§18-7A-26. Computation of annuities.
(a) Annuitants whose annuities were approved by the retirement board effective before July 1, 1980, shall be paid the annuities which were approved by the retirement board.
(b) Annuities approved by the board effective after June 30, 1980, shall be computed as provided in this section.
(c) Upon establishment of eligibility for a retirement allowance, a member shall be granted an annuity which shall be the sum of the following, subject to reduction if necessary to comply with the maximum benefit provisions of Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code and section twenty-eight-a of this article:
(1) Two percent of the member's average salary multiplied by his or her total service credit as a teacher. In this subdivision "average salary" means the average of the highest annual salaries received by the member during any five years contained within his or her last fifteen years of total service credit: Provided, That the highest annual salary used in this calculation for certain members employed by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission under its control shall be $4,800, as provided by section fourteen-a of this article;
(2) The actuarial equivalent of the voluntary deposits of the member in his or her individual account up to the time of his or her retirement, with regular interest.
(d) The disability annuities of all teachers retired for disability shall be based upon a disability table prepared by a competent actuary approved by the board.
(e) Upon the death of an annuitant who qualified for an annuity as the surviving spouse of an active member or because of permanent disability, the estate of the deceased or beneficiary designated for such purpose shall be paid the difference, if any, between the member's contributions with regular interest thereon, and the sum of the annuity payments. Upon the death of a spouse who was named as the member's survivor, a retirant may elect an annuity option approved by the board in an amount adjusted on a fair basis to be of equal actuarial value as the annuity prospectively in effect relative to the surviving member at the time the new option is elected.
(f) All annuities shall be paid in twelve monthly payments. In computing the monthly payments, fractions of a cent shall be considered a cent. The monthly payments shall cease with the payment for the month within which the beneficiary dies, and shall begin with the payment for the month succeeding the month within which the annuitant became eligible under this article for the annuity granted; in no case, however, shall an annuitant receive more than four monthly payments which are retroactive after the board receives his or her application for annuity. The monthly payments shall be made on the twenty-fifth day of each month, except the month of December, when the payment shall be made on December 18. If the date of payment falls on a holiday, Saturday or Sunday, then the payment shall be made on the preceding workday.
(g) In case the retirement board receives data affecting the approved annuity of a retired teacher, the annuity shall be changed in accordance with the data, the change being effective with the payment for the month within which the board received the new data.
(h) Any person who has attained the age of sixty-five and who has served at least twenty-five years as a teacher prior to July 1, 1941, is eligible for prior service credit and for prior service pensions as prescribed in this section.
Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2012 1st Special Session