3309.35 Coordinating and integrating membership in state retirement systems. - Ohio Statutes

3309.35 Coordinating and integrating membership in state retirement systems.

(A) As used in this section:

(1) “State retirement system” means the public employees retirement system, state teachers retirement system, or school employees retirement system.

(2) “Total service credit” means all service credit earned in all state retirement systems, except credit for service subject to section 3309.341 of the Revised Code. Total service credit shall not exceed one year of credit for any twelve-month period.

(3) In addition to the meaning given in division (O) of section 3309.01 of the Revised Code, “disability benefit” means “disability benefit” as defined in sections 145.01 and 3307.01 of the Revised Code.

(B) To coordinate and integrate membership in the state retirement systems, at the option of a member, total contributions and service credit in all state retirement systems, including amounts paid to restore service credit under sections 145.311, 3307.711, and 3309.261 of the Revised Code, shall be used in determining the eligibility and total retirement or disability benefit payable. When total contributions and service credit are so combined, the following provisions apply:

(1) Service and commuted service retirement or a disability benefit is effective no sooner than the first day of the month next following the last day of employment for which compensation was paid. If the application is filed after that date, the board may retire the member on the first day of the month next following the last day of employment for which compensation was paid.

(2) In determining eligibility for a disability benefit, the medical examiner’s report to the retirement board of any state retirement system, showing that the member’s disability incapacitates the member for the performance of duty, may be accepted by the state retirement boards as sufficient for granting a disability benefit.

(3) The state retirement system in which the member had the greatest service credit, without adjustment, shall determine and pay the total retirement or disability benefit. Where the member’s credit is equal in two or more state retirement systems, the system having the largest total contributions of the member shall determine and pay the total benefit.

(4) In determining the total credit to be used in calculating a retirement allowance or disability benefit, credit shall not be reduced below that certified by the system or systems transferring credit, except that such total combined service credit shall not exceed one year of credit for any one “year” as defined in the law of the system making the calculation.

(5) The state retirement system determining and paying a retirement or disability benefit shall receive from the other system or systems the member’s refundable account at retirement or the effective date of a disability benefit plus an amount from the employers’ trust fund equal to the member’s refundable account less the interest credited under section 145.471, 145.472, or 3307.563 of the Revised Code. If applicable, the retirement system determining and paying the benefit shall receive from the public employees retirement system a portion of the amount paid on behalf of the member by an employer under section 145.483 of the Revised Code. The portion shall equal the product obtained by multiplying by two the amount the member would have contributed during the period the employer failed to deduct contributions, as described in section 145.483 of the Revised Code.

(a) The annuity rates and mortality tables of the state retirement system making the calculation and paying the benefit shall be exclusively applicable.

(b) Deposits made for the purchase of an additional annuity, and including guaranteed interest, upon the request of the member, shall be transferred to the state retirement system paying the retirement or disability benefit. The return upon such deposits shall be that offered by the state retirement system making the calculation and paying the retirement or disability benefit.

(C) A former member receiving a retirement or disability benefit under this section, who accepts employment amenable to coverage in any state retirement system that participated in the member’s combined benefit, shall be subject to the applicable provisions of law governing such re-employment. If a former member should be paid any amount in a retirement allowance, to which the former member is not entitled under the applicable provisions of law governing such re-employment, such amount shall be recovered by the state retirement system paying such allowance by utilizing any recovery procedure available under the code provisions of the state retirement system covering such re-employment.

(D) An SERS retirant or other system retirant, as defined in section 3309.341 of the Revised Code, is not eligible to receive any benefit under this section for service subject to section 3309.341 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 04-01-2001