§ 522 — Transfer of contributions between retirement systems

§ 522. Transfer of contributions between retirement systems. 1. Any\ncontributor, withdrawing from the retirement system and at such time\ngiving notice to the retirement board of his intention of becoming\nwithin two years a member of another teachers' retirement system which\nis being operated on an actuarial basis either under the laws of this\nstate or under the laws of another state, provided the system has a\nprovision similar to this provision permitting reciprocal transfer, may,\nupon depositing within two years his accumulated contributions in such\nother retirement system or if the member had no accumulated\ncontributions credited to his individual account in the retirement\nsystem, upon joining such other retirement system within two years,\napply to the retirement board for a transfer from the pension\naccumulation fund to the corresponding fund of such other retirement\nsystem of the amount of his pension reserve as of the time when he\nwithdrew his contributions from the annuity savings fund or filed a\nnotice of withdrawal with the system, and the retirement board shall\ntransfer to such other retirement system the amount of such reserve,\nprovided that, if such other retirement system is not under the laws of\nthis state, credit for a pension benefit of equivalent actuarial value\nto the amount of reserve transferred shall be given the teacher in the\nother retirement system and that the retirement board is satisfied that\nthe retirement system to which said transfer is made is on a solvent\nbasis.\n 2. Any contributor entering the retirement system after having\nwithdrawn from another retirement system and having given notice at the\ntime of withdrawal to the retirement board of such system of his or her\nintention of becoming a member of the retirement system, may deposit in\nthe annuity savings fund the amount of his or her accumulated\ncontributions withdrawn from such other retirement system or if the\nmember had no accumulated contributions credited to his or her\nindividual account in such other retirement system, such member shall in\nlieu of depositing moneys in the annuity savings fund, file a notice of\nintent to transfer pursuant to rules and regulations adopted by the\nretirement board. Upon the filing of a notice of intent to transfer as\nprovided by this subdivision, the pension reserve to his or her credit\nin such other retirement system, if such other retirement system is\noperated upon an actuarial basis under the laws of this state, shall be\ntransferred, and if such other system is operated upon an actuarial\nbasis under the laws of another state, may be transferred to the pension\naccumulation fund. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this\narticle, such contributor shall be classified in this retirement system\nas a present teacher or as a new entrant accordingly as he or she would\nhave been classified had the service rendered in the other retirement\nsystem been rendered while a member of this retirement system. A person\nso transferred to this retirement system or who has heretofore\ntransferred to this retirement system shall be deemed to have been a\nmember of this retirement system during the entire period of membership\nservice credited to him or her in the system from which he or she has\ntransferred. Such transferee, however, shall not receive more than three\nper cent interest on his or her contributions and accumulated\ncontributions unless he or she has continuously been a member in either\nthe system from which he or she has transferred or in this retirement\nsystem since a date prior to the first day of July, nineteen hundred\nforty-eight. This shall not be construed to prevent a change in the\ninterest rate to such member if the interest rate payable to other\nmembers of this retirement system is changed. In case he or she comes\nfrom a retirement system not under the laws of this state, he or she\nshall be given a prior service certificate showing a period of service\nsuch that the liability incurred by the retirement system on his or her\naccount by reason of prior service shall be equal in amount to the\namount of the reserve so transferred, provided that in no case shall\nsuch a contributor who is classified as a new entrant be given less\ncredit in his or her prior service certificate than he or she would have\nreceived had no reserve been transferred on his or her account. In case\na contributor transfers between retirement systems under the laws of\nthis state, he or she shall be credited in the system to which he or she\nis transferring with all service allowed to him or her in the first\nsystem. Such contributor, notwithstanding any other provision of law,\nshall on retirement be entitled to a pension based on salary earned\nduring member service in both retirement systems together, pursuant to\nthe statutory requirements of the second retirement system.\n 3. Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, a former member of\nthe New York city teachers' retirement system who holds membership in\nthe New York state teachers' retirement system on the effective date of\nthis act and who would have been entitled to transfer service credit to\nsuch latter retirement system pursuant to this section had his\nmembership in the former retirement system not terminated, due to no\nnegligence on the part of the member, may have his transfer rights under\nthis section restored by depositing, within one year of the effective\ndate of this act, in the former retirement system an amount equal to the\ncontributions withdrawn from such system with regular interest thereon.