19-20-409. Transfer of service credits and contributions from public employees' retirement system. (1) An active member may at any time before retirement make a written election with the retirement board to qualify in the teachers' retirement system all of the member's previous creditable service in the public employees' retirement system. The amount that must be paid to the retirement system to qualify this service under this section is the sum of subsections (2) and (3).
     (2) The public employees' retirement system shall transfer to the teachers' retirement system an amount equal to 72% of the amount payable by the member.
     (3) The member shall pay either directly or by transferring contributions on account with the public employees' retirement system an amount equal to the member's accumulated contributions at the time that active membership was terminated, plus accrued interest. Interest must be calculated from the date of termination until payment is received by the retirement system, based on the interest tables in use by the public employees' retirement system.
     (4) A member who qualifies service from the public employees' retirement system in the teachers' retirement system must complete 5 years of membership service in the teachers' retirement system to qualify or purchase military service, out-of-state teaching service, employment while on leave, and private school employment.
     (5) The retirement board shall determine the service credits that may be transferred.
     (6) If an active member who also has creditable service in the public employees' retirement system before becoming a member of the teachers' retirement system dies before qualifying this service in the teachers' retirement system and if the member's service credits from both systems, when combined, entitle the member's beneficiary to a death benefit, the payment of the death benefit is the liability of the teachers' retirement system. Before payment of the death benefit, the public employees' retirement board must transfer to the teachers' retirement system the contributions necessary to qualify this service in the teachers' retirement system as provided in subsections (2) and (3).
     (7) If the retirement board determines that an individual's membership was erroneously classified and reported to the public employees' retirement system, the member's accumulated contributions and service, together with employer contributions plus interest, must be transferred to the teachers' retirement system and any employee and employer contributions due as calculated in 19-20-602 and 19-20-605, respectively, are the liability of the employee and the employing entity where the error occurred. For the period of time that the employer contributions are held by the public employees' retirement system, interest paid on employer contributions transferred under this subsection must be calculated at the short-term investment pool rate earned by the board of investments in the fiscal year preceding the transfer request.

     History: En. Sec. 2, Ch. 290, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 690, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 64, L. 1991; Sec. 19-4-409, MCA 1991; redes. 19-20-409 by Code Commissioner, 1993; amd. Sec. 26, Ch. 412, L. 1995; amd. Sec. 9, Ch. 442, L. 1997.