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| Public Act 103-0017
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| HB1297 Enrolled | LRB103 25566 RPS 51915 b |
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AN ACT concerning public employee benefits.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by |
changing Section 16-127 as follows:
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(40 ILCS 5/16-127) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 16-127)
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Sec. 16-127. Computation of creditable service.
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(a) Each member shall receive regular credit for all
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service as a teacher from the date membership begins, for |
which
satisfactory evidence is supplied and all contributions |
have been paid.
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(b) The following periods of service shall earn optional |
credit and
each member shall receive credit for all such |
service for which
satisfactory evidence is supplied and all |
contributions have been paid as
of the date specified:
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(1) Prior service as a teacher.
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(2) Service in a capacity essentially similar or |
equivalent to that of a
teacher, in the public common |
schools in school districts in this State not
included |
within the provisions of this System, or of any other |
State,
territory, dependency or possession of the United |
States, or in schools
operated by or under the auspices of |
the United States, or under the
auspices of any agency or |
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department of any other State, and service during
any |
period of professional speech correction or special |
education
experience for a public agency within this State |
or any other State,
territory, dependency or possession of |
the United States, and service prior
to February 1, 1951 |
as a recreation worker for the Illinois Department of
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Public Safety, for a period not exceeding the lesser of |
2/5 of the total
creditable service of the member or 10 |
years. The maximum service of 10
years which is allowable |
under this paragraph shall be reduced by the
service |
credit which is validated by other retirement systems |
under
paragraph (i) of Section 15-113 and paragraph 1 of |
Section 17-133. Credit
granted under this paragraph may |
not be used in determination of a
retirement annuity or |
disability benefits unless the member has at least 5
years |
of creditable service earned subsequent to this employment |
with one
or more of the following systems: Teachers' |
Retirement System of the State
of Illinois, State |
Universities Retirement System, and the Public School
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Teachers' Pension and Retirement Fund of Chicago. Whenever |
such service
credit exceeds the maximum allowed for all |
purposes of this Article, the
first service rendered in |
point of time shall be considered.
The changes to this |
subdivision (b)(2) made by Public Act 86-272 shall
apply |
not only to persons who on or after its effective date |
(August 23,
1989) are in service as a teacher under the |
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System, but also to persons
whose status as such a teacher |
terminated prior to such effective date,
whether or not |
such person is an annuitant on that date.
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(3) Any periods immediately following teaching |
service, under this
System or under Article 17, (or |
immediately following service prior to
February 1, 1951 as |
a recreation worker for the Illinois Department of
Public |
Safety) spent in active service with the military forces |
of the
United States; periods spent in educational |
programs that prepare for
return to teaching sponsored by |
the federal government following such
active military |
service; if a teacher returns to teaching service within
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one calendar year after discharge or after the completion |
of the
educational program, a further period, not |
exceeding one calendar year,
between time spent in |
military service or in such educational programs and
the |
return to employment as a teacher under this System; and a |
period of up
to 2 years of active military service not |
immediately following employment
as a teacher.
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The changes to this Section and Section 16-128 |
relating to military
service made by P.A. 87-794 shall |
apply not only to persons who on or after its
effective |
date are in service as a teacher under the System, but also |
to
persons whose status as a teacher terminated prior to |
that date, whether or not
the person is an annuitant on |
that date. In the case of an annuitant who
applies for |
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credit allowable under this Section for a period of |
military
service that did not immediately follow |
employment, and who has made the
required contributions |
for such credit, the annuity shall be recalculated to
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include the additional service credit, with the increase |
taking effect on the
date the System received written |
notification of the annuitant's intent to
purchase the |
credit, if payment of all the required contributions is |
made
within 60 days of such notice, or else on the first |
annuity payment date
following the date of payment of the |
required contributions. In calculating
the automatic |
annual increase for an annuity that has been recalculated |
under
this Section, the increase attributable to the |
additional service allowable
under P.A. 87-794 shall be |
included in the calculation of automatic annual
increases |
accruing after the effective date of the recalculation.
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Credit for military service shall be determined as |
follows: if entry
occurs during the months of July, |
August, or September and the member was a
teacher at the |
end of the immediately preceding school term, credit shall
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be granted from July 1 of the year in which he or she |
entered service; if
entry occurs during the school term |
and the teacher was in teaching service
at the beginning |
of the school term, credit shall be granted from July 1 of
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such year. In all other cases where credit for military |
service is allowed,
credit shall be granted from the date |
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of entry into the service.
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The total period of military service for which credit |
is granted shall
not exceed 5 years for any member unless |
the service: (A) is validated
before July 1, 1964, and (B) |
does not extend beyond July 1, 1963. Credit
for military |
service shall be granted under this Section only if not |
more
than 5 years of the military service for which credit |
is granted under this
Section is used by the member to |
qualify for a military retirement
allotment from any |
branch of the armed forces of the United States. The
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changes to this subdivision (b)(3) made by Public Act |
86-272 shall apply
not only to persons who on or after its |
effective date (August 23, 1989)
are in service as a |
teacher under the System, but also to persons whose
status |
as such a teacher terminated prior to such effective date, |
whether
or not such person is an annuitant on that date.
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(4) Any periods served as a member of the General |
Assembly.
