N.Y. Retirement & Social Security Law § 331: Participation by public or quasi-public organizations

§ 331. Participation by public or quasi-public organizations. a. Any

public or quasi-public organization which heretofore joined the New York

state and local employees' retirement system, on behalf of its police

officers and firefighters, shall on and after April first, nineteen

hundred sixty-seven, participate, on behalf of such police officers and

firefighters, in the police and fire retirement system pursuant to the

provisions of this article.

b. On and after April first, nineteen hundred sixty-seven, any public

or quasi-public organization created wholly or partly or deriving its

powers by the legislature of the state and which organization employs

police officers and firefighters engaged in service to the public, by

resolution legally adopted by its governing body and approved by the

comptroller, may elect to have its police officers and firefighters

become eligible to participate in the New York state and local police

and fire retirement system. Acceptance of the officers and employees of

such an employer for membership in the New York state and local police

and fire retirement system shall be optional with the comptroller. If he

or she shall approve their participation, such organization, except as

specifically provided in this article to the contrary, shall thereafter

be treated as a participating employer. Notwithstanding the foregoing

provisions of this subdivision, The Long Island Rail Road Company, upon

its election filed with the comptroller, shall participate in the New

York state and local police and fire retirement system with respect to

LIRR police officers as defined in paragraph two of subdivision a of

section three hundred eighty-nine of this article who are referred to in

paragraph three of subdivision b or in paragraph one of subdivision c of

section three hundred forty of this article, their benefits to be as

provided in or pursuant to such section three hundred eighty-nine,

provided that such election may only be made subsequent to the latest

date of the enactment of federal legislation or receipt of assurance or

relief from the relevant federal agency or agencies for all of the

following: removal of such LIRR police officers from coverage under the

Federal Employers' Liability Act and the federal Railway Labor Act,

removal of such LIRR police officers from coverage under the federal

Railroad Retirement Act and the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance

Act and exemption for such LIRR police officers and The Long Island

Railroad Company from liability either for taxes under the federal

Railroad Retirement Tax Act or the federal Railroad Unemployment

Repayment Tax, and further provided that the authority for such election

shall expire and be null and void if each such enactment or receipt is

not effected on or before June fifteenth, nineteen hundred ninety-six.

c. The officers and employees of such organization shall be credited

with such periods of prior service as shall be certified by their

employer for service rendered to it, or its predecessor, or the state,

or in any other capacity approved by such employer and the comptroller.

Service for such employer after the date on which it commences to

participate in the police and fire retirement system and on account of

which such employer pays contributions shall be considered as member

service. An officer or employee of such employer who, as of the date he

or she is so approved for membership in the police and fire retirement

system, is already a member thereof, shall not have his or her total

credit reduced by such approval. Any reserve held on account of any such

officer or employee in the pension accumulation fund shall be used as an

offset against the deficiency contribution payable thereafter by such

employer on account of such officer or employee for any prior service

credit and any such previous credit. Except as otherwise provided in

this article, a police officer or firefighter of such employer who, by

reason of his or her service, is a member of any other governmental

retirement system shall not participate in the police and fire

retirement system on that part of his or her compensation so covered.

The term "governmental retirement system," as used in this subdivision,

shall include any retirement system wholly or partly maintained by this

state, by a municipality of this state, by another state or political

subdivision thereof, by the United States government, or by any foreign

country or political subdivision thereof.

The provision in subdivision b of this section limiting participation

in the New York state police and fire retirement system by reason of

membership in another governmental retirement system shall not diminish

or in any other way affect the prior or continual membership in the New

York state police and fire retirement system, or any rights or benefits

heretofore or hereafter arising therefrom, of any officer or employee of

a public or quasi-public organization who (1) is in the service of such

employer at the time this act takes effect, or was in such service prior

thereto, and (2) by reason of such service is or was a member of any

retirement system maintained by the United States government.

d. An agreement, made by such an employer pursuant to this section, to

contribute on account of its officers and employees shall be

irrevocable. In the event that such employer for any reason becomes

financially unable to make the contributions required on account of its

officers and employees, it shall be deemed to be in default. A

certificate to such effect thereupon shall be sent by the comptroller to

the employer and to the state superintendent of financial services.

Every member of the police and fire retirement system, who was an

officer or employee of such employer at the time of default, upon demand

made within ninety days thereafter, shall be entitled to discontinue his

or her membership in the police and fire retirement system and to a

refund of his or her accumulated contributions. As of a date ninety days

following the date of such certificate of default, the actuary of the

police and fire retirement system, by actuarial valuation, shall

determine the amount of the reserves held on account of each active

member and pensioner of such employer. He or she shall credit to each

such member and pensioner the amount of reserve so held. In the event

such an active member does not discontinue his or her membership and

thus become entitled to the refund of his or her accumulated

contributions, the reserve so credited, together with the amount of his

or her accumulated contributions shall be used to provide him or her a

paid up deferred annuity beginning at age sixty. The reserve of each

pensioner shall be used in providing such part of his or her existing

pension as the reserve so held will provide, which pension, together

with his or her annuity, shall thereafter be payable to him or her. The

rights and privileges of both active members and pensioners of such

employer shall thereupon terminate except as to the payment of the

deferred annuities so provided for the previous active members and the

annuities and the pensions, or parts thereof provided for the

pensioners.

e. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, the police and fire

retirement system shall not be liable for the payment of any pensions or

other benefits on account of the officers, employees or pensioners of

any employer under this section for which reserves have not been

previously created from funds contributed by such employer or its

officers or employees for such benefits. This provision shall not apply

to any municipality which elected to participate in the retirement

system under former section seventy-five-a of this law prior to July

first, nineteen hundred forty-eight.