonstrated by medically accepted clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Required beginning date: means April 1 of the calendar year following the later of: (A) The calendar year in which the member attains age 70. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• retirement system: means the West Virginia State Police Retirement Fund created and established by this article. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Salary: means the compensation of an employee, excluding any overtime payments. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• 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
• Surviving spouse: means the person to whom the member or retirant was legally married at the time of the member's or retirant's death and who survived the member or retirant. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Totally disabled: means an employee's probable permanent inability to engage in substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determined physical or mental impairment that can be expected to result in death or that has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2
• Years of service: means the months of service acquired by a member while in active employment with the agency divided by 12. See West Virginia Code 15-2A-2