(a) For the purpose of determining eligibility for service retirement benefits, any teacher or state employee may establish retirement credit for previous service rendered as a public school teacher or full-time state employee in a state other than Tennessee or as a teacher in an overseas facility owned or operated by the United States department of defense under the following conditions:

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 8-34-620

  • board: means the board provided for in part 3 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • Creditable service: means prior service plus membership service, as provided in part 6 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • Earnable compensation: includes , but is not limited to, any bonus or incentive payment. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • Employer: means :
    (A) The state or any department, commission, institution, board or agency of the state government by which a member is paid, with respect to members in its employ. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • Member: means any person included in the membership of the retirement system, as provided in chapter 35, part 1 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • Public school: means any school conducted within the state under the authority and supervision of a duly elected or appointed city or county school board, and any educational institution supported by and under the control of the state. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • Retirement: means withdrawal from membership with a retirement allowance granted under chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • Retirement system: means the Tennessee consolidated retirement system as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • Service: means service as a general employee, a teacher, a state police officer, a wildlife officer, a firefighter, a police officer, a state judge, a county judge, an attorney general, a commissioner or a county official which is paid for by an employer, and also includes service for which a former member of the general assembly is entitled to under former §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) The previous service shall not be used in determining any rights under this chapter prior to the member being vested;
(2) The member is not receiving, and is not and will not be entitled to receive, retirement credit in any other retirement system for such previous service;
(3) The previous service does not exceed the number of years of creditable service in Tennessee;
(4) The previous service must be certified on proper documents as required by the board of trustees;
(5) The service shall only be credited for the purpose of establishing eligibility for retirement. No benefit shall be paid on such service; and
(6) The member shall make a lump sum payment equal to:

(A) If the previous service was rendered on or before June 30, 2000,

(i) The sum the member would have contributed had the member been a member during such period of out-of-state service;
(ii) Plus the employer contributions which would have been made in accordance with the contribution rates in effect during the period in which the service was rendered;
(iii) Plus interest on both at the rate provided by § 8-37-214.
(B) If the previous service was rendered after June 30, 2000,

(i) A sum equal to ten percent (10%) of the member’s earnable compensation during such period of out-of-state service;
(ii) Plus interest at the rate provided by § 8-37-214.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a)(2), if a member was in a defined contribution plan maintained on behalf of the member by an out-of-state public employer, the member shall be permitted to use other funds not in that plan to establish credit pursuant to this section.
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