(a) Each member shall receive membership service credit for all service rendered while a member of the System since he or she became a member, or since he or she last became a member in the event of a break in his or her membership.

(b) [Repealed.]

(c) Creditable service shall consist of membership service credit, any other service allowable under this chapter, and service transferred under 3 V.S.A. § 495.

(d) Credit shall also be granted for any period of absence from service due to any class of military service of the United States approved by the Retirement Board, provided the member returns to service as a teacher as defined under section 1931 of this title within 90 days after having become discharged or separated from military service, as if such service had been service as a teacher. The earnable compensation of the teacher at the time of entering such military service shall be deemed to be the earnable compensation for the period of such service.

(e) Credit shall also be granted for any period of absence from service in connection with an approved workers' compensation claim as a result of a work-related injury, provided the employee provides evidence of the period covered by the approved workers' compensation claim upon return to active service. The earnable compensation of the employee at the time of entering the absence from service resulting from an approved workers' compensation claim or the wages plus all other wage replacement compensation received while on the approved period of absence, whichever provides for the highest total compensation, shall be deemed to be the earnable compensation for the period of service. The total compensation under this subsection shall not exceed what the earnable compensation would have been had the member not been injured. (Amended 1977, No. 53, §§ 1, 5, eff. April 23, 1977; 2001, No. 29, § 4; 2007, No. 13, § 26; 2017, No. 165 (Adj. Sess.), § 10.)