§ 36-9-42. Rhode Island economic development corporation — Transferred employees.
(a) Definitions. For the purposes of this section:
(1) "Economic development corporation� means the Rhode Island economic development corporation,
a governmental agency and public instrumentality of the state of Rhode Island.
(2) "Employee contribution accumulation� means an amount equal to the total member contributions
of the transferred employees which were picked up and paid by the economic development
corporation to the trust maintained by the economic development corporation to receive
the contributions during the interim period plus actual earnings on those contributions.
The employee contribution accumulation attributable to each transferred employee shall
be treated as the employee's accumulated contributions for purposes of chapter 9 and
10 of this title.
(3) "Employer contribution accumulation� means an amount equal to the required contributions
applicable to the interim period.
(4) "Interim period� means the period from the transfer date to the date that the requirement
of subsection (c) is satisfied.
(5) "Required contribution� means the amount or amounts required to be contributed to
the retirement system by the economic development corporation in addition to the member
contributions of the transferred employees in order to fund the benefits attributable
to the transferred employees earned after the transfer date in accordance with the
provisions of this section. The amount of the economic development corporation's required
contribution for any relevant period following the transfer date shall be an amount
determined by multiplying the rate percent established in accordance with § 36-10-2 for the period by the compensation paid by the economic development corporation to
the transferred employees during such period. The economic development corporation
shall make its required contribution, other than the required contribution for the
interim period, in bi-weekly installments, each to be made within three (3) business
days following the pay day. The required contribution applicable to the interim period
shall be made in accordance with the provisions of subsection (c) of this section.
(6) "Transfer date� means the effective date of this article.
(7) "Transferred employee� means any individual who was an employee of the department
of economic development of the state of Rhode Island on the date immediately preceding
the transfer date and was an active member of the retirement system on the date immediately
preceding the transfer date and who became an employee of the economic development
corporation on the transfer date.
(b) Subject to subsections (c), (d), and (e) of this section, the period of service of
any transferred employee with the economic development corporation after the transfer
date shall be treated as service as an employee of the state of Rhode Island for purposes
of Chapters 8, 9, and 10 of this title.
(c) The provisions of subsection (b) of this section shall not apply unless within ninety
(90) days following the date of enactment of this section, the economic development
corporation transfers or causes to have transferred from a trustee or other custodian
to the retirement system, an amount equal to the sum of the employee contribution
accumulation and the employer contribution accumulation.
(d) Notwithstanding the foregoing, any individual who is a transferred employee shall
not be considered an employee of the state of Rhode Island under subsection (b) for
any period of employment during which he or she elects to participate in any other
retirement income benefit funded by the economic development corporation under a retirement
plan sponsored by the economic development corporation and intended to qualify under
§ 401(a)(4), 26 U.S.C. 401(a)(4), of the United States Internal Revenue Code.
(e) Provided the requirement of subsection (c) of this section is satisfied:
(1) Any retirement or death benefit provided to or on behalf of a transferred employee
during the interim period by the economic development corporation, or a trust established
and maintained by the economic corporation shall be considered provided by the retirement
system and the amount of benefit paid by the economic development corporation or the
trustee shall reduce the amount required to be transferred to the retirement system
under subsection (c) of this section.
(2) Subsection (b) shall continue to apply after the date of transfer specified in subsection
(c) with respect to the period for which the economic development corporation thereafter
makes its required contribution to the retirement system. In the event that the economic
development corporation ceases to make its required contribution, the transferred
employees shall be considered inactive members of the retirement system as of the
date of cessation.
(3) The member contributions of the transferred employees shall be considered picked up
and paid by the economic development corporation to the retirement system after the
interim period pursuant to the provisions of § 414(h)(2), 26 U.S.C. 414(H)(2), of the United States Internal Revenue Code. The contributions so picked up shall
be treated as employer contributions in determining the tax treatment under the United
States Internal Revenue Code and shall not be included as gross income of the transferred
employee until such time as they are distributed.
(4) All transferred employees who are contributing members of the employees retirement
system shall continue as members unless they elect to cease contributions as of October
31, 1995. Any transferred employee who has contributed for at least ten (10) years
may elect to participate in an alternative retirement program and still maintain vested
rights to a pension within the employees retirement system. All transferred employees
shall have ninety (90) days to make their election to participate in an alternative
retirement program.