KRS 61.680: Consent of employees to deductions -- Consolidation for

determination of eligibility and determination of benefits -- Waiver --

Choice among retirement systems -- Reciprocal arrangements.

(1) Prior to August 1, 1982, every employee shall be deemed to consent and

agree to any deduction from his or her compensation required by KRS 6.500 to

6.535, 16.505 to 16.652, 61.510 to 61.692, 78.510 to 78.852, and to all other

provisions thereof. Thereafter, employee contributions shall be picked up by

the employer pursuant to KRS 61.560(4).

(2) (a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of KRS 6.500 to 6.535, 16.505 to

16.652, 61.510 to 61.692, 78.510 to 78.852 and 161.220 to 161.714:

1. Upon death, disability, or service retirement, a member's accounts

under the Legislators' Retirement Plan, State Police Retirement

System, Kentucky Employees Retirement System, County

Employees Retirement System, and Teachers' Retirement System,

except for service prohibited by KRS 161.623(2), shall be

consolidated for the purpose of determining eligibility and amount of

benefits, including those members who participate in the hybrid cash

balance plan within the Kentucky Employees Retirement System,

the County Employees Retirement System, and the State Police

Retirement System, on or after January 1, 2014, and regardless of

the transition of administration of the County Employees Retirement

System to the County Employees Retirement System board of

trustees;

2. Vested service credit in a retirement system, other than the

Teachers' Retirement System, sponsored by a Kentucky institution

of higher education and accepted by the Kentucky Employees

Retirement System or the County Employees Retirement System,

may be used to determine eligibility for twenty-seven (27) year

retirement for an employee who begins participating before

September 1, 2008, but not the amount of benefits;

3. The computation of benefits shall be based on the applicable

formula in each system and service credit in each system, but the

final compensation, excluding compensation earned under KRS

161.155(10), shall be determined as if all service were in one (1)

system;

4. If the member has prior service in more than one (1) system

administered by Kentucky Retirement Systems, he or she shall

obtain at least twelve (12) months' current service in each system in

which he or she has prior service in order to validate the prior

service in each system for purposes of determining consolidated

benefits under this subsection; and

5. Upon the determination of benefits, each system shall pay the

applicable amount of benefits due the member.

(b) The provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be waived if the

member:

1. Notifies the system of his or her desire to maintain separate

retirement accounts in the State Police Retirement System,

Kentucky Employees Retirement System, or County Employees

Retirement System; or

2. Fails to simultaneously retire from all state-administered retirement

systems in which the member has an account or fails to retire from

any other systems not administered by Kentucky Retirement

Systems within one (1) month of the member's effective retirement

date in the systems administered by Kentucky Retirement Systems.

(c) If the member has not contributed at least one (1) year in a system in

which he or she has prior service, his or her current service in the system

shall be valid for purposes of determining eligibility and in computation of

benefits on a consolidated basis.

(3) (a) A member with service credit in the Kentucky Employees Retirement

System, State Police Retirement System, or the County Employees

Retirement System who becomes the holder of an office entitling him or

her to membership in the Judicial Retirement Plan or the Legislators'

Retirement Plan, but who does not elect within thirty (30) days after taking

office in such service to participate in the plan, in accordance with KRS

6.505 or 21.360, shall be deemed to have elected to retain membership in

the system in which he or she is a member, either the Kentucky

Employees Retirement System, State Police Retirement System, or the

County Employees Retirement System. In that event, the agency

employing the member shall withhold employee contributions, or

picked-up employee contributions after August 2, 1982, make employer

contributions and remit these contributions to the system in which the

member retained his or her membership.

(b) Any person entitled to membership in the Judicial Retirement Plan or the

Legislators' Retirement Plan, who does not elect within thirty (30) days

after taking office to participate in the plan, in accordance with KRS 6.505

or 21.360, and who at the time of taking office is not a contributing

member of, or does not have service credit in, any of the retirement

systems mentioned in this section, or the Teachers' Retirement System,

shall participate in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System.

(c) A member of one (1) of the state-administered retirement plans who

ceases to contribute to the plan as provided in KRS 21.360 and who is

employed in a nonelected position by an agency participating in the

Kentucky Retirement Systems or Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System

shall be deemed to have elected membership in the system in which the

employer of the nonelected position participates. A member of one (1) of

the state-administered retirement plans who ceases to contribute to the

plan as provided in KRS 21.360 and who is not employed in a nonelected

position by an agency participating in the Kentucky Retirement Systems

shall be deemed to have elected membership in the Kentucky Employees

Retirement System.

