Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1755 – A. Benefits and allowances as provided by this Chapter shall be based on total creditable service as prescribed below:
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1755
- Adjusted service date: means the service date adjusted by the amount of any creditable service other than membership service, or for any periods of interrupted service, and from which all creditable service shall be calculated. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1732
- Agreement: means the document of participation between a participating employer and the board, that sets forth the requirements and procedures for covering the employees of such participating employer under this system. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1732
- Agreement date: means the date as of which the provisions of this Chapter first become applicable to an employer. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1732
- 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 of trustees: means the board of trustees of this system. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1732
- Creditable service: means all periods of time for which credit is allowed towards any benefits of this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1732
- Earnings: means the full amount of compensation earned by a member for service rendered as an employee, excluding bonuses or fees in excess of regular salary or retainer, overtime pay, or payments relative to termination of employment including but not limited to accrued sick or annual leave and severance pay. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1732
- Employee: means a person including an elected official, actively employed by a participating employer on a permanent, regularly scheduled basis of at least an average of thirty-five hours per week. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1732
- Member: means a contributing employee who is covered under the provisions of this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1732
- participating employer: shall mean :
(i) Any incorporated city, town, or village in the state of Louisiana. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1732
- Revision date: means October 1, 1978, the effective date of the establishment of Plan A and Plan B. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1732
- Service certificate: means a statement of a member's total creditable service as approved by the board. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1732
- Service date: means the date of enrollment of a member into the system. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1732
A. Benefits and allowances as provided by this Chapter shall be based on total creditable service as prescribed below:
(1) Membership service: Service rendered by an employee after the agreement date for which contributions have been made and not withdrawn.
(2) Prior service: Service rendered by an employee prior to the agreement date and credited under the terms of the agreement or service rendered prior to the agreement date and purchased pursuant to Subsection F of this Section.
B. Immediately after the revision date, the board shall issue a service certificate to each member who has received credit for any service other than membership service. Such certificate shall include an adjusted service date which shall be the service date adjusted by the period of time for which credit has been approved. Service certificates shall be presented, thereafter, for any service date adjustments as a result of acquired credits or interruptions of service under rules prescribed by the board.
C.(1) A member who had withdrawn his contributions shall be entitled to credit for all previously credited service after at least six months of current membership service, upon repayment of withdrawn contributions for such service plus interest at the system’s then currently assumed actuarial valuation rate of interest, compounded annually, from date of withdrawal of such contributions.
(2) Any payment for service credit pursuant to this Section received by the system on or after January 1, 2002, may be accomplished by a trustee-to-trustee transfer of monies to this fund from an annuity in compliance with Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code or any successor thereto, or from a deferred compensation plan in compliance with Section 457 of the Internal Revenue Code or any successor thereto, so long as such transfer otherwise complies with all other applicable provisions of federal and state law.
D. Notwithstanding any provisions of this Section, any member who after having been a member of this system withdraws or withdrew from membership and thereafter returns to membership in a plan other than the plan in which he was previously a member, shall receive credit for such service only after payment of an amount to be determined by an actuarial study, based on the increased or decreased benefits of the new plan.
E.(1)(a) The provisions of this Subsection are limited in scope and shall apply only to members of this system whose participating employer irrevocably elects such coverage. The board of trustees shall cause to be promulgated all regulations necessary to govern the procedures for participating employers to irrevocably elect coverage under the provisions of this Subsection.
(b) All unused earned annual and sick leave which has been accrued and accumulated by an employee, except as hereinafter provided, and for which payment cannot be made in accordance with law, ordinance, or any civil service rule at the time of retirement, shall be credited at the time of retirement to the member on the following basis:
Days Percentage
of a Year
1- 26 10
27- 52 20
53- 78 30
79-104 40
105-130 50
131-156 60
157-182 70
183-208 80
209-234 90
235-260 100
(2) There shall be no limit on the amount of unused earned sick and annual leave that a member may convert to retirement credit on the basis of the above formula. No member, survivor, or beneficiary shall use any unused earned sick and annual leave to attain eligibility for any benefits provided by this Chapter.
(3) At the time the member retires, the employer shall submit to the board a report of unused earned sick and annual leave, computed in days only, plus unreported earnings and contributions.
(4) When extending credit for unused earned leave, fractional days of one-half or more shall be granted as one day and less than one-half day shall be disregarded. Any member who had previously terminated his employment for any period of time, but who later becomes reemployed as an active contributing member in this system, shall have contributed to the system for not less than eighteen months subsequent to his reemployment date before using converted unused earned sick and annual leave for purposes of benefit computation. Additional membership service obtained by conversion of unused earned sick and annual leave shall not be used in computation of average compensation.
(5) The actuarial cost of providing the conversion authorized by this Subsection shall be borne solely by and shall be paid to the board by the member’s employer within thirty days of the date that the member retires.
F.(1) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary and notwithstanding any agreement made pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 11:1733, any member may purchase service credit for any amount of service not certified as prior service credit pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 11:1733(A)(4) by his employing city, town, or village, but which service was rendered while employed with such city, town, or village prior to the agreement date.
(2) A member making a service credit purchase pursuant to this Subsection shall be required to pay into the system an amount calculated in accordance with La. Rev. Stat. 11:158(C). The amount payable shall be calculated by use of the actuarial funding method, assumptions, and tables in use at the time of the purchase of the service credit; however, the service hereby purchased shall not include military service credit. The member, in making his application for such service credit, shall furnish supporting documentation of all service for which credit is claimed, in such form as the board requires. No credit for such service shall be allowed until payment in full has been received by the system. Credit obtained under the provisions of this Subsection shall be usable for purposes of meeting the eligibility requirements for retirement and for calculating the value of retirement benefits.
G. The qualified military service of a member who has been reemployed under the terms of Section 414(u) of the United States Internal Revenue Code shall be treated, for vesting and benefit accrual purposes, as service completed under this Section, provided the member timely remits to the system any employee contributions which would have been required but for the member’s leave of absence to perform qualified military service, in accordance with the terms of federal law.
Acts 1978, No. 788, §1. Amended by Acts 1981, No. 226, §1; Redesignated from La. Rev. Stat. 33:7194 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §3, eff. June 25, 1991; Acts 1992, No. 542, §1; Acts 2001, No. 695, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2002; Acts 2001, No. 999, §1, eff. June 27, 2001; Acts 2003, No. 684, §1, eff. July 1, 2003; Acts 2009, No. 59, §1, eff. July 1, 2009; Acts 2012, No. 529, §1, eff. June 30, 2012; Acts 2022, No. 248, §2, eff. June 30, 2022.
NOTE: See Acts 2003, No. 684, §2, relative to retroactive application of Act.