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<section article="gsp" article_name="State Personnel and Pensions" number="29-302" title_number="29" title_name="Benefits Other Than Service Retirement Benefits" subtitle_number="3" subtitle_name="Deferred Vested Benefits">
  <level label="a">
    <text>This section applies only to members of:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>the Correctional Officers’ Retirement System;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>the Employees’ Retirement System;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>the State Police Retirement System; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="4">
      <text>the Teachers’ Retirement System.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <level label="1">
      <text>This subsection applies to an individual who is a member on or before June 30, 2011.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>A member may elect to receive a vested allowance if:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>the member is separated from employment other than by death or retirement; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>subject to paragraph (3) of this subsection, the member has at least 5 years of eligibility service.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>A former member of the State Police Retirement System who separated from employment on or before June 30, 1989, must have at least 15 years of eligibility service to elect a vested allowance.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="4">
      <text>A member is deemed to have elected a vested allowance, unless the member requests the return of the accumulated contributions before membership ends.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="b–1">
    <level label="1">
      <text>This subsection applies to an individual who becomes a member on or after July 1, 2011.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>A member is eligible to receive a vested allowance if:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>the member separated from employment other than by death or retirement; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>the member has at least 10 years of eligibility service.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <text>A vested allowance is a deferred allowance starting at:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>normal retirement age for members of:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>the Employees’ Retirement System;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>the State Police Retirement System; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>the Teachers’ Retirement System;</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>except as provided in item (3) of this subsection, age 55 for a member of the Correctional Officers’ Retirement System; or</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>age 60 for a member of the Correctional Officers’ Retirement System who:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>served as a maximum security attendant at the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>separated from employment as a maximum security attendant at the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center before July 1, 2016; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>does not resume employment in a position eligible for membership in the Correctional Officers’ Retirement System.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <text>A vested allowance:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>is computed as a normal service retirement allowance on the basis of the former member’s creditable service and average final compensation at the time of separation from employment; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>may be paid in one of the optional forms of allowances under § 21–403 of this article.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="e">
    <text>If a member separated from employment on or before June 30, 1990, unused sick leave reported by the member’s employer at the time of separation from employment is creditable service for computing the vested allowance.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="f">
    <level label="1">
      <text>If a former member who elected a vested allowance requests the return of accumulated contributions before payment of the vested allowance begins, the Board of Trustees shall return the accumulated contributions to the former member.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>When accumulated contributions are returned to a former member, the former member is not entitled to further benefits on account of the former member’s previous membership.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
</section>
