(a) Except as provided otherwise in (c) through (f), if any officer or employee, who while employed by the city, entered or enters any armed service of the United States for active duty, active duty for training or inactive duty for training, the member shall have the service credited as city service, provided that:
(1) The employee is reemployed by the city within one year from and after the date of termination of the armed service actually required;
(2) The employee returns to the employee's accumulated contributions account the amount, if any, withdrawn therefrom at the time of entry or while in the armed service, together with regular interest from the date of withdrawal to the date of repayment; and
(3) In no case shall more than five years of city service be credited any member for all armed service rendered, unless the employee is unable to obtain a release from military service.
(b) In case of doubt as to the period to be so credited a member the board shall have final power to determine the period consistent with applicable federal statutes relating to military obligations. During the period of the armed service and until reemployment by the city, the member's contributions to the retirement system shall be suspended and any balance standing to the member's credit in the accumulated contributions account shall be accumulated at regular interest.
(c) Effective with respect to deaths occurring on or after January 1, 2007, while a member is performing qualified military service (as defined in chapter 43 of title 38, United States Code), to the extent required by § 401(a)(37) of the Internal Revenue Code, survivors of a member, are entitled to any additional benefits that the retirement system would provide if the member had resumed employment and then died, such as accelerated vesting or survivor benefits that are contingent on the member's death while employed. In any event, a deceased member's period of qualified military service must be counted for vesting purposes.
(d) Effective with respect to deaths and/or disabilities occurring on or after January 1, 2007, while a member is performing qualified military service (as defined in chapter 43 of title 38, United States Code), to the extent permitted by § 414(u)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code, for benefit accrual purposes and in the case of death, for vesting purposes, the member shall be treated as having earned years of service for the period of qualified military service, having returned to employment on the day before the death and/or disability, and then having terminated on the date of death or disability. This provision shall be applied to all similarly situated individuals in a reasonably equivalent manner.
(e) Beginning January 1, 2009, to the extent required by § 414(u)(12) of the Internal Revenue Code, an individual receiving differential wage payments (as defined under § 3401(h)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code) from an employer shall be treated as employed by that employer, and the differential wage payment shall be treated as compensation for purposes of applying the limits on annual additions under § 415(c) of the Internal Revenue Code. This provision shall be applied to all similarly situated individuals in a reasonably equivalent manner.
(f) Effective December 12, 1994, notwithstanding any other provision of the retirement system law, contributions, benefits and service credit with respect to qualified military service are governed by §414(u) of the Internal Revenue Code and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.
(1957 Rev. Ords., § 2.513; 1992 Code, § 35-21) (Ord. 34-91, passed 4-8-1991; Ord. 5-05, passed 1-10-2005; Ord. 118-16, passed 12-20-2016)