N.Y. Retirement & Social Security Law § 343: Transfer of members between systems

§ 343. Transfer of members between systems. a. Notwithstanding any

other provision of law providing for transfers, any member of any

retirement system maintained by the state or a municipality thereof,

operating on a sound financial basis and subject to the supervision of

the department of financial services of this state may transfer his or

her membership pursuant to this section to the New York state and local

employees' retirement system, the New York city board of education

employees' retirement system, the New York state teachers' retirement

system, the New York state and local police and fire retirement system

or to the New York city employees' retirement system. Any member of the

New York state and local police and fire retirement system may transfer

his or her membership to any retirement system, other than the hospital

retirement system, which is operating on a sound basis and is subject to

the supervision of the department of financial services of this state.

Any police officer employed by the metropolitan transportation authority

who is a member of the MTA police twenty year retirement program of the

metropolitan transportation authority defined benefit pension plan

(hereinafter referred to in this section as the "MTA police retirement

program") may transfer his or her membership in the New York state and

local police and fire retirement system and/or the New York city police

pension fund to the MTA police retirement program. Any police officer

who was employed by the metropolitan transportation authority, the Long

Island Railroad Company or the Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company and

who is a member of the MTA police retirement program may transfer his or

her membership in the MTA police retirement program to the New York

state and local police and fire retirement system. Any transfer pursuant

to this section may be effectuated only if the member has accepted a

position in another branch of the state or municipal service which would

make it:

1. Impossible for him or her to continue in the retirement system of

which he or she has been a member, and

2. Possible for him or her to participate in another such system.

Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this subdivision, any

employee who would be eligible to avail himself or herself of the

provisions of this section but for being on leave of absence status from

a prior employment while in his or her present employment, shall be

permitted to transfer his or her retirement system membership pursuant

to the provisions of this section.

b. 1. In order to effect such a transfer, a member must give notice to

the administrative head of the retirement system of which he or she is a

member, prior to his or her withdrawal therefrom, of his or her

intention to enter such other retirement system within one year.

2. If a member of the New York city police pension fund is trying to

effect a transfer from such pension fund to the MTA police retirement

program, the member must give notice to the administrative head of the

New York city police pension fund, prior to his or her withdrawal

therefrom, of his or her intention to enter such other retirement system

within one year or within one year of the effective date of this

paragraph.

3. In the case of a person who has withdrawn from a retirement system

and has been entitled to at least thirty years of total service credit

in such system, however, such notice may be given within three years

from the time of such withdrawal. In the case of a person who was a

member of a retirement system, and who while under such status becomes a

member of such second retirement system, and who has not withdrawn his

or her contributions to the first such retirement system, any provisions

of law notwithstanding, such notice may be given on or before June

thirtieth, nineteen hundred sixty-seven. A person so transferring from

one retirement system to another shall be deemed to have been a member

of the system to which he or she has transferred during the entire

period of membership service credited to him or her in the system from

which he or she has transferred. Such transferee, however, shall not

receive more than three percent interest on his or her contributions and

accumulated contributions unless he or she has continuously been a

member in either the system from which or to which he or she is

transferring since a date prior to July first, nineteen hundred

forty-three. This shall not be construed to prevent a change in the

interest rate to such member if the interest rate payable to other

members of the system to which he or she has transferred is changed. Any

member who heretofore transferred from one retirement system to another

shall, commencing with the effective date of this subdivision, be

entitled to the same rights, privileges and benefits, and shall be

subject to the same obligations, as a transferee who hereafter

transfers. He or she shall receive no credit for prior service, except

as hereinafter provided. He or she shall be permitted to deposit in the

second retirement system the total amount of his or her contributions

withdrawn from the first retirement system. Upon such deposit within one

year or within three years, or on or before June thirtieth, nineteen

hundred sixty-seven, as the case may be, he or she or the administrative

head of the system to which he or she desires to transfer, shall request

the administrative head of the first retirement system to transfer to

the second retirement system a credit on account of his or her

membership in such system.

c. Upon the request for a transfer of credit, the reserve on such

member's benefits, computed as though he had not discontinued

membership, shall be determined by the actuary of the first system in

the following manner:

1. The total present value of all benefits allowable under the

retirement system as the result of contributions made or to be made by

his employer shall be computed.

