§ 9-3-402 — Definitions

(a) As used in this article:
(i) "Account" or "member account" means:
(A) For a member who has a minimum of four (4)
years of service or a member initially employed before July 1,
2018, the member's contributions, the member's contributions
paid by an employer under W.S. 9-3-412 and 9-3-413.1 and any
amounts transferred to the system from a terminated system on
behalf of the member, plus interest compounded annually at a
rate determined by the board not to exceed the average annual
investment yield earned on the assets of the system, subject to
subparagraph (C) of this paragraph;
(B) For a member who has fewer than four (4)
years of service and who is initially employed on or after July
1, 2018, only the member contributions paid by a reduction in
cash salary of the member together with the interest on those
contributions, subject to subparagraph (C) of this paragraph;
(C) Commencing July 1, 2019 for a member who has
fewer than four (4) years of service, no interest shall accrue
to the member account during any period in which the member is
not employed by a participating employer.
(ii) Repealed by Laws 1994, ch. 67, § 3.
(iii) "Actuarial equivalent amount" means a benefit
of equal value computed upon the basis of the actuarial
assumptions determined by the board;
(iv) "Board" or "retirement board" means the
retirement board of the Wyoming retirement system established by
this article;
(v) "Disability" means the mental or physical
incapacitation of any member including:
(A) "Total disability" which is a disability
condition that renders a member unable to engage in any
occupation for which he is reasonably suited by training or
experience and which is reasonably expected to last at least
twelve (12) months; and
(B) "Partial disability" which is a disability
condition that renders a member unable to perform the occupation
for which he is reasonably suited by training and experience but
still allows him to function in other employment and which is
reasonably expected to last at least twelve (12) months.
(vi) "Employer" or "participating employer" means:
(A) The state of Wyoming and any department,
board, commission or other agency or instrumentality of the
state;
(B) Any county, county memorial hospital,
special hospital district, city or town or legally constituted
department designated to the board by the appropriate governing
body as an employer under this article;
(C) Any municipal corporation;
(D) Any school district;
(E) The Wyoming School Activities Association;
(F) The Wyoming Education Association;
(G) The Wyoming School Boards' Association;
(H) The Wyoming Public Employees' Association;
(J) Repealed by Laws 1994, ch. 67, § 3.
(K) Repealed by Laws 1994, ch. 67, § 3.
(M) The Wyoming County Commissioners'
Association;
(N) The Wyoming Association of Municipalities;
(O) Any senior citizen center within the state;
(P) Community-based mental health, substance
abuse, developmental disabilities, family violence and sexual
assault programs which receive state support and which operate
under standards established by the division of community
programs [department of health] pursuant to W.S. 9-2-102, those
programs and facilities serving youth certified by the
department of family services pursuant to W.S. 9-2-2101 and
those programs and facilities serving individuals in need of
vocational rehabilitation as certified by the division of
vocational rehabilitation pursuant to W.S. 9-2-109;
(Q) The legislative service office;
(R) The state judicial branch;
(S) Any community college;
(T) The University of Wyoming;
(U) Any special district; and
(W) Any other political subdivision of the state
or local government or any organization or entity which by
virtue of its organization or purpose is considered by the board
to be a governmental entity and receives a major portion of its
funding from taxing authority delegated by law, from federal,
state or local government or from an agency or political
subdivision of state or local government.
(vii) "Member" means and includes any full-time or
regular part-time employee of an employer, including substitute
teachers if treated by the employer as regular, part-time
employees and including law enforcement officers and firefighter
members, but "member" does not mean:
(A) An employee who is compensated:
(I) As an independent contractor; or
(II) On a fee basis.
(B) An employee who is reimbursed on a per diem
basis;
(C) An employee whose term of employment is on a
temporary basis for less than six (6) months;
(D) Repealed by Laws 2015, ch. 10, § 2.
(E) Members of any state board or commission not
otherwise employed by the state who elect in writing not to
become a member of the system under rules adopted by the board;
(F) Employees covered by other retirement plans
of the state or a political subdivision of the state, including:
(I) The supreme court and district court
justices' pension plan, and employees covered under the judicial
retirement act under W.S. 9-3-701 through 9-3-713;
(II) Police pension plans;
(III) Repealed By Laws 2008, Ch. 45, § 2.
(IV) The paid firemen pension plans;
(V) The Wyoming state highway patrol, game
and fish warden and criminal investigator retirement program.
(G) Members of the legislature;
(H) Students employed by the University of
Wyoming, community colleges or school districts;
(J) Employees of the agricultural extension
service of the University of Wyoming who hold a federal civil
service appointment and are required to participate in the
federal civil service retirement program;
(K) An employee of the University of Wyoming or
a community college who earns no more than five thousand five
hundred dollars ($5,500.00) per year for part-time teaching and
has elected in writing not to participate in the system under
rules adopted by the board;
(M) An at-will contract employee under W.S. 9-2-
3207(a)(xi)(F), unless specifically authorized by the contract
pursuant to W.S. 9-2-3207(a)(xi)(F)(III) or (IV);
(N) An elected member of a county, municipal or
school district commission, council or board, if:
(I) The commission, council or board on
which the elected member serves participates in the system;
(II) The elected member is otherwise
employed by an entity participating in the system; and
(III) The elected member elects in writing
at the beginning of the member's service on the commission,
council or board not to become a member of the system, for
purposes of his service as an elected official, under rules
adopted by the board. An election pursuant to this subdivision
is irrevocable during the remainder of the member's service on
the commission, council or board.
(viii) Repealed by Laws 1994, ch. 67, § 3.