\n 4. In the case of a member of the New York city teachers' retirement\nsystem with a membership date prior to July twenty-seventh, nineteen\nhundred seventy-six and not less than twenty years of credited service\nin that system who has transferred his/her membership to the system\npursuant to this section or section forty-three of the retirement and\nsocial security law, as applicable and is a member of the system on or\nafter July first, nineteen hundred ninety-eight, the actuary shall\ncompute the actuarial accrued liability for the member's pension under\nsubdivision five of section five hundred thirty-five of this article\nimmediately following transfer as if such member had always been a\nmember of the system, using the service credited to such member which\nwas transferred to the system, the member's salary in connection with\nsuch service and the actuarial assumptions used to compute pension\nreserves pursuant to subdivision one of this section. If the sum of the\nreserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any, and the pension reserve\nreceived by the system from the New York city teachers' retirement\nsystem in respect of such member exceeds such accrued liability as\ndetermined by the actuary, such excess shall be allocated as of the date\nof the receipt of such reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to the\nannuity savings fund for the benefit of such member and shall be treated\nas if it had been contributed to such fund by the member, provided,\nhowever, that, in no event, may the amount so allocated to the annuity\nsavings fund as provided herein exceed the amount of such\nreserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any, actually received from the\nNew York city teachers' retirement system. In the case of any member\nretiring prior to July first, two thousand one, any accumulated\ncontributions to the credit of such member in the annuity savings fund\nas of the member's date of retirement resulting from a determination of\nthe actuary pursuant to this subdivision shall be paid to the retiree in\na lump sum with interest at the rate of five per centum per annum from\nthe date of retirement to the date of payment. The retirement board is\nauthorized to promulgate such rules and regulations as it may deem\nnecessary or appropriate to implement this subdivision.\n 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, except\nfor the purposes of providing the benefits, if any, of subdivision four\nof this section, with respect to transfers pursuant to this section\nwhich occur on or after the effective date of the chapter of the laws of\ntwo thousand twenty-three that amended this subdivision, no transfer of\na pension reserve pursuant to subdivision one or two of this section\nshall be required when the member is transferring from a public\nretirement system of the state with less than ten years of credited\nservice with the transferring retirement system at the time the transfer\nis initiated. With respect to transfers pursuant to subdivision one or\ntwo of this section which occur on or after the effective date of the\nchapter of the laws of two thousand twenty-three that amended this\nsubdivision, the transfer of a pension reserve shall be required when\nthe member is transferring ten or more years of credited service from a\npublic retirement system of the state to any other public retirement\nsystem of the state, excluding any transfers within and between the New\nYork city employees' retirement system, the New York city teachers'\nretirement system and the New York city board of education retirement\nsystem. For the purpose of giving the transferring member such status\nand crediting such service in the retirement system to which the member\nis transferring as such member was allowed in the retirement system from\nwhich the member has transferred, the transfer shall be deemed complete\nupon receipt by the transferee retirement system of (a) a statement from\nthe transferor retirement system of the transferring member's date of\nmembership in the transferor retirement system, tier status, service\ncredited to the transferred membership, and such other information as\nthe transferee retirement system may require to effectuate the transfer,\n(b) such member's accumulated contributions from the transferor\nretirement system, if same had not been previously withdrawn, or notice\nfrom the transferor retirement system that such member had no\naccumulated contributions, or notice from the transferor retirement\nsystem that such member's accumulated contributions had been withdrawn\nand the amount thereof and, as applicable, receipt from such member of\nsuch member's accumulated contributions and interest, and (c) the\npension reserve in the case of a member who transfers in ten or more\nyears of credited service, except when transferring within and between\nthe New York city employees' retirement system, the New York city\nteachers' retirement system and the New York city board of education\nretirement system.\n