2. From such total present value there shall be deducted the present

value of the future contributions which would be payable by his employer

on such member's account had he become a member of the retirement

system, subsequent to its establishment, at the age at which he

originally entered the service of his employer. The result so obtained

shall be considered as the reserve on his account in the first

retirement system.

d. Such reserve shall be transferred from the appropriate fund or

funds of the first system to the appropriate fund or funds of the second

system within one year from the date of the request for a transfer of

credit. Such member, thereupon, shall be given such status and credited

with such service in the second retirement system as he was allowed in

the first retirement system. Such contributor, notwithstanding any other

provision of law, shall on retirement after three years of member

service in the second retirement system be entitled to a pension based

on salary earned during member service in either retirement system, or

in both retirement systems together, whichever may produce the greater

pension pursuant to the statutory requirements of the second retirement

system. No such contributor, however, shall be entitled, on retirement

within three years of the date of his transfer, to a greater or lesser

pension for such service rendered before his transfer than he would have

received had he remained under the pension provisions of the first

retirement system.

e. 1. A "New York city member," as defined in subdivision twenty of

section two hundred forty-three of the military law, who shall transfer

to another retirement system pursuant to this section shall be given

credit, upon such transfer, for the period of military duty to which

such member would have been entitled pursuant to such subdivision twenty

if he had remained, until the time of death or retirement, in the

retirement system from which he shall so transfer. The amount of

reserves to be transferred under this section for such credit shall be

computed in accordance with this section, shall include pension reserves

for such military duty, and shall be credited by the retirement system

to which the member shall transfer in accordance with the provisions of

such system governing credit for service in world war II, and the city

of New York, or the authority, by which such member is employed

immediately prior to the transfer, shall pay to the retirement system

the amount of the reserve to be transferred on account of such military

service.

2. Any retirement system from which a member shall transfer pursuant

to this subdivision shall have the right to require reasonable proof of

military service, pay status, and any other information relevant to

eligibility for such transfer of credit for military duty.

3. The provisions of this subdivision e shall apply only to a "New

York city member" who has rendered service as an officer or employee of

the city of New York (or any agency thereof) or public corporation, the

officers or employees of which are eligible for membership in a pension

or retirement system maintained by such city, including performance of

such military duty, for at least fifty per centum of the time between

his commencement of such service and the date upon which he has attained

or shall attain age fifty-five.

f. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, a member of the

retirement system in the employ of the state on March thirty-first,

nineteen hundred seventy, other than a member of the state police in

collective negotiating units established pursuant to article fourteen of

the civil service law, who would have been entitled to transfer service

credit from another retirement system pursuant to this section had he

made a timely election, may obtain such credit by depositing in the

retirement system an amount equal to the contributions withdrawn from

the system of which he had been a member, with regular interest. Such

deposit shall be made on or before March thirty-first, nineteen hundred

seventy-two, provided, however, such member may elect to deposit such

amount over a period of time no greater than the period for which credit

is being claimed. Such payments must commence no later than March

thirty-first, nineteen hundred seventy-two. If the full amount is not

paid to the retirement system, the amount of service credited shall be

proportional to the total amount of the payments made.

g. This subdivision shall apply only to individuals who, subsequent to

vesting in a retirement system, transfer to a second retirement system

whose governing laws require a greater number of years of credit for

vesting than those of the first system, and who, upon such transfer, do

not have the number of years of service credit that is ordinarily

required to vest in such second retirement system.

1. Upon transfer, the number of years of service credit required for

the transferred individual to attain vested rights in the second

retirement system shall be the same as the number of years of service

credit required, under applicable law, for vesting in the first

retirement system.

