(a) Subject to the provisions of section 721 of this title each employee in service on the date of establishment shall receive credit as prior service for all service rendered in any department, division or agency of the employer, except such service as is excluded by section 703(c) of this title; Provided, That any employee who may have received a refund under predecessor systems shall repay within five years the amounts refunded in order to gain credit for said prior service; And provided further, That any employee who was excluded from coverage under predecessor systems but who worked continuously for the Government of the United States Virgin Islands shall receive credit for said prior service if within five years of date of establishment such employee repays an amount equal to contributions which would have been deducted from his salary during said period. The prior service credit to be granted a member shall be for the same periods of time as granted under applicable registration relating to the existing retirement funds. Additionally, the member shall pay to the system the withdrawn contributions, the interest paid on those contributions prior to withdrawal, and the income the system would have earned had those contributions remained in the system, and the interest on the unpaid balance, if the member elects to redeposit on an installment basis. If the member elects to repay on an installment basis, the member shall have the maximum of 36 months. The member shall repay the withdrawn contributions and the applicable interest before receiving his annuities.
(b) Any employee who shall not be in service on the date of establishment, who reenters service thereafter, shall be entitled to receive credit for prior service providing he repays, within five years from date of reentry, all amounts refunded under any system.
(c) Any employee who shall not be in service on the date of establishment, who reenters service thereafter, shall be entitled to receive credit for prior service rendered prior to predecessor systems.
(d)
(1) Any employee shall be entitled to credited service, up to a maximum of 3 years, for all military service in the Armed Forces of the United States, including the army, navy, marines or coast guard, merchant marine, air force or any auxiliary thereof, either by enlistment or induction. Provided, that such employee must have been a bona fide Virgin Islands resident prior to entering military service and pays an amount equal to contributions which would have been deducted from his salary during the period.
(2) However, all members of the system who are vested on the enactment date of this subsection and have earned credited service shall maintain their credit earned before the effective date of this paragraph.
(e) Prior service credit and membership service credit shall also include such time as a member has been in military service, not to exceed 3 years.
(f) Any member shall be entitled to credit as prior service or membership service, as the case may be, for any period of approved leave of absence without compensation, under rules in force, which shall not exceed an aggregate period of 24 months during the entire period of credited service of the member. The member shall pay to the system the income the system would have earned had those contributions been paid to the system during the period of his approved leave of absence without compensation, and the interest on the unpaid balance, if the member elects to deposit on an installment basis. If the member elects to pay on an installment basis, the member shall have the maximum of 36 months and before any retirement benefits are received to pay the contributions and applicable interest.
(g) In the computation of total credit for prior service or membership service, nine months or more of service shall constitute one year of service; six to eight months inclusive, shall constitute three-quarters (.75) of a year; three to five months inclusive, shall constitute one-half (.50) of a year; less than three months shall constitute one-quarter (.25) of a year not more than one year service credit shall be granted for all service rendered during a fiscal year. Fifteen days or more of service during any month shall constitute a month of service; five to fourteen days inclusive, shall constitute one-half (.50) of a month; less than five days, inclusive, shall constitute one-quarter (.25) of a month.
(h) [Reserved for future use.]
(i) No credited service benefit may be paid to any government employee for excess annual leave, sick leave, leave without pay, or for prior military service until the system has received retirement contributions payments from the employer and employee.
(j) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any person who is presently a member of this system who has rendered prior permanent or continuous service to the Government of the United Virgin Islands, and for which credit under this system has not been received, may receive credit for the prior service by contributing to the system contributions at the respective rates assessed for each period or portion of non-credited service the member seeks to receive credit. The member shall pay to the system the contributions and the income the system would have earned had those contributions been paid to the system, and the interest on the unpaid balance, if the member elects to deposit on an installment basis. If the member elects to pay on an installment basis, the member shall have the maximum of 36 months before any retirement benefits are received to pay the contributions and the applicable interest.
(k) Any employee shall be entitled to credited service as a member of the Legislature, as defined in Title 3, section 714, Virgin Islands Code, provided such service is not applied to legislative service retirement as provided in Title 3, section 714, Virgin Islands Code.
(l) If the employer fails or refuses to remit contributions on behalf of any employee for any period wherein service credit is being or has been sought, the employee may remit to the system a sum that equals the employer's and the employee's contributions for the period of credited service he has elected to obtain.