(ix) "Prior creditable service" means service credit
earned by a member prior to April 1, 1953 in one (1) of the
terminated systems and for which necessary employer and employee
contributions were transferred to the retirement system;
(x) "Employee" means an employee of a participating
employer as defined by this article;
(A) Repealed by Laws 1994, ch. 67, § 3.
(B) Repealed by Laws 1994, ch. 67, § 3.
(C) Repealed by Laws 1994, ch. 67, § 3.
(D) Repealed by Laws 1994, ch. 67, § 3.
(E) Repealed by Laws 1994, ch. 67, § 3.
(F) Repealed by Laws 1994, ch. 67, § 3.
(G) Repealed by Laws 1994, ch. 67, § 3.
(H) Repealed by Laws 1994, ch. 67, § 3.
(xi) Repealed by Laws 1994, ch. 67, § 3.
(xii) "Interest" means interest compounded annually
at the rate or rates determined by the board, not exceeding the
average amount of interest actually earned per annum by the
account;
(xiii) "Retire", "retired" or "retirement" means the
termination of a member's working career for a salary as an
employee and the fulfillment of the requirements for eligibility
to receive either a retirement or a disability benefit under
this article;
(xiv) "Retirement benefit" or "benefit" means a sum
of money paid monthly in accordance with this article to a
member who has retired;
(xv) "Retirement system" means the Wyoming retirement
system created by this article;
(xvi) "Salary" means the cash remuneration paid to a
member in a calendar year, including employee contributions
required by W.S. 9-3-412 and 9-3-413.1 and including member
contributions paid by the employer under a salary reduction
arrangement under W.S. 9-3-412(c) and 9-3-413.1(b). "Salary"
taken into account for a member shall not exceed the amount
specified under section 401(a)(17) of the United States Internal
Revenue Code;
(xvii) "Terminated system" or repeal acts in the case
of a teacher means the Wyoming teacher retirement system
provided by Chapter 159, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1951, and in
the case of a state employee means the state employees'
retirement association provided by Chapter 42, Session Laws of
Wyoming, 1949, as amended by Chapter 140, Session Laws of
Wyoming, 1951;
(xviii) "Law enforcement officer" or "officer" means
any member who is a county sheriff, deputy county sheriff,
municipal police officer, duly authorized investigator of the
Wyoming livestock board meeting the specifications of W.S. 7-2-
101(a)(iv)(E), duly authorized personnel of the Wyoming gaming
commission meeting the specifications of W.S. 7-2-101(a)(iv)(P),
investigator employed by the Wyoming state board of outfitters
and professional guides meeting the specifications of W.S. 7-2-
101(a)(iv)(J), Wyoming correctional officer, probation and
parole agent employed by the Wyoming department of corrections,
Wyoming law enforcement academy instructor, full-time state park
ranger, University of Wyoming campus police officer, community
college police officer, detention officer or dispatcher for law
enforcement agencies;
(xix) "Highest average salary" means:
(A) For members not subject to subparagraph (B)
of this paragraph, the average annual salary of a member for the
highest paid three (3) continuous years of service;
(B) For a general member initially employed
after August 31, 2012 the average annual salary of the member
for the highest paid five (5) continuous years of service.
(xx) "General member" means a member who is not a law
enforcement officer or a firefighter member;
(xxi) "Service credit" means the credit earned by a
member for eligibility for benefits and benefits payable under
the system. Service credit is earned on the basis of actual
years of employment for an employer as a member under rules
adopted by the board under W.S. 9-3-417;
(xxii) "System" means the Wyoming retirement system
created by this article;
(xxiii) "Year of service" means a twelve (12) month
period of employment with an employer as a member;
(xxiv) "Retirement account" means the account
established under this article;
(xxv) "Firefighter member" means any employee of a
Wyoming national guard fire department crash and rescue unit
employed on a full-time basis for firefighting and rescue
operations within the department;
(xxvi) "Duty connected" means an illness, injury or
disability from an injury or disease which results primarily
from a specific act or occurrence determinable by a definite
time and place, from a physical or mental trauma which arises
from the nature and in the course of a person's law enforcement
employment;
(xxvii) "Eligible retirement plan" means:
(A) An annuity contract described in section
403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code;
(B) An eligible plan under section 457(b) of the
Internal Revenue Code which is maintained by a state, political
subdivision of a state, or any agency or instrumentality of a
state or political subdivision of a state;
(C) An individual retirement account or annuity
described in section 408(a) or 408(b) of the Internal Revenue
Code that is eligible to be rolled over and would otherwise be
includible in gross income; or
(D) A qualified plan described in section 401(a)
or 403(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.
(xxviii) "Rollover contribution" means the transfer
of funds from an eligible retirement plan, in an amount eligible
to be rolled over to a qualified trust in accordance with
applicable law and for which the member provides evidence
satisfactory to the system that such amount qualifies for
rollover treatment;
(xxix) "General member initially employed after
August 31, 2012" means a general member, other than a member
meeting the provisions of subparagraph (B) of this paragraph,
who:
(A) Becomes an employee for whom contributions
are made for service performed on or after September 1, 2012
and:
(I) Was not previously a contributing
member; or
(II) Was previously a contributing member
who withdrew his accumulated contributions and did not redeposit
those contributions before September 1, 2012; or
(III) Was previously a contributing member
who left service with less than four (4) years service credit,
without withdrawing his accumulated contributions, and returned
to service on or after September 1, 2012.
(B) A member who was deployed to active military
or other emergency service of the United States and who was
previously employed by a participating employer prior to
September 1, 2012 and withdrew his accumulated contributions,
shall not be deemed to be a member initially employed after
August 31, 2012 due to the provisions of subdivision (A)(II) of
this paragraph, if the withdrawal was in accordance with
provisions of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment
Rights Act, 38 U.S.C. 4301 et seq., and board rules adopted to
meet the requirements of that act.