W. Va. Code R. § 162-4-4

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 24, June 14, 2024

Section 162-4-4 - Service Credit

4.1. One year service credit. A member of the system shall receive one year of service credit for each school term or fiscal year completed. The Board shall determine in each case what part of a year taught constitutes a year of credit.

4.1.1. Summer teaching shall not generate additional service credit when the time taught is included in the year of service credit already granted and the member's salary is subject to regular contributions and inclusion in the member's fiscal year salary.

4.2. Prior service credit. The Board shall grant the member prior service as follows:

4.2.1. Teachers and professional employees as distinguished from non-teachers for service prior to July 1,1941;

4.2.2. Non-teachers and former teachers for service prior to March 9, 1945;

4.2.3. Financial secretaries and county agents, agriculture extension at West Virginia University except secretaries and clerks, for service prior to March 9, 1945;

4.2.4. School nurses for services prior to June 30, 1945;

4.2.5. Non-teaching employees (except cooks) for service prior to July 1,1947;

4.2.6. Employees of the board of school finance for service prior to October 1, 1952, if they were formerly employed as a teacher in the public school system;

4.2.7. Employees of the Department of Education, if they are classified as a present teacher, for service rendered prior to November 4, 1958; and

4.2.8. Cooks for service rendered prior to July 1, 1962, or according to the date on which the employer became responsible for the salary of the employee.

4.3. Non-teaching assignment. Any member placed on a paid special assignment after November 1, 1978, (such as a sabbatical) by an employer is considered regularly employed for the purpose of this Rule. The employer shall collect and remit to the Board the member's contributions to ensure proper credit for a non-teaching assignment.

4.4. Credit for leave time. Any member shall be considered employed as long as the member remains on the payroll of any employer and contributes on salary earned. For purposes of determining service credit, the Board shall count annual or vacation leave or sick leave paid by the employer as service credit.

4.4.1. When computing service credit for annual or personal leave, the last day of service shall be verified as last day paid for leave. The effective date of retirement is the first day of the following month.

4.5. Maximum yearly service credit. Under no circumstances shall a member of the system receive more than one year of service credit for any one fiscal year even though he or she may have reciprocal service with both the Public Employees Retirement System and the Teachers' Retirement System or service with both the Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System and the Teachers' Retirement System, which under the Rules of both systems could conceivably entitle him or her to more than one year service credit.

4.6. Service credit. Fractional part of year. The Board shall give fractional credit for service as a teacher for a teacher who taught parts of school terms and who taught at least half-time throughout the term. The fractional parts may be combined to form one (1) year's credits and all fractions shall be included in the final statement of total credits.

4.6.1. The Board shall give members absent from service for more than one month in a school year a fractional credit for service that year. The numerator of the fraction shall be the number of days paid and the denominator shall be the number of contract days, not to exceed two hundred and forty (240) days, minus twenty (20).

4.6.2. If a member renegotiates his or her contract term during the fiscal year, the Board shall prorate the twenty days referenced in subdivision 4.6.1. of this Rule and apply the prorated days to each contract term.

4.7. When service verification records or other legal documents are not available and the Board has contributions credited to the account of a member for that service, the service may be proven by affidavits from two (2) persons with knowledge of the employment; official minutes; education directories or other records showing proof of employment.

4.8. Public employee service. The Board shall grant prior service credit to a member for service in a position which would not be covered by the Public Employees Retirement System if the service was rendered prior to July 1,1947, and the member never became a member of the Public Employees Retirement System.

4.8.1. In giving credit for service as a public employee, the Board shall consider the service "non-teaching service" as defined in W. Va. Code § 18-7A-1 et seq.

4.8.2. A member shall have completed more than three (3) years of contributory service before any service from another department or agency of West Virginia covered by the Public Employees Retirement System may be transferred to the Teachers' Retirement System.

4.8.3. Members transferring service from another department or agency to the West Virginia Teachers' Retirement System shall make payments for services performed between July 1,1947, and the date the member became a contributing member of the Public Employees Retirement System.

4.8.4. When transferring Public Employees Retirement System service which was performed prior to the establishment of the Public Employees Retirement System and for which salaries are not available, the Board shall charge contributions equal to the maximum contributions in effect at the time the services were performed.

4.9. Credit for military service.

4.9.1. Pursuant to the provisions of W. Va. Code § 18-7A-17a service credit with respect to qualified military service shall be provided by the Board in accordance with Section 414(u) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.

4.9.2. Unless otherwise required by the provisions of W. Va. Code § 18-7A-17a, twenty-eight (28) days in the Armed Services is considered one month of service as a "member".

4.9.3. Not more than one (1) year shall be credited for each year of service in the Armed Forces.

4.9.4. Members who are eligible for fractional credit for military service and for actual teaching within the same fiscal year shall receive credit in the following order of preference:

4.9.4.a. Credit for actual teaching; and

4.9.4.b. Military service credit.

4.9.5. Subject to the provisions of W. Va. Code § 18-7A-17a, military service cannot be duplicated by the Teachers' Retirement System when it has been credited by an out-of-state Teachers' Retirement System or by any of the retirement systems administered by the Board.

4.10. Out-of-state service credit. The Board shall grant out-of-state service credit for service as a teacher performed while in the employment of federal government, or a state or territory of the United States, or a governmental subdivision of that state or territory if the member pays to the Retirement System double the amount he or she contributed during the first full year of current employment performed in West Virginia following the out-of-state service to be purchased, plus interest at a rate to be determined by the Board from the date of the first full year of current employment to the date of payment times the number of years for which credit is granted.

4.10.1. Any out-of-state service that is fully vested, eligible to be fully vested without further service or from which the member is currently receiving benefits is not subject to purchase.

4.11. Individual payments. Unless provided for by specific legislation or prohibited by law, payments, other than loans, due the system may be paid in the following manner:

4.11.1. Payment in full prior to retirement; or

4.11.2. By borrowing from the individual's account. Provided, That any teacher or non-teacher who becomes a member of the Teachers' Retirement System for the first time on or after July 1, 2005, is not eligible to borrow from his or her individual account.

4.12. Conversion of accrued unused sick and annual leave. The Board shall permit conversion of accrued unused sick and annual leave only as follows:

4.12.1. Conversion privilege. The Board shall permit a member, who is a participating employee under the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Act at the time of retirement, to convert accrued unused sick and annual leave, standing to the credit of that member with the member's last employer, to service credit upon the basis permitted by W. Va. Code § 5-16-13(f) and (m).

4.12.2. Calculation of conversion. The conversion of accrued unused sick and annual leave shall be based on the average annual length of a member's actual contract status over the entirety of the member's employment history. The calculation shall treat the accrued unused sick and annual leave as having been accrued equally over the entirety of the member's employment history, and shall be calculated as follows:

4.12.2.a. The number of days of actual accrued unused sick and annual leave shall be multiplied by two;

4.12.2.b. The number of months in each contract period shall be added and the sum thereby obtained divided by the number of contract periods to obtain the average monthly length of each year of employment;

4.12.2.C. The result of the calculation obtained in paragraph 4.12.2.b. of this subdivision shall be multiplied by twenty to obtain the number of average days for each year of employment;

4.12.2.d. The Board shall subtract twenty from the result of the calculation obtained in paragraph 4.12.2.C of this subdivision to adjust for the provisions of W. Va. Code § 18-7A-17; and

4.12.2.e. The result of the calculation obtained in paragraph 4.12.2.a. shall be divided by the result of the calculation obtained in paragraph 4.12.2.d. of this subdivision, which quotient shall be the additional service credit in years to which a member is entitled as a result of the conversion.

W. Va. Code R. § 162-4-4