2. In the event that an individual covered by this subdivision makes

application to retire from such second system prior to attaining the

amount of service credit that would otherwise be necessary to vest in

such second retirement system, and such individual is otherwise eligible

to retire from such second system, the application shall be granted, and

benefits shall be calculated pursuant to the applicable subdivisions of

this section on the basis of the actual amount of service credit the

individual has accrued at the time of retirement. Transferred service

credit shall not be creditable under any plan in the second retirement

system that it would not otherwise be creditable under.

h. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, with

respect to transfers pursuant to this section which occur on or after

the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand

twenty-three that amended this subdivision, no determination of a

reserve pursuant to subdivision c of this section or transfer thereof

pursuant to the first sentence of subdivision d of this section shall be

required in the case of any transfer pursuant to this section (other

than a transfer from the New York state and local police and fire

retirement system to either (1) the New York city police department

subchapter two pension fund, (2) the New York city fire department

subchapter two pension fund or (3) the MTA police retirement program or

a transfer from either (i) the New York city police department

subchapter two pension fund or (ii) the New York city fire department

subchapter two pension fund to either (A) the New York state and local

police and fire retirement system or (B) the MTA police retirement

program or a transfer from the MTA police retirement program to the New

York state and local police and fire retirement system) in the case of a

member with less than ten years of credited service with the

transferring retirement system at the time the transfer is initiated.

With respect to transfers pursuant to such subdivisions which occur on

or after the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand

twenty-three that amended this subdivision, the transfer of a pension

reserve shall be required when the member is transferring ten or more

years of credited service from a public retirement system of the state

to any other public retirement system of the state, excluding any

transfers within and between the New York city employees' retirement

system, the New York city teachers' retirement system and the New York

city board of education retirement system. For the purpose of giving the

transferring member such status and crediting such service in the second

retirement system as such member was allowed in the first retirement

system in those cases to which this subdivision shall apply, the

transfer shall be deemed complete upon receipt by the second retirement

system of:

1. a statement from the first retirement system of the transferring

member's date of membership in the first retirement system, tier status,

service credited to such membership being transferred, and such other

information as the second retirement system may require to effectuate

the transfer;

2. such member's accumulated contributions from the first retirement

system, if same had not been previously withdrawn, or notice from the

first retirement system that such member had no accumulated

contributions, or notice from the first retirement system that such

member's accumulated contributions had been withdrawn and the amount

thereof and, as applicable, receipt from such member of such member's

accumulated contributions and interest; and

3. the pension reserve in the case of a member who transfers in ten or

more years of credited service, except when transferring within and

between the New York city employees' retirement system, the New York

city teachers' retirement system and the New York city board of

education retirement system.

i. 1. Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation to the

contrary, for any police officer employed by the division of law

enforcement in the department of environmental protection in the city of

New York transferring from the New York city employees' retirement

system to the New York state and local police and fire retirement system

after the effective date of this subdivision and any police officer

formerly employed by the division of law enforcement in the department

of environmental protection in the city of New York having made such

transfer, such police officer's division of law enforcement in the

department of environmental protection in the city of New York service

credit shall be deemed creditable service, in such police officer's

twenty year or twenty-five year retirement plan, if such police officer

has served for at least two years in such employment and if, within one

year of the date on which he or she first became a member of the New

York state and local police and fire retirement system or within one

year of the effective date of this subdivision, such member elects to do

so.

2. The amount of such service credited to the member in the New York

state and local police and fire retirement system plan shall not exceed

the amount of service credited to the member in the New York city

employees' retirement system plan.

3. If the member subsequently retires on an age-based retirement plan

in the New York state and local police and fire retirement system

instead of a twenty year or twenty-five year plan, the full amount of

service credit earned, as a police officer employed by the division of

law enforcement in the department of environmental protection in the

city of New York shall be granted.

4. In no event shall the division of law enforcement in the department

of environmental protection in the city of New York service credited to

a member of the New York state and local police and fire retirement

system pursuant to this subdivision exceed a total of ten years.

5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law in this section to the

contrary, the reserve on such member's benefits shall be transferred

from the New York city employees' retirement system to the New York

state and local police and fire retirement system in accordance with

subdivisions c and d of this section.

6. No member who receives service credit pursuant to this subdivision

shall be eligible to receive additional service credit pursuant to

subdivision b of section three hundred eighty-four-e of this article if

his or her employer has elected to provide such service credit.