§51-9-4. Required percentage contributions from salaries; any termination of required contributions prior to actual retirement disallowed; leased employees; military service credit; maximum allowable and qualified military service; qualifiable prosecutorial service.
(a) Every person who is now serving or shall hereafter serve as a judge of any court of record of this state shall pay into the judges' retirement fund six percent of the salary received by such person out of the State Treasury: Provided, That when a judge becomes eligible to receive benefits from such trust fund by actual retirement, no further payment by him or her shall be required, since such employee contribution, in an equal treatment sense, ceases to be required in the other retirement systems of the state, also, only after actual retirement: Provided, however, That on and after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, every person who is then serving or shall thereafter serve as a judge of any court of record in this state shall pay into the judges' retirement fund nine percent of the salary received by that person: Provided further, That consistent with the salary increase granted to judges of courts of record during the two thousand five regular legislative session and to changes effectuated in judicial retirement by provisions enacted during the third extraordinary legislative session of two thousand five, on and after the first day of July, two thousand five, every person who is then serving or shall thereafter serve as a judge of any court of record in this state shall pay into the judges' retirement fund ten and one-half percent of the salary received by that person. Any prior occurrence or practice to the contrary, in any way allowing discontinuance of required employee contributions prior to actual retirement under this retirement system, is rejected as erroneous and contrary to legislative intent and as violative of required equal treatment and is hereby nullified and discontinued fully, with the State Auditor to require such contribution in every instance hereafter, except where no contributions are required to be made under any of the provisions of this article.

(b) An individual who is a leased employee shall not be eligible to participate in the system. For purposes of this system, a "leased employee" means any individual who performs services as an independent contractor or pursuant to an agreement with an employee leasing organization or other similar organization. If a question arises regarding the status of an individual as a leased employee, the Board has the final power to decide the question.

(c) In drawing warrants for the salary checks of judges, the State Auditor shall deduct from the amount of each such salary check six percent thereof, which amount so deducted shall be credited by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board to the trust fund: Provided, That on or after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, the amount so deducted and credited shall be nine percent of each such salary check: Provided, however, That consistent with the salary increase granted to judges of courts of record during the two thousand five regular legislative session and to changes effectuated in judicial retirement by provisions enacted during the third extraordinary legislative session of two thousand five, on or after the first day of July, two thousand five, the amount so deducted and credited shall be ten and one-half percent of each such salary check.

(d) Any judge seeking to qualify military service to be claimed as credited service, in allowable aggregate maximum amount up to five years, shall be entitled to be awarded the same without any required payment in respect thereof to the judges' retirement fund.

(e) Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this section, contributions, benefits and service credit with respect to qualified military service shall be provided in accordance with Section 414(u) of the Internal Revenue Code. For purposes of this section, "qualified military service" has the same meaning as in Section 414(u) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Retirement Board is authorized to determine all questions and make all decisions relating to this section and may promulgate rules relating to contributions, benefits and service credit pursuant to the authority granted to the Retirement Board in section one, article ten-d, chapter five of this code to comply with Section 414(u) of the Internal Revenue Code.

(f) Any judge holding office as such on the effective date of the amendments to this article adopted by the Legislature at its regular session in the year one thousand nine hundred eighty-seven who seeks to qualify service as a prosecuting attorney as credited service, which service credit must have been earned prior to the year one thousand nine hundred eighty-seven, shall be required to pay into the judges' retirement fund nine percent of the annual salary which was actually received by such person as prosecuting attorney during the time such prosecutorial service was rendered prior to the year one thousand nine hundred eighty-seven and for which credited service is being sought, together with applicable interest. No judge whose term of office shall commence after the effective date of such amendments to this article shall be eligible to claim any credit for service rendered as a prosecuting attorney as eligible service for retirement benefits under this article, nor shall any time served as a prosecutor after the year one thousand nine hundred eighty-eight be considered as eligible service for any purposes of this article.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2012 1st Special Session