New York Laws
Article 11 - Limitations Applicable to New Entrants
445 - Service Retirement Benefit.

§ 445. Service retirement benefit. a. No member of a retirement system
who is subject to the provisions of this article shall retire without
regard to age, exclusive of retirement for disability, unless he or she
is a police officer, an investigator member of the New York city
employees' retirement system, firefighter, correction officer, a
qualifying member as defined in section eighty-nine-t, as added by
chapter six hundred fifty-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred
ninety-eight, of this chapter, sanitation worker, a special officer
(including persons employed by the city of New York in the title urban
park ranger or associate urban park ranger), school safety agent, campus
peace officer or a taxi and limousine commission inspector member of the
New York city employees' retirement system or the New York city board of
education retirement system, a dispatcher member of the New York city
employees' retirement system, a police communications member of the New
York city employees' retirement system, an EMT member of the New York
city employees' retirement system, a deputy sheriff member of the New
York city employees' retirement system, a correction officer of the
Westchester county correction department as defined in section
eighty-nine-e of this chapter or employed in Suffolk county as a peace
officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-s, as added by chapter five
hundred eighty-eight of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-seven, of
this chapter, employed in Suffolk county as a correction officer, as
defined in section eighty-nine-f of this chapter, or employed in Nassau
county as a correction officer, uniformed correction division personnel,
sheriff, undersheriff or deputy sheriff, as defined in section
eighty-nine-g of this chapter, or employed in Nassau county as an
ambulance medical technician, an ambulance medical technician/supervisor
or a member who performs ambulance medical technician related services,
or a police medic, police medic supervisor or a member who performs
police medic related services, as defined in section eighty-nine-s, as
amended by chapter five hundred seventy-eight of the laws of nineteen
hundred ninety-eight, of this chapter, or employed in Nassau county as a
peace officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-s, as added by chapter
five hundred ninety-five of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-seven,
of this chapter, or employed in Albany county as a sheriff,
undersheriff, deputy sheriff, correction officer or identification
officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-h of this chapter or is
employed in St. Lawrence county as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy
sheriff or correction officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-i of
this chapter or is employed in Orleans county as a sheriff,
undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as defined in
section eighty-nine-l of this chapter or is employed in Jefferson county
as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as
defined in section eighty-nine-j of this chapter or is employed in
Onondaga county as a deputy sheriff-jail division competitively
appointed or as a correction officer, as defined in section
eighty-nine-k of this chapter or is employed in a county which makes an
election under subdivision j of section eighty-nine-p of this chapter as
a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer as defined
in such section eighty-nine-p or is employed in Broome County as a
sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as defined
in section eighty-nine-m of this chapter or is a Monroe county deputy
sheriff-court security, or deputy sheriff-jailor as defined in section
eighty-nine-n, as added by chapter five hundred ninety-seven of the laws
of nineteen hundred ninety-one, of this chapter or is employed in Greene
county as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer,
as defined in section eighty-nine-o of this chapter or is a traffic
officer with the town of Elmira as defined in section eighty-nine-q of

this chapter or is employed by Suffolk county as a park police officer,
as defined in section eighty-nine-r of this chapter or is a peace
officer employed by a county probation department as defined in section
eighty-nine-t, as added by chapter six hundred three of the laws of
nineteen hundred ninety-eight, of this chapter or is employed in
Rockland county as a deputy sheriff-civil as defined in section
eighty-nine-v of this chapter as added by chapter four hundred forty-one
of the laws of two thousand one, or is employed in Rockland county as a
superior correction officer as defined in section eighty-nine-v of this
chapter as added by chapter five hundred fifty-six of the laws of two
thousand one or is a paramedic employed by the police department in the
town of Tonawanda and retires under the provisions of section
eighty-nine-v of this chapter, as added by chapter four hundred
seventy-two of the laws of two thousand one, or is a county fire
marshal, supervising fire marshal, fire marshal, assistant fire marshal,
assistant chief fire marshal, chief fire marshal, division supervising
fire marshal or fire marshal trainee employed by the county of Nassau as
defined in section eighty-nine-w of this chapter or is employed in
Monroe county as a deputy sheriff-civil as defined in section
eighty-nine-x of this chapter and is in a plan which permits immediate
retirement upon completion of a specified period of service without
regard to age. Except as provided in subdivision c of section four
hundred forty-five-a of this article, subdivision c of section four
hundred forty-five-b of this article, subdivision c of section four
hundred forty-five-c of this article, subdivision c of section four
hundred forty-five-d of this article, subdivision c of section four
hundred forty-five-e of this article, subdivision c of section four
hundred forty-five-f of this article and subdivision c of section four
hundred forty-five-h of this article, a member in such a plan and such
an occupation, other than a police officer or investigator member of the
New York city employees' retirement system or a firefighter, shall not
be permitted to retire prior to the completion of twenty-five years of
credited service; provided, however, if such a member in such an
occupation is in a plan which permits retirement upon completion of
twenty years of service regardless of age, he or she may retire upon
completion of twenty years of credited service and prior to the
completion of twenty-five years of service, but in such event the
benefit provided from funds other than those based on such a member's
own contributions shall not exceed two per centum of final average
salary per each year of credited service.

b. No member in a retirement plan which, prior to the effective date
of this article, permitted all members to retire upon the attainment of
age fifty and completion of twenty years of service shall be permitted
to retire without benefit reduction prior to the attainment of age
fifty-five and completion of twenty-five years of service. In the event
that such a member retires prior to the attainment of age fifty-five or
completion of twenty-five years of service, the benefit provided from
funds other than those based on such a member's own contributions shall
not exceed two percentum of final average salary per each year of
credited service.

c. A person who is a member of an optional twenty year retirement plan
for police officers and firefighters in jurisdictions which have elected
to provide such plan and such jurisdiction further elects to permit
retirement at age fifty-five without reduction may then elect to join
under section three hundred seventy-five-i or three hundred
seventy-five-j of this chapter, if either plan is provided by the
employer, and may retire without reduction of his or her retirement
benefit upon attaining the age of fifty-five.