§ 3-110 — Creditable service

(a) "Creditable service" is the time served by a police officer as a member of a regularly constituted police force of a municipality. In computing creditable service furloughs without pay exceeding 30 days shall not be counted, but all leaves of absence for illness or accident, regardless of length, and all periods of disability retirement for which a police officer has received no disability pension payments under this Article shall be counted. (a-5) Up to 3 years of time during which the police officer receives a disability pension under Section 3-114.1, 3-114.2, 3-114.3, or 3-114.6 shall be counted as creditable service, provided that (i) the police officer returns to active service after the disability for a period at least equal to the period for which credit is to be established and (ii) the police officer makes contributions to the fund based on the rates specified in Section 3-125.1 and the salary upon which the disability pension is based. These contributions may be paid at any time prior to the commencement of a retirement pension. The police officer may, but need not, elect to have the contributions deducted from the disability pension or to pay them in installments on a schedule approved by the board. If not deducted from the disability pension, the contributions shall include interest at the rate of 6% per year, compounded annually, from the date for which service credit is being established to the date of payment. If contributions are paid under this subsection (a-5) in excess of those needed to establish the credit, the excess shall be refunded. This subsection (a-5) applies to persons receiving a disability pension under Section 3-114.1, 3-114.2, 3-114.3, or 3-114.6 on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 91st General Assembly, as well as persons who begin to receive such a disability pension after that date. (b) Creditable service includes all periods of service in the military, naval or air forces of the United States entered upon while an active police officer of a municipality, provided that upon applying for a permanent pension, and in accordance with the rules of the board, the police officer pays into the fund the amount the officer would have contributed if he or she had been a regular contributor during such period, to the extent that the municipality which the police officer served has not made such contributions in the officer's behalf. The total amount of such creditable service shall not exceed 5 years, except that any police officer who on July 1, 1973 had more than 5 years of such creditable service shall receive the total amount thereof. (b-5) Creditable service includes all periods of service in the military, naval, or air forces of the United States entered upon before beginning service as an active police officer of a municipality, provided that, in accordance with the rules of the board, the police officer pays into the fund the amount the police officer would have contributed if he or she had been a regular contributor during such period, plus an amount determined by the Board to be equal to the municipality's normal cost of the benefit, plus interest at the actuarially assumed rate calculated from the date the employee last became a police officer under this Article. The total amount of such creditable service shall not exceed 2 years. (c) Creditable service also includes service rendered by a police officer while on leave of absence from a police department to serve as an executive of an organization whose membership consists of members of a police department, subject to the following conditions: (i) the police officer is a participant of a fund established under this Article with at least 10 years of service as a police officer; (ii) the police officer received no credit for such service under any other retirement system, pension fund, or annuity and benefit fund included in this Code; (iii) pursuant to the rules of the board the police officer pays to the fund the amount he or she would have contributed had the officer been an active member of the police department; (iv) the organization pays a contribution equal to the municipality's normal cost for that period of service; and (v) for all leaves of absence under this subsection (c), including those beginning before the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, the police officer continues to remain in sworn status, subject to the professional standards of the public employer or those terms established in statute. (d)(1) Creditable service also includes periods of service originally established in another police pension fund under this Article or in the Fund established under Article 7 of this Code for which (i) the contributions have been transferred under Section 3-110.7 or Section 7-139.9 and (ii) any additional contribution required under paragraph (2) of this subsection has been paid in full in accordance with the requirements of this subsection (d). (2) If the board of the pension fund to which creditable service and related contributions are transferred under Section 7-139.9 determines that the amount transferred is less than the true cost to the pension fund of allowing that creditable service to be established, then in order to establish that creditable service the police officer must pay to the pension fund, within the payment period specified in paragraph (3) of this subsection, an additional contribution equal to the difference, as determined by the board in accordance with the rules and procedures adopted under paragraph (6) of this subsection. If the board of the pension fund to which creditable service and related contributions are transferred under Section 3-110.7 determines that the amount transferred is less than the true cost to the pension fund of allowing that creditable service to be established, then the police officer may elect (A) to establish that creditable service by paying to the pension fund, within the payment period specified in paragraph (3) of this subsection (d), an additional contribution equal to the difference, as determined by the board in accordance with the rules and procedures adopted under paragraph (6) of this subsection (d) or (B) to have his or her creditable service reduced by an amount equal to the difference between the amount transferred under Section 3-110.7 and the true cost to the