§5-10-21 Deferred retirement and early retirement. - West Virginia Statutes

§5-10-21. Deferred retirement and early retirement.
(a) Any member who has five or more years of credited service in force, of which at least three years are contributing service, and who leaves the employ of a participating public employer prior to his or her attaining age sixty years for any reason except his or her disability retirement or death, is entitled to an annuity computed according to section twenty-two of this article, as that section was in force as of the date of his or her separation from the employ of a participating public employer: Provided, That he or she does not withdraw his or her accumulated contributions from the members' deposit fund: Provided, however, That on and after the first day of July, two thousand two, any person who becomes a new member of this retirement system shall, in qualifying for retirement under this section, have five or more years of service, all of which years shall be actual, contributory ones. His or her annuity shall begin the first day of the calendar month next following the month in which his or her application for same is filed with the Board of Trustees on or after his or her attaining age sixty-two years.

(b) Any member who qualifies for deferred retirement benefits in accordance with subsection (a) of this section and has ten or more years of credited service in force and who has attained age fifty-five as of the date of his or her separation, may, prior to the effective date of his or her retirement, but not thereafter, elect to receive the actuarial equivalent of his or her deferred retirement annuity as a reduced annuity commencing on the first day of any calendar month between his or her date of separation and his or her attainment of age sixty-two years and payable throughout his or her life.

(c) Any member who qualifies for deferred retirement benefits in accordance with subsection (a) of this section and has twenty or more years of credited service in force may elect to receive the actuarial equivalent of his or her deferred retirement annuity as a reduced annuity commencing on the first day of any calendar month between his or her fifty-fifth birthday and his or her attainment of age sixty-two years and payable throughout his or her life.

(d) Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this section or of this article, except sections twenty-seven-a and twenty-seven-b of this article, and pursuant to rules promulgated by the Board, any member who has thirty or more years of credited service in force, at least three of which are contributing service, and who elects to take early retirement, which for the purposes of this subsection means retirement prior to age sixty, whether an active employee or a separated employee at the time of application, is entitled to the full computation of annuity according to section twenty-two of this article, as that section was in force as of the date of retirement application, but with the reduced actuarial equivalent of the annuity the member would have received if his or her benefit had commenced at age sixty when he or she would have been entitled to full computation of benefit without any reduction.

(e) Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this section or of this article, except sections twenty-seven-a and twenty-seven-b of this article, any member of the retirement system may retire with full pension rights, without reduction of benefits, if he or she is at least fifty-five years of age and the sum of his or her age plus years of contributing service and limited credited service, as defined in section two of this article, equals or exceeds eighty. The member's annuity shall begin the first day of the calendar month immediately following the calendar month in which his or her application for the annuity is filed with the Board.