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(5)(i) Any periods for which a teacher, as defined in |
Section
16-106, is granted a leave of absence, provided he |
or she returns to teaching
service creditable under this |
System or the State Universities Retirement
System |
following the leave; (ii) periods during which a teacher |
is
involuntarily laid off from teaching, provided he or |
she returns to teaching
following the lay-off; (iii) |
periods prior to July 1, 1983 during which
a teacher |
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ceased covered employment due to pregnancy, provided that |
the teacher
returned to teaching service creditable under |
this System or the State
Universities Retirement System |
following the pregnancy and submits evidence
satisfactory |
to the Board documenting that the employment ceased due to
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pregnancy; and (iv) periods prior to July 1, 1983 during |
which a teacher
ceased covered employment for the purpose |
of adopting an infant under 3 years
of age or caring for a |
newly adopted infant under 3 years of age, provided that
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the teacher returned to teaching service creditable under |
this System or the
State Universities Retirement System |
following the adoption and submits
evidence satisfactory |
to the Board documenting that the employment ceased for
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the purpose of adopting an infant under 3 years of age or |
caring for a newly
adopted infant under 3 years of age. |
However, total credit under this
paragraph (5) may not |
exceed 3 years.
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Any qualified member or annuitant may apply for credit |
under item (iii)
or (iv) of this paragraph (5) without |
regard to whether service was
terminated before the |
effective date of this amendatory Act of 1997. In the case |
of an annuitant who establishes credit under item (iii)
or |
(iv), the annuity shall be recalculated to include the |
additional
service credit. The increase in annuity shall |
take effect on the date the
System receives written |
notification of the annuitant's intent to purchase the
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credit, if the required evidence is submitted and the |
required contribution
paid within 60 days of that |
notification, otherwise on the first annuity
payment date |
following the System's receipt of the required evidence |
and
contribution. The increase in an annuity recalculated |
under this provision
shall be included in the calculation |
of automatic annual increases in the
annuity accruing |
after the effective date of the recalculation.
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Optional credit may be purchased under this subsection |
(b)(5) for
periods during which a teacher has been granted |
a leave of absence pursuant
to Section 24-13 of the School |
Code. A teacher whose service under this
Article |
terminated prior to the effective date of P.A. 86-1488 |
shall be
eligible to purchase such optional credit. If a |
teacher who purchases this
optional credit is already |
receiving a retirement annuity under this Article,
the |
annuity shall be recalculated as if the annuitant had |
applied for the leave
of absence credit at the time of |
retirement. The difference between the
entitled annuity |
and the actual annuity shall be credited to the purchase |
of
the optional credit. The remainder of the purchase cost |
of the optional credit
shall be paid on or before April 1, |
1992.
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The change in this paragraph made by Public Act 86-273 |
shall
be applicable to teachers who retire after June 1, |
1989, as well as to
teachers who are in service on that |
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date.
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(6) Any days of unused and uncompensated accumulated |
sick leave earned
by a teacher. The service credit granted |
under this paragraph shall be the
ratio of the number of |
unused and uncompensated accumulated sick leave days
to |
170 days, subject to a maximum of 2 years of service
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credit. Prior to the member's retirement, each former |
employer shall
certify to the System the number of unused |
and uncompensated accumulated
sick leave days credited to |
the member at the time of termination of service.
The |
period of unused sick leave shall not be considered in |
determining
the effective date of retirement. A member is |
not required to make
contributions in order to obtain |
service credit for unused sick leave.
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Credit for sick leave shall, at retirement, be granted |
by the System
for any retiring regional or assistant |
regional superintendent of schools
at the rate of 6 days |
per year of creditable service or portion thereof
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established while serving as such superintendent or |
assistant
superintendent.
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(7) Periods prior to February 1, 1987 served as an |
employee of the
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy |
for which credit has not been
terminated under Section |
15-113.9 of this Code.
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(8) Service as a substitute teacher for work performed
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prior to July 1, 1990.
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(9) Service as a part-time teacher for work performed
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prior to July 1, 1990.
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(10) Up to 2 years of employment with Southern |
Illinois University -
Carbondale from September 1, 1959 to |
August 31, 1961, or with Governors
State University from |
September 1, 1972 to August 31, 1974, for which the
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teacher has no credit under Article 15. To receive credit |
under this item
(10), a teacher must apply in writing to |
the Board and pay the required
contributions before May 1, |
1993 and have at least 12 years of service
credit under |
this Article.
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(b-1) A member may establish optional credit for up to 2 |
years of service
as a teacher or administrator employed by a |
private school recognized by the
Illinois State Board of |
Education, provided that the teacher (i) was certified
under |
the law governing the certification of teachers at the time |
the service
was rendered, (ii) applies in writing on or before |
June 30, 2028 2023, (iii) supplies satisfactory evidence of |
the employment, (iv)
completes at least 10 years of |
contributing service as a teacher as defined in
Section |
16-106, and (v) pays the contribution required in subsection |
(d-5) of
Section 16-128. The member may apply for credit under |
this subsection and pay
the required contribution before |
completing the 10 years of contributing
service required under |
item (iv), but the credit may not be used until the
item (iv) |
contributing service requirement has been met.
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(c) The service credits specified in this Section shall be |
granted only
if: (1) such service credits are not used for |
credit in any other statutory
tax-supported public employee |
retirement system other than the federal Social
Security |
program; and (2) the member makes the required contributions |
as
specified in Section 16-128. Except as provided in |
subsection (b-1) of
this Section, the service credit shall be |
effective as of the date the
required contributions are |
completed.
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Any service credits granted under this Section shall |
terminate upon
cessation of membership for any cause.
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Credit may not be granted under this Section covering any |
period for
which an age retirement or disability retirement |
allowance has been paid.
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Credit may not be granted under this Section for service |
as an employee of an entity that provides substitute teaching |
services under Section 2-3.173 of the School Code and is not a |
school district. |
(Source: P.A. 102-525, eff. 8-20-21.)
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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
becoming law.
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