SECTIONS 28000-28006 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 28000-28006

28000. (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares its intent to
preserve and protect the rights of reemployed participants who have
been absent from a position of employment covered by the Cash Balance
Benefit Program to serve in the uniformed services of the United
States of America in accordance with the Uniformed Services
Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (Chapter 43
(commencing with Section 4301) of Title 38 of the United States
Code).
(b) The plan shall comply with Chapter 43 (commencing with Section
4301) of Title 38 of the United States Code, as that chapter may be
amended from time to time.
(c) The term "service in the uniformed services" means the
performance of duty on a voluntary or involuntary basis in a
uniformed service under competent authority and includes active duty,
active duty for training, initial active duty for training, inactive
duty training, and a period for which a participant is absent from a
position of employment for the purpose of an examination to
determine the fitness of the participant to perform any such duty.
(d) The term "uniformed services" means the Armed Forces of the
United States of America, the Army National Guard and the Air
National Guard when engaged in active duty for training, inactive
duty training, or full-time National Guard duty, the commissioned
corps of the Public Health Service, and any other category of persons
designated by the President in time of war or emergency.
(e) No entitlement of the right to contribute toward credits under
the Cash Balance Benefit Program pursuant to this chapter by the
participant as a result of service in the uniformed services shall
accrue if the participant does not return to employment with the same
employer or employers which employed the participant immediately
prior to the eligible period of service in the uniformed services as
prescribed in Chapter 43 (commencing with Section 4301) of Title 38
of the United States Code.

28001. (a) The participant who returns to employment with the same
employer which had employed the participant immediately prior to the
eligible period of service in the uniformed services, in accordance
with the requirements of Chapter 43 (commencing with Section 4301) of
Title 38 of the United States Code, shall be treated as not having
incurred a break in the performance of creditable service by reason
of that participant's period or periods of service in the uniformed
services. The length of each period of service in the uniformed
services shall not exceed five years unless otherwise permitted
pursuant to Section 28004. Each period of service in the uniformed
services by the participant shall, upon that participant's return to
employment with the same employer or employers which had employed the
participant immediately prior to the eligible period of service in
the uniformed services, constitute employment toward the performance
of creditable service provided that participant elects to remit the
employee contributions that would have been made during the period of
service in the uniformed services. The remittance of employee
contributions shall be calculated pursuant to Sections 26501 and
28003. In no event shall that remittance exceed the amount the
participant would have been required to contribute during that period
of performance of creditable service had the participant remained
continuously employed by the last employer and not served in the
uniformed services throughout that period.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 26506, remittance of employee
contributions in accordance with subdivision (a) shall be made by the
employer pursuant to Section 26502 upon the employer's receipt of
written consent of the participant specifying a schedule of
repayments. That remittance shall commence during the period
beginning with the date of return to employment and may continue for
three times the period of the participant's eligible period of
service in the uniformed services, not to exceed five years. The plan'
s receipt of the remittance payments to the plan with respect to the
Cash Balance Benefit Program shall be credited pursuant to Chapter 7
of this part. Interest on the payments of remitted employee
contributions made for the period of service in the uniformed
services shall not be credited in the participant's account until
after such payments are received and only prospectively to the
participant's account in accordance with Section 26604. Upon receipt
of the remittance payments to the plan, the payments shall be subject
to the same terms and conditions under the program as if the
payments had been employee contributions made by the participant had
the participant not served for a period in the uniformed services. In
no event shall the current year contributions and contributions made
for purposes of purchasing service exceed the maximum exclusion
allowance as set forth in the Internal Revenue Code.

28002. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), an employer
reemploying a participant with service subject to the requirements of
Chapter 43 (commencing with Section 4301) of Title 38 of the United
States Code, shall be liable to remit the employer contributions
provided that employer employed the participant immediately prior to
the eligible period of service in the uniformed services. That
remittance shall exclude interest and the contribution rate by the
employer shall be to the same extent as that for contributions to the
Cash Balance Benefit Program for other employees during the same
period. The employer shall, within 30 days of the date of
reemployment, provide information as required by the board, on a form
provided by the system, notifying the system of reemployment.
Following receipt of that notice, the system shall calculate in
accordance with Section 28003 the total amount of employer
contributions due for the participant for the full period of service
in the uniformed services. Within 60 working days of notification by
the plan of amount due, the employer shall remit to the plan all
employer contributions.
(b) The employer shall not be liable for employer contributions
for the period of service in the uniformed services if the
participant elects not to remit the employee contributions for that
period through the employer as required under Section 28001. In the
event the participant does not remit all of the employee
contributions within the prescribed repayment period, the total
amount of the employer contributions shall remain with the plan and
credited to the participant's employer account with respect to the
Cash Balance Benefit Program.

28003. For purposes of calculating the employer's liability under
Section 28002 or the required employee contributions under Section
28001, the participant's salary during that period shall be computed
as follows:
(a) The salary the participant would have received with the
employer for the eligible period of service in the uniformed
services.
(b) In the event that salary is not reasonably certain, the
contributions shall be based on the participant's average salary with
the employer during the 12-month period immediately preceding the
eligible period of service in the uniformed services or, if shorter,
the contributions shall be based on the participant's average salary
for the period of employment immediately preceding that period.

28004. A participant who is absent from a position of employment
subject to the Cash Balance Benefit Program due to that participant's
service in the uniformed services, shall not be entitled to obtain
the right to contribute toward credits under the plan in excess of
five years of service in the uniformed services, except for the
following reasons:
(a) The participant is required to serve beyond five years to
complete an initial period of obligated service in the uniformed
services;
(b) The participant was unable to obtain orders releasing the
participant from a period of service in the uniformed services before
the expiration of the five-year period and that inability was
through no fault of the participant;
(c) The participant served in the uniformed services as required
pursuant to Section 270 of Title 10, under Section 502(a) or 503 of
Title 32 of the United States Code, or to fulfill additional training
requirements determined and certified in writing by the Secretary of
Defense, to be necessary for professional development, or for
completion of skill training or retraining; or
(d) The participant is:
(1) Ordered to or retained on active duty under Section 672(a),
672(g), 673, 673b, 673c, or 688 of Title 10 or under Section 331,
332, 359, 360, 367, or 712 of Title 14 of the United States Code.
(2) Ordered to or retained on active duty, other than for
training, under any provision of law during a war or during a
national emergency declared by the President or the Congress.
(3) Ordered to active duty, other than for training, in support,
as determined by the secretary concerned, of an operational mission
for which personnel have been ordered to active duty under Section
673b of Title 10 of the United States Code.
(4) Ordered to active duty in support, as determined by the
secretary concerned, of a critical mission or requirement of the
uniformed services.
(5) Called into federal service as a participant of the National
Guard under Chapter 15 of Title 10 or under Section 3500 or 8500 of
Title 10 of the United States Code.

28005. A participant's entitlement to the right to contribute
toward credits under the Cash Balance Benefit Program pursuant to
this chapter by reason of the service in the uniformed services
terminates upon the occurrence of any of the following events:
(a) A separation of the participant from the uniformed service
with a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge.
(b) A separation of the participant from the uniformed service
under other than honorable conditions, as characterized pursuant to
regulations prescribed by the secretary concerned.
(c) A dismissal of the participant permitted under Section 1161(a)
of Title 10 of the United States Code.
(d) A dropping of the participant from the rolls pursuant to
Section 1161(b) of Title 10 of the United States Code.

28006. No provision of this chapter shall apply to the extent it
would require any action to be taken that would cause the plan or its
members to incur adverse tax consequences under the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 (Title 26 of the United States Code).