N.Y. Educ. Law § 522

§ 522. Transfer of contributions between retirement systems. 1. Any\ncontributor, withdrawing from the retirement system and at such time\ngiving notice to the retirement board of his intention of becoming\nwithin two years a member of another teachers' retirement system which\nis being operated on an actuarial basis either under the laws of this\nstate or under the laws of another state, provided the system has a\nprovision similar to this provision permitting reciprocal transfer, may,\nupon depositing within two years his accumulated contributions in such\nother retirement system or if the member had no accumulated\ncontributions credited to his individual account in the retirement\nsystem, upon joining such other retirement system within two years,\napply to the retirement board for a transfer from the pension\naccumulation fund to the corresponding fund of such other retirement\nsystem of the amount of his pension reserve as of the time when he\nwithdrew his contributions from the annuity savings fund or filed a\nnotice of withdrawal with the system, and the retirement board shall\ntransfer to such other retirement system the amount of such reserve,\nprovided that, if such other retirement system is not under the laws of\nthis state, credit for a pension benefit of equivalent actuarial value\nto the amount of reserve transferred shall be given the teacher in the\nother retirement system and that the retirement board is satisfied that\nthe retirement system to which said transfer is made is on a solvent\nbasis.\n 2. Any contributor entering the retirement system after having\nwithdrawn from another retirement system and having given notice at the\ntime of withdrawal to the retirement board of such system of his\nintention of becoming within one year a member of the retirement system,\nmay deposit in the annuity savings fund the amount of his accumulated\ncontributions withdrawn from such other retirement system or if the\nmember had no accumulated contributions credited to his individual\naccount in such other retirement system, such member shall in lieu of\ndepositing moneys in the annuity savings fund, file a notice of intent\nto transfer pursuant to rules and regulations adopted by the retirement\nboard. Within one year of such deposit or the filing of a notice of\nintent to transfer as provided by this subdivision, the pension reserve\nto his credit in such other retirement system, if such other retirement\nsystem is operated upon an actuarial basis under the laws of this state,\nshall be transferred, and if such other system is operated upon an\nactuarial basis under the laws of another state, may be transferred to\nthe pension accumulation fund. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary\nin this article, such contributor shall be classified in this retirement\nsystem as a present teacher or as a new entrant accordingly as he would\nhave been classified had the service rendered in the other retirement\nsystem been rendered while a member of this retirement system. A person\nso transferred to this retirement system or who has heretofore\ntransferred to this retirement system shall be deemed to have been a\nmember of this retirement system during the entire period of membership\nservice credited to him in the system from which he has transferred.\nSuch transferee, however, shall not receive more than three per cent\ninterest on his contributions and accumulated contributions unless he\nhas continuously been a member in either the system from which he has\ntransferred or in this retirement system since a date prior to the first\nday of July, nineteen hundred forty-eight. This shall not be construed\nto prevent a change in the interest rate to such member if the interest\nrate payable to other members of this retirement system is changed. In\ncase he comes from a retirement system not under the laws of this state,\nhe shall be given a prior service certificate showing a period of\nservice such that the liability incurred by the retirement system on his\naccount by reason of prior service shall be equal in amount to the\namount of the reserve so transferred, provided that in no case shall\nsuch a contributor who is classified as a new entrant be given less\ncredit in his prior service certificate than he would have received had\nno reserve been transferred on his account. In case a contributor\ntransfers between retirement systems under the laws of this state, he\nshall be credited in the system to which he is transferring with all\nservice allowed to him in the first system. Such contributor,\nnotwithstanding any other provision of law, shall on retirement after\nthree years of service in the second retirement system be entitled to a\npension based on a final average salary earned during any five\nconsecutive years of service in either retirement system or in both\nretirement systems together, whichever average amount may be the\ngreater, with the condition that no such contributor shall be entitled\non retirement within three years of the date of his transfer to a\ngreater pension for such service rendered before his transfer than he\nwould have received had he remained under the pension provisions of the\nfirst retirement system.\n 3. Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, a former member of\nthe New York city teachers' retirement system who holds membership in\nthe New York state teachers' retirement system on the effective date of\nthis act and who would have been entitled to transfer service credit to\nsuch latter retirement system pursuant to this section had his\nmembership in the former retirement system not terminated, due to no\nnegligence on the part of the member, may have his transfer rights under\nthis section restored by depositing, within one year of the effective\ndate of this act, in the former retirement system an amount equal to the\ncontributions withdrawn from such system with regular interest thereon.\n 4. In the case of a member of the New York city teachers' retirement\nsystem with a membership date prior to July twenty-seventh, nineteen\nhundred seventy-six and not less than twenty years of credited service\nin that system who has transferred his/her membership to the system\npursuant to this section or section forty-three of the retirement and\nsocial security law, as applicable and is a member of the system on or\nafter July first, nineteen hundred ninety-eight, the actuary shall\ncompute the actuarial accrued liability for the member's pension under\nsubdivision five of section five hundred thirty-five of this article\nimmediately following transfer as if such member had always been a\nmember of the system, using the service credited to such member which\nwas transferred to the system, the member's salary in connection with\nsuch service and the actuarial assumptions used to compute pension\nreserves pursuant to subdivision one of this section. If the sum of the\nreserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any, and the pension reserve\nreceived by the system from the New York city teachers' retirement\nsystem in respect of such member exceeds such accrued liability as\ndetermined by the actuary, such excess shall be allocated as of the date\nof the receipt of such reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to the\nannuity savings fund for the benefit of such member and shall be treated\nas if it had been contributed to such fund by the member, provided,\nhowever, that, in no event, may the amount so allocated to the annuity\nsavings fund as provided herein exceed the amount of such\nreserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any, actually received from the\nNew York city teachers' retirement system. In the case of any member\nretiring prior to July first, two thousand one, any accumulated\ncontributions to the credit of such member in the annuity savings fund\nas of the member's date of retirement resulting from a determination of\nthe actuary pursuant to this subdivision shall be paid to the retiree in\na lump sum with interest at the rate of five per centum per annum from\nthe date of retirement to the date of payment. The retirement board is\nauthorized to promulgate such rules and regulations as it may deem\nnecessary or appropriate to implement this subdivision.\n 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, except\nfor the purposes of providing the benefits, if any, of subdivision four\nof this section, with respect to transfers pursuant to this section\nwhich occur on or after the effective date of this subdivision, no\ntransfer of a pension reserve pursuant to subdivision one or two of this\nsection shall be required when the member is transferring from a public\nemployee retirement system of this state to any other public employee\nretirement system of this state. For the purpose of giving the\ntransferring member such status and crediting such service in the\nretirement system to which the member is transferring as such member was\nallowed in the retirement system from which the member has transferred,\nthe transfer shall be deemed complete upon receipt by the transferee\nretirement system of (a) a statement from the transferor retirement\nsystem of the transferring member's date of membership in the transferor\nretirement system, tier status, service credited to the transferred\nmembership, and such other information as the transferee retirement\nsystem may require to effectuate the transfer, and (b) such member's\naccumulated contributions from the transferor retirement system, if same\nhad not been previously withdrawn, or notice from the transferor\nretirement system that such member had no accumulated contributions, or\nnotice from the transferor retirement system that such member's\naccumulated contributions had been withdrawn and the amount thereof and,\nas applicable, receipt from such member of such member's accumulated\ncontributions and interest.\n