A. The person must have been an employee of the City at the time he entered the armed forces. Any person who was an employee of the City on or after October 9, 1946, the date of the ordinance, Bill No. 51, and who was an employee of the City prior thereto, may secure credit for time spent in the armed forces, if he pays before the time of his retirement on pension into the pension fund, the amount equal to 3% of his last monthly salary or wage prior to entering active service with the armed services and for each month he was not employed by the City, because of such active duty. Any person now an employee of the City and a contributor to the pension fund and who now enters the armed forces shall have his years of service credited to his retirement, provided he pays 3% of his monthly salary or wages into the pension fund for each month spent in the armed services.
B. Credit for the years of service for military service shall not at any time exceed in the aggregate six years spent by the employee on active duty with the armed forces and subject to a certificate of satisfactory service and payment to the Board of an amount equal to 3% of his monthly wages or salaries, and beginning on January 1, 1960, credit for such years of military service may be purchased by paying the Board the same amount he was contributing at the time he left employ of the City to enter the Armed Forces of the United States, for each month he is not employed by the City because of his active duty with the armed forces.
C. USERRA and HEART requirements. Effective December 12, 1994, any member who is absent on account of qualified military service and returns to City service within the period of time during which his reemployment rights are protected by federal law shall receive service credit, contributions, benefits and other rights provided under this subsection in lieu of the service credit, contributions, benefits or other rights to which the member would otherwise be entitled under this section, except to the extent the member would be entitled to more advantageous service credit, contributions, or benefits or more valuable rights under other provisions of this section. A member described in this subsection shall be credited with years of service for the full period of qualified military service, provided such member pays into the fund an amount equal to the contributions such member would have been required to make but for his absence on account of qualified military service, within the five-year period of time beginning on his reemployment date (or the lesser period of time beginning on such reemployment date that is three times the length of his qualified military service), and the City shall make all contributions that would have been due on account of such member contributions, and the member shall be entitled to all other rights and benefits accruing on account of such contributions and service. For purposes of this subsection, a member shall be treated as having received compensation during his qualified military service based on the rate of compensation the member would have received but for his qualified military service compensation, or if such amount is not reasonably certain, his average compensation during the twelve-month period immediately preceding his qualified military service (or, if shorter, the period of time immediately preceding his qualified military service). This subsection shall be applied in a manner consistent with Section 414(u) of the Code.
(1) Effective January 1, 2007, in the case of a member who dies while performing qualified military service, the member's surviving beneficiary shall be entitled to any additional benefits (other than benefit accruals relating to the period of qualified military service) provided herein as though the member had resumed employment with the City on the day before death and then terminated employment on account of death in accordance with Section 401(a)(37) of the Code.
(2) Effective with respect to years beginning after December 31, 2008, for purposes of applying the limits on annual benefits and contributions and for purposes of applying other applicable provisions of the Code, but not for purposes of determining benefits and contributions, "compensation" shall also include differential wage payments, as defined in Section 3401(h) of the Code, paid by the City to an employee on account of qualified military service.