Senate Bill No. 282
(By Senator Anderson)
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[Introduced February 1, 1996; referred to the Committee
on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article five, chapter
five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact
section twenty-two, article ten of said chapter, all
relating to the West Virginia public employees
retirement act; retirement annuity; providing various
options for members in calculating the method of payment
of the retirement annuity and lump sum payments of
unused annual leave and sick leave; and eliminating
obsolete language.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article five, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section twenty-two,
article ten of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 5. SALARY INCREASE FOR STATE EMPLOYEES.
§5-5-3. Optional payment to employee in lump sum amount for
accrued and unused annual leave at termination of
employment; no withholding of any employee
contribution deduction; exception.
Every eligible employee, as defined in section one of this
article, at the time his or her active employment ends due to
resignation, death, retirement or otherwise, may be paid in a
lump sum amount, at his or her option, for accrued and unused
annual leave at the employee's usual rate of pay at such time.
The lump sum payment shall be made by the time of what would have
been the employee's next regular payday had his or her employment
continued. In determining the amount of annual leave
entitlement, weekends, holidays or other periods of normal,
noncountable time shall be excluded, and no deductions may be
made for contributions toward retirement from lump sum payments
for unused, accrued annual leave, since no period of service
credit is granted in relation thereto; however, such lump sum payment may not be a part of final average salary computation;
and where any such deduction of employee contribution may have
been heretofore made, a refund of such shall be granted the
former employee and made by the head of the respective former
employer spending unit: Provided, That the superintendent of the
department of public safety West Virginia state police shall make
deductions for retirement contributions of members of the
department, since retirement benefits are based on cumulative
earnings rather than period of service.
An employee, at the time of retirement, may choose to
postpone the election of the use of annual and sick leave until
a future date. Once an election is made relating to the use of
sick and annual leave, it will be effective from the date of
election and may not be used to create retroactive benefits. A
beneficiary may select this option in the event of the death of
the employee before an election is otherwise made. An employee,
at the time of retirement, may choose to use the annual and sick
leave to add tenure or purchase health insurance coverage or
split and use as a combination.
ARTICLE 10. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT.
§5-10-22. Retirement annuity.
Upon a member's retirement, as provided in this article, he
or she shall receive a straight life annuity equal to one and
five-tenths percent of his or her final average salary multiplied
by the number of years, and fraction of a year, of his or her
credited service in force at the time of his or her retirement:
Provided, That after March one, one thousand nine hundred
seventy, all members retired and all members retiring shall
receive a straight life annuity equal to two percent of his or
her final average salary multiplied by the number of years, and
fraction of a year, of his or her credited service in force at
the time of his or her retirement: Provided, however, That after
the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six, all
members retiring with a minimum of thirty years of contributing
service shall receive a straight life annuity equal to two and
two-tenths percent of his or her final average salary multiplied
by the number of years, and fraction of a year, of his or her
credited service in force at the time of his or her retirement;
all members retiring with a minimum of thirty-five years of
contributing service shall receive a straight life annuity equal
to two and five-tenths percent of his or her final average salary
multiplied by the number of years, and fraction of a year, of his or her credited service in force at the time of his or her
retirement; and, all members retiring with a minimum of forty
years of contributing service shall receive a straight life
annuity equal to two and eight-tenths percent of his or her final
average salary multiplied by the number of years, and fraction of
a year, of his or her credited service in force at the time of
his or her retirement. In either event, upon his retirement he
or she shall have the right to elect an option provided for in
section twenty-four of this article. All annuity payments shall
commence effective the first of the month following the month in
which a member retires or a member dies leaving a beneficiary
entitled to benefits and shall continue to the end of the month
in which said retirant or beneficiary dies, and said annuity
payments shall not be prorated for any portion of a month in
which a member retires or retirant or beneficiary dies.
The annuity of any member of the Legislature who
participates in the retirement system as a member of the
Legislature and who retires under this article or of any former
member of the Legislature who has retired under this article
(including any former member of the Legislature who has retired
under this article and whose annuity was readjusted as of March one, one thousand nine hundred seventy, under the former
provisions of this section) shall be increased from time to time
during the period of his retirement when and if the legislative
compensation paid under section two, article two-a, chapter four
of this code to a member of the Legislature shall be increased to
the point where a higher annuity would be payable to the retirant
if he were retiring as of the effective date of the latest
increase in such legislative compensation, but one the basis of
his years of credited service to the date of his actual
retirement.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide certain
options for retired or retiring members of the Public Employees
Retirement System relating to the multiplier used to determine
the retirement annuity. It also gives retirees options to
receive lump sums for accrued annual and sick leave, or have
payment of those sums postponed to a date determined by the
retiree. The bill deletes language declared void in Campbell v.
Kelly, 157 W. Va. 453(1974).
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.