pension fund of allowing that creditable service to be established, as determined by the board in accordance with the rules and procedures adopted under paragraph (6) of this subsection (d). (3) Except as provided in paragraph (4), the additional contribution that is required or elected under paragraph (2) of this subsection (d) must be paid to the board (i) within 5 years from the date of the transfer of contributions under Section 3-110.7 or 7-139.9 and (ii) before the police officer terminates service with the fund. The additional contribution may be paid in a lump sum or in accordance with a schedule of installment payments authorized by the board. (4) If the police officer dies in service before payment in full has been made and before the expiration of the 5-year payment period, the surviving spouse of the officer may elect to pay the unpaid amount on the officer's behalf within 6 months after the date of death, in which case the creditable service shall be granted as though the deceased police officer had paid the remaining balance on the day before the date of death. (5) If the additional contribution that is required or elected under paragraph (2) of this subsection (d) is not paid in full within the required time, the creditable service shall not be granted and the police officer (or the officer's surviving spouse or estate) shall be entitled to receive a refund of (i) any partial payment of the additional contribution that has been made by the police officer and (ii) those portions of the amounts transferred under subdivision (a)(1) of Section 3-110.7 or subdivisions (a)(1) and (a)(3) of Section 7-139.9 that represent employee contributions paid by the police officer (but not the accumulated interest on those contributions) and interest paid by the police officer to the prior pension fund in order to reinstate service terminated by acceptance of a refund. At the time of paying a refund under this item (5), the pension fund shall also repay to the pension fund from which the contributions were transferred under Section 3-110.7 or 7-139.9 the amount originally transferred under subdivision (a)(2) of that Section, plus interest at the rate of 6% per year, compounded annually, from the date of the original transfer to the date of repayment. Amounts repaid to the Article 7 fund under this provision shall be credited to the appropriate municipality. Transferred credit that is not granted due to failure to pay the additional contribution within the required time is lost; it may not be transferred to another pension fund and may not be reinstated in the pension fund from which it was transferred. (6) The Public Pension Division of the Department of Insurance shall establish by rule the manner of making the calculation required under paragraph (2) of this subsection, taking into account the appropriate actuarial assumptions; the police officer's service, age, and salary history; the level of funding of the pension fund to which the credits are being transferred; and any other factors that the Division determines to be relevant. The rules may require that all calculations made under paragraph (2) be reported to the Division by the board performing the calculation, together with documentation of the creditable service to be transferred, the amounts of contributions and interest to be transferred, the manner in which the calculation was performed, the numbers relied upon in making the calculation, the results of the calculation, and any other information the Division may deem useful. (e)(1) Creditable service also includes periods of service originally established in the Fund established under Article 7 of this Code for which the contributions have been transferred under Section 7-139.11. (2) If the board of the pension fund to which creditable service and related contributions are transferred under Section 7-139.11 determines that the amount transferred is less than the true cost to the pension fund of allowing that creditable service to be established, then the amount of creditable service the police officer may establish under this subsection (e) shall be reduced by an amount equal to the difference, as determined by the board in accordance with the rules and procedures adopted under paragraph (3) of this subsection. (3) The Public Pension Division of the Department of Insurance shall establish by rule the manner of making the calculation required under paragraph (2) of this subsection, taking into account the appropriate actuarial assumptions; the police officer's service, age, and salary history; the level of funding of the pension fund to which the credits are being transferred; and any other factors that the Division determines to be relevant. The rules may require that all calculations made under paragraph (2) be reported to the Division by the board performing the calculation, together with documentation of the creditable service to be transferred, the amounts of contributions and interest to be transferred, the manner in which the calculation was performed, the numbers relied upon in making the calculation, the results of the calculation, and any other information the Division may deem useful. (4) Until January 1, 2010, a police officer who transferred service from the Fund established under Article 7 of this Code under the provisions of Public Act 94-356 may establish additional credit, but only for the amount of the service credit reduction in that transfer, as calculated under paragraph (3) of this subsection (e). This credit may be established upon payment by the police officer of an amount to be determined by the board, equal to (1) the amount that would have been contributed as employee and employer contributions had all of the service been as an employee under this Article, plus interest thereon at the rate of 6% per year, compounded annually from the date of service to the date of transfer, less (2) the total amount transferred from the Article 7 Fund, plus (3) interest on the difference at the rate of 6% per year, compounded annually, from the date of the transfer to the date of payment. The additional service credit is allowed under this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly notwithstanding the provisions of Article 7 terminating all transferred credits on the date of transfer.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 103-426, eff. 8-4-23.)