61.680 Consent of employees to deductions -- Consolidation for determination of eligibility and determination of benefits -- Waiver -- Choice among retirement systems -- Reciprocal arrangements.

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61.680 Consent of employees to deductions -- Consolidation for determination of eligibility and determination of benefits -- Waiver -- Choice among retirement systems -- Reciprocal arrangements. (1) Prior to August 1, 1982, every employee shall be deemed to consent and agree to any deduction from his compensation required by KRS 6.500 to 6.535, 16.505 to 16.652, 61.510 to 61.692, 78.510 to 78.852, and to all other provisions thereof. Thereafter, employee contributions shall be picked up by the employer pursuant to KRS 61.560(4). (2) (a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of KRS 6.500 to 6.535, 16.505 to 16.652, 61.510 to 61.692, 78.510 to 78.852 and 161.220 to 161.714, upon death, disability, or service retirement, a member's accounts under the Legislators' Retirement Plan, State Police Retirement System, Kentucky Employees Retirement System, County Employees Retirement System, and Teachers' Retirement System, except for service prohibited by KRS 161.623(2), shall be consolidated for the purpose of determining eligibility and amount of benefits. Vested service credit in a retirement system, other than the Teachers' Retirement System, sponsored by a Kentucky institution of higher education and accepted by the Kentucky Employees Retirement System or the County Employees Retirement System, may be used to determine eligibility for twenty-seven (27) year retirement for an employee who begins participating before September 1, 2008, but not the amount of benefits. The computation of benefits shall be based on the applicable formula in each system and service credit in each system, but the final compensation, excluding compensation earned under KRS 161.155(10), shall be determined as if all service were in one (1) system. If the member has prior service in more than one (1) system, he shall obtain at least twelve (12) months' current service in each system in which he has prior service in order to validate the prior service in each system for purposes of determining consolidated benefits under this section. Upon the determination of benefits, each system shall pay the applicable percentage of total benefits. (b) The provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be waived if the member notifies the system of his desire to maintain separate retirement accounts in the State Police Retirement System, Kentucky Employees Retirement System, or County Employees Retirement System. (c) If the member has not contributed at least one (1) year in a system in which he has prior service, his current service in the system shall be valid for purposes of determining eligibility and in computation of benefits on a consolidated basis. (3) A member with service credit in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System, State Police Retirement System, or the County Employees Retirement System who becomes the holder of an office entitling him to membership in the Judicial Retirement Plan or the Legislators' Retirement Plan, but who does not elect within thirty (30) days after taking office in such service to participate in the plan, in accordance with KRS 6.505 or 21.360, shall be deemed to have elected to retain membership in the system in which he is a member, either the Kentucky Employees Retirement System, State Police Retirement System, or the County Employees Retirement System. In that event, the agency employing the member shall withhold employee contributions, or picked-up employee contributions after August 2, 1982, make employer contributions and remit these contributions to the system in which the member retained his membership. Any person entitled to membership in the Judicial Retirement Plan or the Legislators' Retirement Plan, who does not elect within thirty (30) days after taking office to participate in the plan, in accordance with KRS 6.505 or 21.360, and who at the time of taking office is not a contributing member of, or does not have service credit in, any of the retirement systems mentioned in this section, or the Teachers' Retirement System, shall participate in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System. A member of one (1) of the state- administered retirement plans who ceases to contribute to the plan as provided in KRS 21.360 and who is employed in a nonelected position by an agency participating in the Kentucky Retirement Systems or Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System shall be deemed to have elected membership in the system in which the employer of the nonelected position participates. A member of one (1) of the state-administered retirement plans who ceases to contribute to the plan as provided in KRS 21.360 and who is not employed in a nonelected position by an agency participating in the Kentucky Retirement Systems shall be deemed to have elected membership in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System. (4) (a) Prior to July 1, 1976, a person entering the service of an employer participating in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System or the County Employees Retirement System with service credit in the Teachers' Retirement System and who desires to retain membership in the Teachers' Retirement System, and who is permitted by that system to continue, shall be exempt from participating in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System or the County Employees Retirement System. (b) Any person who has elected to retain membership in the Teachers' Retirement System as provided in paragraph (a) of this subsection may cancel his election and participate in the system under which his position would normally participate, if he elects to cancel his option prior to January 1, 1977. (c) Any member of the General Assembly who upon election is a contributing member of the Teachers' Retirement System and who does not elect within thirty (30) days after taking office to participate in the Legislators' Retirement Plan, in accordance with KRS 6.505, shall during his term of office participate in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System unless an election to retain membership in the Teachers' Retirement System is filed in writing within ninety (90) days after his term of office begins. No contributions may be made to the Teachers' Retirement System for the same period of service under the Legislators' Retirement Plan or the Kentucky Employees Retirement System as a member of the General Assembly, but contributions made to the Teachers' Retirement System while a member of the General Assembly shall be transferred to the Legislators' Retirement Plan, as provided for in KRS 6.535, when the member elects to join the Legislators' Retirement Plan, and service credit in the Legislators' Retirement Plan shall be granted as provided for in KRS 6.505(5). (5) Effective July 1, 1974, any member of the Kentucky Employees Retirement System or County Employees Retirement System who is working in a position covered by one (1) of these retirement systems and his employee contributions, service credit and employer contributions made on his behalf are being transferred to the other retirement system shall contribute to the system in which his employer participates, or after August 1, 1982, the employer shall pick up the employee contributions, and no further contributions or service credit shall be transferred to the system in which he elected to retain membership, as subsection (2) of this section eliminates the necessity of the transfers. (6) Any member of the Kentucky Employees Retirement System or County Employees Retirement System who is working in more than one (1) position covered by the same retirement system, shall have his wages and contributions consolidated and his retirement account administered as a single account. If part-time positions are involved, an accumulation of all hours worked within the same retirement system shall be used to determine eligibility under KRS 61.510(21). (7) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, a person who does not have the amount of service required for service retirement in the State Police Retirement System, Kentucky Employees Retirement System, County Employees Retirement System, Legislators' Retirement Plan, or Teachers' Retirement System, but who is a member of one (1) of the systems or is a former member of one (1) or more of the systems with valid service credit therein, shall become eligible for service retirement benefits attributable to the amount of his actual service credit in each system in which he has service credit when his combined service credit in all the systems, plus any service credit he has in the Judicial Retirement Plan, is equal to that required for service retirement in each respective system. The computation of benefits shall be based on the applicable formula in each system and service credit in each system, except that total service in all systems, unless prohibited by KRS 161.623(2), shall be used to determine the reduction for early retirement, if any. Except as provided in KRS 21.360, the final compensation shall be determined by using the creditable compensation reported to the State Police Retirement System, Kentucky Employees Retirement System, County Employees Retirement System, Legislators' Retirement Plan, or Teachers' Retirement System and only as much of the compensation earned in the Judicial Retirement Plan as is needed to satisfy the final compensation requirement applicable in the respective retirement systems. (8) Each retirement system from which the member retires shall pay a retirement allowance upon receipt of required forms and documents, except that no retirement system shall pay a retirement allowance or annuity until all forms and documents are filed at all retirement systems in compliance with each system's requirements. Effective: June 27, 2008 History: Amended 2008 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 22, effective June 27, 2008. -- Amended 2008 Ky. Acts ch. 78, sec. 1, effective July 1, 2008. -- Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 52, sec. 5, effective July 12, 2006. -- Amended 2005 Ky. Acts ch. 86, sec. 9, effective June 20, 2005. -- Amended 2002 Ky. Acts ch. 52, sec. 13, effective July 15, 2002. -- Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 385, sec. 25, effective July 14, 2000. -- Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 105, sec. 19, effective July 15, 1998. -- Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 240, sec. 46, effective July 14, 1992. -- Amended 1988 Ky. Acts ch. 351, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1988. -- Amended 1984 Ky. Acts ch. 111, sec. 42, effective July 13, 1984. -- Amended 1982 Ky. Acts ch. 166, sec. 8, effective July 15, 1982; ch. 326, sec. 15, effective July 1, 1982; and ch. 458, sec. 3, effective April 15, 1982. -- Amended 1980 Ky. Acts ch. 186, sec. 15, effective July 15, 1980; and ch. 188, sec. 19, effective July 15, 1980. -- Amended 1976 Ky. Acts ch. 321, secs. 30 and 40. -- Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 128, sec. 29. -- Amended 1972 Ky. Acts ch. 116, sec. 56. -- Amended 1964 Ky. Acts ch. 86, sec. 7. -- Amended 1960 Ky. Acts ch. 165, Part II, sec. 16. -- Created 1956 Ky. Acts ch. 110, sec. 35.