§88-62  Return to service of a formermember.  (a)  If a former member who has less than five years of creditedservice and who has been out of service for a period of four full calendaryears or more after the year in which the former member left service, or if aformer member who withdrew the former member's accumulated contributionsreturns to service, the former member shall become a member in the same mannerand under the same conditions as anyone first entering service; however, theformer member may obtain membership service credit in the manner provided byapplicable law for credited service that was forfeited by the member upontermination of the member's previous membership.  If the member did notwithdraw the former member's accumulated contributions prior to the formermember's return to service, the accumulated contributions shall be returned tothe member as part of the process of enrolling the member in the system if themember's accumulated contributions are $1,000 or less at the time of distribution. If the accumulated contributions for the service the member had when the memberpreviously terminated employment are greater than $1,000 and the member doesnot make written application, prior to or contemporaneously with the member'sreturn to service, for return of the accumulated contributions, the member maynot withdraw the member's accumulated contributions, except as provided bysection 88-96 or 88-341, until the member retires or attains age sixty-two. The member shall not be entitled to service credit by reason of the system'sretention of the member's accumulated contributions for the service the memberhad when the member previously terminated employment.

To be eligible for any benefit, the membershall fulfill the membership service requirements for the benefit throughmembership service after again becoming a member, in addition to meeting anyother eligibility requirement established for the benefit; provided that themembership service requirement shall be exclusive of any former serviceacquired in accordance with section 88-59 or any other section in part II, VII,or VIII.

(b)  If a former member with less than fiveyears of credited service and who did not withdraw the former member'saccumulated contributions returns to service within four full calendar yearsafter the year in which the former member left service, the former member shallagain become a member in the same manner and under the same conditions asanyone first entering service, except that the member shall be credited withservice credit for the service the member had when the member terminatedemployment and:

(1)  If the member returns to service as a class A orclass B member, the member's new and previous accumulated contributions shallbe combined; or

(2)  If the member returns to service after June 30,2006, as a class H member, section 88-321(b) shall apply.

(c)  If a former member with five or more yearsof credited service who did not withdraw his contributions returns to service,his status shall be in accordance with the provisions described in section88-97. [L 1969, c 110, pt of §1; am L 1982, c 165, §2(13); am L 2006, c 169, §9;am L 2007, c 215, §6]