(m) Employee or employer contributions for service credit on which benefits are to be calculated must be paid prior to the date of issuance of the first retirement benefits payment.
(n) The required contributions for any service which have not been made for prior service, past service, military service, leave of absence service, and in the territory service, must be paid by cash, personal check or money order. The contributions must be accompanied by a statement identifying the service for which payment is made and must be made in lump sum for the total due or in annual payments of not less than $500, except for the final payment if less than $100, unless another method of payment is authorized by the Board of Trustees. Interest must be added annually to any unpaid balance not received by the Benefits Division on or before October 1 of each year.
(o) The required contributions for any service which have not been made prior to a member's retirement may not be made by any person after the member's retirement. The required contributions for any service which have not been made by the members before his death prior to his retirement may be made only by those authorized by the Board of Trustees to purchase the service.
(p) A member may make the required contributions for past service not made by his employer.
(q) Retirement contributions paid for a prior period, whether by employer or by member, must be charged a delinquent fee of 1.5% for each calendar month or part thereof that paid contributions should have been paid. This includes prior period contributions due to incorrect wages and contributions from an earlier report or wages and contributions that should have been reported, but were not. This delinquent assessment may not be waived. If the delinquent assessment is not remitted within thirty days following the Benefits Division invoice, an additional delinquent assessment of 1.0% on the invoice amount shall be assessed for each calendar month or part thereof that the invoice is delinquent.
(r) Retirement contributions not remitted timely as prescribed by this chapter are delinquent, unless at the opinion of the Administrator, exceptional circumstances beyond the employer's control prevented payment by the prescribed due date and a waiver of the delinquent fee is granted by the Administrator. A waiver may be granted only once for an employer during any one fiscal year. The employer shall pay the assessed delinquent fee, plus any additional delinquent charges that have accumulated during the time required to renew the request for a waiver of the delinquency charge.
(s) If an employer fails to pay the total amount due within one hundred twenty calendar days from the date of the system's invoice, the Administrator shall notify the Board and certify the amounts due to the system. The Board shall determine the appropriate action to be taken.
(t) Any member may purchase additional service credit, which must be added to the member’s years of service credit already accrued for service worked and contributions paid under the following conditions:
(1) “Additional Service Credit” means service credit that may be purchased by the member for time the member has not actually worked while in the service of the employer. “Service Credit” as used in this section has the same meaning as “Membership Service” as used in section 702(i) of this chapter.
(2) A member may purchase up to 5 years of additional service credit.
(3) Once a member makes an election to purchase service credit, the member may not modify or cancel the election, and the member may not make another election to purchase additional service credit, even if the amount of service credit purchased during the first election to purchase additional service credit is less than five years.
(4) A member must pay the full amount charged for the additional service credit prior to the member’s date of retirement.
(5) A member may make payment for additional service credit in a lump sum payment or in bi-weekly installments via payroll deductions before the member’s date of retirement. When a member elects to make payment in installment payments via payroll deductions, the member has a total of two years for each year of additional service credit to make payment, but the final payment must be made before the member’s date of retirement.
(6) The amount charged to a member for the purchase of additional service credit must include the employer’s and employee’s shares of contribution; however, the system shall also charge to the member an additional charge that is recommended by the System’s actuarial consultant. This additional charge must be adopted by the GERS Board of Trustees and administered by the System.
(7) A member must have at least 10 years of service credit before the member is eligible to purchase additional service credit.
(8) Additional Service credit may not be used to qualify a member for duty or non-duty disability.
(9) When a member completes payment for additional service credit, the additional service credit must be added to the member’s years of service credit, but the member must qualify for a service retirement annuity based on the member’s years of membership service. Additional Service Credit may be used to qualify a member for a regular service retirement annuity only if the member has accrued at least 15 years of service credit by the time the member completes payment for additional service credit.
(10) Any member who leaves the payroll for any reason prior to completing payment for purchase of additional service credit may retain the amount of service credit for which the member has already paid, if the amounts paid equal at least one year of credited service. If the amounts do not equal at least one year of service, the System shall return to the member the amounts the System has received from the member, and no interest may be paid.
(11) The Board of Trustees may change the additional charge or factor as recommended by the System’s actuarial consultant, but such adjustment may not be applied to members who at the time of the change are paying for additional service credit on installment.