(4) (a) Prior to July 1, 1976, a person entering the service of an employer

participating in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System or the

County Employees Retirement System with service credit in the

Teachers' Retirement System and who desires to retain membership in

the Teachers' Retirement System, and who is permitted by that system to

continue, shall be exempt from participating in the Kentucky Employees

Retirement System or the County Employees Retirement System.

(b) Any person who has elected to retain membership in the Teachers'

Retirement System as provided in paragraph (a) of this subsection may

cancel his or her election and participate in the system under which his or

her position would normally participate, if he or she elects to cancel his or

her option prior to January 1, 1977.

(c) Any member of the General Assembly who upon election is a contributing

member of the Teachers' Retirement System and who does not elect

within thirty (30) days after taking office to participate in the Legislators'

Retirement Plan, in accordance with KRS 6.505, shall during his or her

term of office participate in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System

unless an election to retain membership in the Teachers' Retirement

System is filed in writing within ninety (90) days after his or her term of

office begins. No contributions may be made to the Teachers' Retirement

System for the same period of service under the Legislators' Retirement

Plan or the Kentucky Employees Retirement System as a member of the

General Assembly, but contributions made to the Teachers' Retirement

System while a member of the General Assembly shall be transferred to

the Legislators' Retirement Plan, as provided for in KRS 6.535, when the

member elects to join the Legislators' Retirement Plan, and service credit

in the Legislators' Retirement Plan shall be granted as provided for in

KRS 6.505(5).

(5) Any member of the Kentucky Employees Retirement System or County

Employees Retirement System who is working in a position covered by one (1)

of these retirement systems and his or her employee contributions, service

credit and employer contributions made on his or her behalf are being

transferred to the other retirement system shall contribute to the system in

which his or her employer participates, or after August 1, 1982, the employer

shall pick up the employee contributions, and no further contributions or service

credit shall be transferred to the system in which he or she elected to retain

membership, as subsection (2) of this section eliminates the necessity of the

transfers.

(6) (a) Except as provided by KRS 61.545(3)(b)2., any member of the Kentucky

Employees Retirement System or County Employees Retirement System

who is working in more than one (1) position covered by the same

retirement system, shall have his or her wages and contributions

consolidated and his or her retirement account administered as a single

account. If part-time positions are involved, an accumulation of all hours

worked within the same retirement system shall be used to determine

eligibility under KRS 61.510(21).

(b) The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to an individual serving

as a volunteer who is receiving compensation from the employer equal to

or less than a nominal fee as defined by KRS 61.510 and 78.510 if the

compensation paid to the volunteer is excluded from the definition of

creditable compensation as provided by KRS 61.510(13) or 78.510(13).

(7) (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, a person

who does not have the amount of service required for service retirement

in the State Police Retirement System, Kentucky Employees Retirement

System, County Employees Retirement System, Legislators' Retirement

Plan, or Teachers' Retirement System, but who is a member of one (1) of

the systems or is a former member of one (1) or more of the systems with

valid service credit therein, shall become eligible for service retirement

benefits attributable to the amount of his or her actual service credit in

each system in which he or she has service credit when his or her

combined service credit in all the systems, plus any service credit he or

she has in the Judicial Retirement Plan, is equal to that required for

service retirement in each respective system. The computation of benefits

shall be based on the applicable formula in each system and service

credit in each system, except that total service in all systems, unless

prohibited by KRS 161.623(2), shall be used to determine the reduction

for early retirement, if any. Except as provided in KRS 21.360, the final

compensation shall be determined by using the creditable compensation

reported to the State Police Retirement System, Kentucky Employees

Retirement System, County Employees Retirement System, Legislators'

Retirement Plan, or Teachers' Retirement System and only as much of

the compensation earned in the Judicial Retirement Plan as is needed to

satisfy the final compensation requirement applicable in the respective

retirement systems.

(b) Paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be waived if the member fails to

simultaneously retire from all state-administered retirement systems in

which the member has an account or fails to retire from any other

systems not administered by Kentucky Retirement Systems within one (1)

month of the member's effective retirement date in the systems

administered by the Kentucky Retirement Systems.

(8) Each retirement system from which the member retires shall pay a retirement

allowance upon receipt of required forms and documents, except that no

retirement system shall pay a retirement allowance or annuity until all forms

and documents are filed at all retirement systems in compliance with each

system's requirements.