(a) The board of trustees shall require from any employer of members of the retirement system such information as the board may deem necessary including, but not limited to, name, address, title, social security number, compensation, duties, date of birth and length of service of each member in its employ. On the basis of such information, the board shall classify each person who becomes a member in accordance with § 8-35-101 or this section in one (1) of the following groups:

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 8-35-105

  • Attorney general: means the attorney general and reporter and any assistant thereto by whatever name known, any district attorney general and any assistant thereto by whatever name called, and any officer or full-time employee of the general assembly or any committee thereof established by statute, who is duly licensed to practice law in Tennessee, whose duty it is to provide facilities for drafting bills or to assist individual legislators in drafting bills or who renders legal advice and services to the members of the general assembly or committees thereof. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • board: means the board provided for in part 3 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • County judge: means any person who is, or when such office existed was, a judge of a general sessions court, trial justice court, county chair, county judge, probate judge, or judge of a juvenile and/or domestic relations court, and whose compensation for such judicial service is paid wholly by a county of the state, or any person who is a county attorney who receives regular monthly or quarterly compensation from a county of the state, or any county manager or county administrator who receives regular monthly or quarterly compensation from a county of the state. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • County official: means a county clerk, a clerk of a circuit court, a criminal court, or a probate court, a clerk and master of a chancery court, a clerk of a general sessions court where such general sessions court has an independent clerk who serves such court only, a register of deeds, a county trustee, a sheriff, a county road superintendent elected by a county legislative body, by a county road commission or commissioners, or by popular vote, and an assessor of property, any county commissioner elected by popular vote, serving in a county having a county commission form of government. 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
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Prior class member: means a member who, on the day preceding the date of establishment, shall have been a member of a superseded system and who elects to remain covered by the benefit and contribution provisions of the superseded system, or who fails to elect to become covered by the benefit and contribution provisions of the retirement system applicable to new employees, as the case may be, in accordance with chapter 35, part 1 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
  • 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
  • State judge: means any person in office as a judge of a court of record in this state, whose salary for the judge's judicial position has been paid during the period of the judge's service wholly from the treasury of the state, including the administrative director of the courts. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
(1)Group 1. Teachers and general employees;
(2)Group 2. State police officers, wildlife officers, game and fish officers so classified prior to April 1, 1974, firefighters and police officers;
(3)Group 3. State judges, county judges, county officials, attorneys general, and commissioners; or
(4)Group 4. State judges entering service on or after September 1, 1990, state judges transferring membership under chapter 34, part 7, any attorney general and reporter who meets the requirements of § 8-34-623(b) and enters service on or after July 1, 2005, and any attorney general and reporter who meets the requirements of § 8-34-623(b) and transfers membership under chapter 34, part 7.
(b) The board shall certify to each member the group in which the member is placed and the date of the member’s admission to membership therein. When the duties of a member so require, the board may classify the member in another group and shall certify to the member the group to which the member has been reclassified.
(c) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, any person becoming a member of the retirement system after June 30, 1976, shall be classified as a Group 1 member, except a state judge, and an attorney general and reporter who meets the requirements of § 8-34-623(b). A state judge becoming a member of the retirement system on or after September 1, 1990, shall be classified as a Group 4 member. An attorney general and reporter who meets the requirements of § 8-34-623(b) and becomes a member of the retirement system on or after July 1, 2005, shall also be classified as a Group 4 member.
(d) The classification and membership rights of any county judge or county official who is currently a member or a prior class member of the retirement system shall continue in force without interruption and remain applicable when such member remains in the county office for which such classification eligibility originated, notwithstanding any change in the title of such office as a result of any act to implement the amendments of the Constitution of Tennessee, Article VII, § 1, ratified on March 7, 1978.
(e) In all cases of doubt, the board of trustees shall determine whether a person is in a specific employment category.
(f) The board of trustees is authorized to promulgate substantive and procedural rules and regulations requiring that the information described in subsection (a) be transmitted by the employer through an electronic medium.