Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 51.1 > Chapter 1 - Virginia Retirement System

• Abolished system: means the Virginia Retirement Act, §§ 51-30 through 51-111, repealed by Chapter 1 of the Acts of Assembly of 1952. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Accumulated contributions: means the sum of all amounts deducted from the compensation of a member and credited to his individual account in the member's contribution account, all amounts the member may contribute to purchase creditable service, all member contributions contributed by the employer on behalf of the employee, on or after July 1, 1980, except those amounts contributed on behalf of members of the General Assembly who are otherwise retired under the provisions of this chapter, and all interest accruing to these funds. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Actuarial equivalent: means a benefit of equal value when computed upon the basis of actuarial tables adopted by the Board. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• Agent: means a person who is employed by any institution of higher education or non-college degree school, whether such institution or school is located within or outside the Commonwealth, to act as an agent, solicitor, procurer, broker, or independent contractor to procure students or enrollees for any such institution or school by solicitation in any form at any place in the Commonwealth other than the office or principal location of such institution or school. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• 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.
• Associate-degree-granting: means that an associate degree is the most advanced degree that is granted. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Average final compensation: means the average annual creditable compensation of a member during his 60 highest consecutive months of creditable service or during the entire period of his creditable service if less than 60 months. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Baccalaureate: means that bachelor's degrees or more advanced degrees, or both, are granted. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• Beneficiary: means any person entitled to receive benefits under this chapter. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Board: means the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Retirement System. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Certificate: includes a diploma. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• College: means any associate-degree-granting institution of higher education or institution of higher education at which a bachelor's degree is the most advanced degree that is granted. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• Council: means the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• Creditable compensation: means the full compensation payable annually to an employee working full time in his covered position. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Creditable service: means prior service as set forth in § 51. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Degree: means any earned award at the associate, baccalaureate, graduate, first professional, or specialist levels that represents satisfactory completion of the requirements of a program or course of study or instruction beyond the secondary school level. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• Degree credit: means any earned credits awarded for successful completion of the requirements of a course of study or instruction beyond the secondary school level that may be used toward completion of a certificate or degree. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• distance learning modality: means any course offered by a postsecondary school for which the primary mode of instructional delivery is by television, videocassette or disc, film, radio, computer, or other telecommunications devices. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• Employee: means any teacher, state employee, officer, or employee of a locality participating in the Retirement System. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Employer: means the Commonwealth in the case of a state employee, the local public school board in the case of a teacher, or the political subdivision participating in the Retirement System. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• 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
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• institution: means any person or other entity, other than a public institution of higher education or any other entity authorized to issue bonds pursuant to Chapter 11 (§ 23. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• Joint Rules Committee: means those members of the House of Delegates and the Senate designated by the Speaker of the House and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules, respectively, to meet with each other and to act jointly on behalf of the Committee on Rules for each house. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Local officer: means the treasurer, commissioner of the revenue, attorney for the Commonwealth, clerk of a circuit court, or sheriff of any county or city, or deputy or employee of any such officer. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Medical Board: means the boards composed of physicians or other health care professionals as provided by this chapter. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Member: means any person included in the membership of the Retirement System. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Membership service: means service as an employee rendered while a contributing member of the Retirement System except as provided in this chapter. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Non-college degree school: includes academic-vocational non-college degree schools and vocational non-college degree schools. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• Nondegree credit: means any earned credits awarded for successful completion of the requirements of a course of study or instruction beyond the secondary school level that may be used toward completion of a certificate but may not be used to earn a degree. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• Normal retirement date: means a member's sixty-fifth birthday. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Out-of-state: means formed, chartered, established, or incorporated outside of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Per stirpes: The legal means by which the children of a decedent, upon the death of an ancestor at a level above that of the decedent, receive by right of representation the share of the ancestor
• Political subdivision: means any county, city, or town, any political entity, subdivision, branch, or unit of the Commonwealth, or any commission, public authority, or body corporate created by or under an act of the General Assembly specifying the powers, privileges, or authority capable of exercise by the commission, public authority, or body corporate. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Postsecondary school: includes programs of academic, vocational, and continuing professional education, except courses or programs of continuing professional education set forth in subdivision B 4 of § 23. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• Prior service: means service rendered prior to becoming a member of the Retirement System. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Private institution of higher education: includes each nonprofit private institution of higher education and proprietary private institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• Program: means a curriculum or course of study in a discipline or interdisciplinary area that leads to a degree or certificate. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• Proprietary: means privately owned, privately managed, and corporately structured as a for-profit entity. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• Public institution of higher education: includes the System as a whole and each associate-degree-granting and baccalaureate public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• 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.
• Retirement allowance: means the retirement payments to which a member is entitled. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Retirement System: means the Virginia Retirement System. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Service: means service as an employee. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Site: means a location in the Commonwealth where a postsecondary school (i) offers at least one course on an established schedule and (ii) enrolls at least two individuals who are not members of the same household, regardless of the presence or absence of administrative capability at such location. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• State employee: means any person who is regularly employed full time on a salaried basis, whose tenure is not restricted as to temporary or provisional appointment, in the service of, and whose compensation is payable, no more often than biweekly, in whole or in part, by the Commonwealth or any department, institution, or agency thereof. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• Teacher: means any person who is regularly employed full time on a salaried basis as a professional or clerical employee of a county, city, or other local public school board. See Virginia Code 51.1-124.3
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• University: means any baccalaureate institution of higher education. See Virginia Code 23.1-213
• Writ of certiorari: An order issued by the Supreme Court directing the lower court to transmit records for a case for which it will hear on appeal.