(a) Any member of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System who suffers from or who has suffered in the past from a work-related injury for which workers' compensation benefits were paid under the workers' compensation laws, and whose annuity from the system would otherwise be reduced due to the reduced salary and lost credited service, shall be entitled to obtain credited service for the actual time period of reduced salary and lost service credit by paying to the system all employee contributions at the rate and on the compensation that would have been paid had he or she been a member of the system during that time, all employer contributions based on the employer normal cost from the most recently completed regular annual actuarial valuation and the compensation that would have been paid had he or she been a member during that time, and regular interest on the employee and employer contributions computed from the date the service would have been rendered to the date the payment is received by the system.
(b) Provided, however, at the discretion of the employer, any employer under the system may elect to implement a policy to pay the employer's portion of any contributions that an employee would otherwise be responsible to pay under this section to receive the service credit.
Structure Arkansas Code
Title 24 - Retirement And Pensions
Chapter 4 - Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System
Subchapter 5 - Credited Service and Eligibility for Benefits
§ 24-4-501. Prior service credit generally — Straight life annuity
§ 24-4-507. Eligibility for benefits — Credited service
§ 24-4-508. Eligibility for benefits — Retirement generally
§ 24-4-510. Eligibility for benefits — Deferred and early annuities
§ 24-4-511. Eligibility for benefits — Disability retirement — Definitions
§ 24-4-512. Eligibility for benefits — Prior service credit for county members
§ 24-4-514. Credit for educational leave
§ 24-4-516. Credit for lost credited service due to work-related injury
§ 24-4-517. State service under a federal grant — Definition
§ 24-4-518. Credit for service as sheriff
§ 24-4-519. Current service credit — Nonuniformed employees
§ 24-4-520. Termination required for retirement