N.Y. Retirement & Social Security Law § 600: Application

§ 600. Application. a. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the

provisions of this article shall apply to all members who join or rejoin

a public retirement system of the state on or after July first, nineteen

hundred seventy-six and to all employees who would have been eligible to

join or rejoin such a retirement system on or after such date but in

lieu thereof elected an optional retirement program to which their

employers are thereby required to contribute, except the following:

1. Members of the New York state and local police and fire retirement

system;

2. (a) Members in the uniformed personnel in institutions under the

jurisdiction of the department of corrections and community supervision

of New York state, other than certain persons as defined in this section

or the New York city department of correction.

(b) For purposes of this paragraph, certain persons means either:

(i) a person who is appointed to the title of superintendent, who has

had at least seven years of service credited toward the retirement plan

established pursuant to this article while employed by the department of

corrections and community supervision and who elects the retirement plan

established pursuant to this article within ninety days of his or her

appointment. Such election shall be in writing, shall be duly executed

and filed with the comptroller and shall be irrevocable as long as such

person is in the title of superintendent; or

(ii) a person who serves in the title of superintendent as of April

first, two thousand six, who has had at least seven years of service

credited toward the retirement plan established pursuant to this article

while employed by the department of corrections and community

supervision and who elects the retirement plan established pursuant to

this article on or before September thirtieth, two thousand six. Such

election shall be in writing, shall be duly executed and filed with the

comptroller and shall be irrevocable as long as such person is in the

title of superintendent.

(c) Any person in the title of superintendent who is eligible to make

an election as described in this section but who does not make such

election, shall remain a member of the retirement plan that persons

appointed to the title of superintendent join who do not meet the above

criteria.

3. Members of the New York city police pension fund or the New York

city fire department pension fund;

4. Members qualified for participation in the uniformed transit police

force plan or housing police force plan in the New York city employees'

retirement system;

5. Investigator members of the New York city employees' retirement

system; and

6. Members of the uniformed force of the New York city department of

sanitation who join or rejoin a public retirement system of the state on

or after April first, two thousand twelve.

In the event that there is a conflict between the provisions of this

article and the provisions of any other law or code, the provisions of

this article shall govern.

b. Notwithstanding any other provision of this article to the

contrary, persons who on or after July first, nineteen hundred

seventy-six:

1. Enter the employment of a public employer which participates for

such employees in the New York city employees' retirement system, the

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

education retirement system shall be required to become members or shall

be eligible or ineligible for membership in such retirement system or

pension fund in the manner provided for by the relevant provisions of

the New York city administrative code and other relevant laws and rules

and regulations except that, notwithstanding any other provision of law,

members who were employed by the New York city board of education and

assigned during the first fifteen days of the school term to a position

which is expected to be vacant for the term and who were employed in one

of the three school years immediately prior to July first, nineteen

hundred seventy-six in a position which did not entitle them to apply

for membership in a public retirement system and who first joined the

New York city teachers' retirement system subsequent to June thirtieth,

nineteen hundred seventy-six shall have all the rights, benefits and

privileges applicable to employees who were members of such system on

June thirtieth, nineteen hundred seventy-six provided they make written

application, duly executed and filed with the New York city teachers'

retirement board prior to July first, nineteen hundred eighty-nine;

1-a. Enter the employment of a public employer which participates for

such employees in the New York city employees' retirement system, the

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

education retirement system shall be required to become members or shall

be eligible or ineligible for membership in such retirement system or

pension fund in the manner provided for by the relevant provisions of

the New York city administrative code and other relevant laws and rules

and regulations except that, notwithstanding any other provision of law,

members who were employed by the New York city board of education as

regular substitute teachers when assigned as such and members who were

employed by the New York city board of education and assigned during the

school year to a position which was expected to be vacant for the school

year, such members having been employed for a period of not less than

twenty school days during such school year in a position which did not

entitle them to apply for membership in a public retirement system and

who first joined the New York city teachers' retirement system or the

New York state teachers' retirement system subsequent to June thirtieth,

nineteen hundred seventy-six shall have all the rights, benefits and

privileges to which they would have been entitled had their current

membership begun on the date their original service commenced, provided

they make written application, duly executed and filed with the

retirement system in which they are members on or before June thirtieth,

two thousand three. Any member of a teachers' retirement system who is

entitled by reason of this paragraph to have all the rights, benefits

and privileges of a member of such system as of a date prior to July

first, nineteen hundred seventy-six shall not be entitled to a refund of

any contributions made to such system prior to the effective date of

this paragraph pursuant to this article or article fourteen of this

chapter;

2. Enter the employment of a public employer which participates for

such employees in the New York state teachers' retirement system shall

be required to become members or shall be eligible or ineligible for

membership in such retirement system in the manner provided for by the

relevant provisions of the New York state education law;

3. Enter the employment of a public employer which participates for

such employees in the New York state employees' retirement system in

positions in which they shall work full time shall be required to become

members;

(a) Provided, however, persons in the employ of such employers after

such date in positions in which they work less than full time shall be

permitted to become members of the New York state employees' retirement

system by filing an application therefor in the manner provided for by

section forty of this chapter;

(b) Provided further that an employee of a county extension service

association or Cornell university appointed for the first time on or

after August first, nineteen hundred seventy-seven who holds a federal

cooperative appointment with the United States department of agriculture

as designated by the director of the New York state cooperative

extension service and who is eligible for participation in the federal

retirement system shall be excluded from membership in the state

employees' retirement system; and

(c) Provided further that any employee of a county extension service

association and any employee of Cornell university appointed for the

first time on or after July first, nineteen hundred seventy-six but on

or before July thirty-first, nineteen hundred seventy-seven, who holds a

state cooperative appointment as designated by the director of the New

York state cooperative extension service may elect to receive a federal

cooperative appointment in the manner provided for by the relevant

federal laws, rules and regulations and to participate in the federal

retirement system and discontinue his participation in the state

retirement system by filing a written notice of termination on or before

December thirty-first, nineteen hundred eighty-three with the

comptroller. Any employee who is a member of the state employees'

retirement system at the time he or she elects coverage in the federal

retirement program shall be deemed to be a person who discontinues

service on the effective date of such election, for the purpose of

determining his or her eligibility for rights and benefits in such state

system; provided, however, that if he or she does not withdraw

accumulated contributions, (i) continued service with the county

extension service association or Cornell university while under the

federal retirement program shall be deemed to be member service in the

New York state employees' retirement system for the purpose of

determining eligibility for any vested retirement allowance, retirement

allowance or ordinary death benefit under such system dependent upon a

specified period of total service or upon attainment of a specified age

while in service or upon death while in service; and (ii) the amount of

any such benefit to which the person or his or her estate or person

designated by him or her may become entitled under either such system

shall be computed only on the basis of service otherwise creditable to

him or her therein and his or her compensation during such service.

Electing employees and their beneficiaries shall not be entitled to any

right or benefit under the New York state employees' retirement system

other than a vested retirement allowance, retirement allowance or

ordinary death benefit to the extent expressly provided for in this

chapter.

c. The provisions of this article shall not be construed to extend

coverage to an employee who would not have been, if employed in the same

capacity on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred seventy-six, eligible for

membership in the retirement system involved.