New York Laws
Article 11 - State Teachers' Retirement System for Public School Teachers
522 - Transfer of Contributions Between Retirement Systems.

§ 522. Transfer of contributions between retirement systems. 1. Any
contributor, withdrawing from the retirement system and at such time
giving notice to the retirement board of his intention of becoming
within two years a member of another teachers' retirement system which
is being operated on an actuarial basis either under the laws of this
state or under the laws of another state, provided the system has a
provision similar to this provision permitting reciprocal transfer, may,
upon depositing within two years his accumulated contributions in such
other retirement system or if the member had no accumulated
contributions credited to his individual account in the retirement
system, upon joining such other retirement system within two years,
apply to the retirement board for a transfer from the pension
accumulation fund to the corresponding fund of such other retirement
system of the amount of his pension reserve as of the time when he
withdrew his contributions from the annuity savings fund or filed a
notice of withdrawal with the system, and the retirement board shall
transfer to such other retirement system the amount of such reserve,
provided that, if such other retirement system is not under the laws of
this state, credit for a pension benefit of equivalent actuarial value
to the amount of reserve transferred shall be given the teacher in the
other retirement system and that the retirement board is satisfied that
the retirement system to which said transfer is made is on a solvent
basis.

2. Any contributor entering the retirement system after having
withdrawn from another retirement system and having given notice at the
time of withdrawal to the retirement board of such system of his or her
intention of becoming a member of the retirement system, may deposit in
the annuity savings fund the amount of his or her accumulated
contributions withdrawn from such other retirement system or if the
member had no accumulated contributions credited to his or her
individual account in such other retirement system, such member shall in
lieu of depositing moneys in the annuity savings fund, file a notice of
intent to transfer pursuant to rules and regulations adopted by the
retirement board. Upon the filing of a notice of intent to transfer as
provided by this subdivision, the pension reserve to his or her credit
in such other retirement system, if such other retirement system is
operated upon an actuarial basis under the laws of this state, shall be
transferred, and if such other system is operated upon an actuarial
basis under the laws of another state, may be transferred to the pension
accumulation fund. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this
article, such contributor shall be classified in this retirement system
as a present teacher or as a new entrant accordingly as he or she would
have been classified had the service rendered in the other retirement
system been rendered while a member of this retirement system. A person
so transferred to this retirement system or who has heretofore
transferred to this retirement system shall be deemed to have been a
member of this retirement system during the entire period of membership
service credited to him or her in the system from which he or she has
transferred. Such transferee, however, shall not receive more than three
per cent interest on his or her contributions and accumulated
contributions unless he or she has continuously been a member in either
the system from which he or she has transferred or in this retirement
system since a date prior to the first day of July, nineteen hundred
forty-eight. This shall not be construed to prevent a change in the
interest rate to such member if the interest rate payable to other
members of this retirement system is changed. In case he or she comes
from a retirement system not under the laws of this state, he or she
shall be given a prior service certificate showing a period of service

such that the liability incurred by the retirement system on his or her
account by reason of prior service shall be equal in amount to the
amount of the reserve so transferred, provided that in no case shall
such a contributor who is classified as a new entrant be given less
credit in his or her prior service certificate than he or she would have
received had no reserve been transferred on his or her account. In case
a contributor transfers between retirement systems under the laws of
this state, he or she shall be credited in the system to which he or she
is transferring with all service allowed to him or her in the first
system. Such contributor, notwithstanding any other provision of law,
shall on retirement be entitled to a pension based on salary earned
during member service in both retirement systems together, pursuant to
the statutory requirements of the second retirement system.

3. Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, a former member of
the New York city teachers' retirement system who holds membership in
the New York state teachers' retirement system on the effective date of
this act and who would have been entitled to transfer service credit to
such latter retirement system pursuant to this section had his
membership in the former retirement system not terminated, due to no
negligence on the part of the member, may have his transfer rights under
this section restored by depositing, within one year of the effective
date of this act, in the former retirement system an amount equal to the
contributions withdrawn from such system with regular interest thereon.

4. In the case of a member of the New York city teachers' retirement
system with a membership date prior to July twenty-seventh, nineteen
hundred seventy-six and not less than twenty years of credited service
in that system who has transferred his/her membership to the system
pursuant to this section or section forty-three of the retirement and
social security law, as applicable and is a member of the system on or
after July first, nineteen hundred ninety-eight, the actuary shall
compute the actuarial accrued liability for the member's pension under
subdivision five of section five hundred thirty-five of this article
immediately following transfer as if such member had always been a
member of the system, using the service credited to such member which
was transferred to the system, the member's salary in connection with
such service and the actuarial assumptions used to compute pension
reserves pursuant to subdivision one of this section. If the sum of the
reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any, and the pension reserve
received by the system from the New York city teachers' retirement
system in respect of such member exceeds such accrued liability as
determined by the actuary, such excess shall be allocated as of the date
of the receipt of such reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to the
annuity savings fund for the benefit of such member and shall be treated
as if it had been contributed to such fund by the member, provided,
however, that, in no event, may the amount so allocated to the annuity
savings fund as provided herein exceed the amount of such
reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any, actually received from the
New York city teachers' retirement system. In the case of any member
retiring prior to July first, two thousand one, any accumulated
contributions to the credit of such member in the annuity savings fund
as of the member's date of retirement resulting from a determination of
the actuary pursuant to this subdivision shall be paid to the retiree in
a lump sum with interest at the rate of five per centum per annum from
the date of retirement to the date of payment. The retirement board is
authorized to promulgate such rules and regulations as it may deem
necessary or appropriate to implement this subdivision.

5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, except
for the purposes of providing the benefits, if any, of subdivision four

of this section, with respect to transfers pursuant to this section
which occur on or after the effective date of this subdivision, no
transfer of a pension reserve pursuant to subdivision one or two of this
section shall be required when the member is transferring from a public
employee retirement system of this state to any other public employee
retirement system of this state. For the purpose of giving the
transferring member such status and crediting such service in the
retirement system to which the member is transferring as such member was
allowed in the retirement system from which the member has transferred,
the transfer shall be deemed complete upon receipt by the transferee
retirement system of (a) a statement from the transferor retirement
system of the transferring member's date of membership in the transferor
retirement system, tier status, service credited to the transferred
membership, and such other information as the transferee retirement
system may require to effectuate the transfer, and (b) such member's
accumulated contributions from the transferor retirement system, if same
had not been previously withdrawn, or notice from the transferor
retirement system that such member had no accumulated contributions, or
notice from the transferor retirement system that such member's
accumulated contributions had been withdrawn and the amount thereof and,
as applicable, receipt from such member of such member's accumulated
contributions and interest.

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