Chap. 151.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 7 of Chapter 325 of the Acts
of Assembly of 1942, approved March 31, 1942, short title of which is “Vir-
ginia Retirement Act”, relating to prior service credits. [H 235]

Approved March 7, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section seven of chapter three hundred twenty-five of the
Acts of Assembly of nineteen hundred forty-two, approved March thirty-
one, nineteen hundred forty-two, be amended and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 7. Certain statements to be filed; creditable service.—(a)
Under such rules and regulations as are adopted by the Board, each
employee upon becoming a member, or someone on his behalf, shall file
with the Board in such form as the Board may prescribe, a statement of
the facts pertaining to his status as a member, which shall include a de-
tailed description of all service rendered as an employee, as that term 1s
defined in this act, and any other employment in which he has been en-
gaged by the Commonwealth, or by any department, institution or agency
thereof, prior to his becoming a member, if any prior service is claimed,
and such other information as the Board may require. Until such state-
ment is filed, no member or his beneficiary shall be eligible to receive
any benefits under this act.

(b) The Board shall determine by appropriate rules and regula-
tions how much service in any year is the equivalent of a year of service,
but in no case shall it allow credit for more than one year of service for
all service rendered in any period of twelve consecutive months.

(c) Subject to the above restrictions, and to such other rules and
regulations as are prescribed by the Board, the Board shall ascertain,
as soon as practicable after the said statement is filed, the amount of
prior service, if any, to which each member is entitled. If a member is
an employee who was in service on, or a person who was a teacher dur-
ing any part of the school year next preceding, or a person who was on
leave from service on, the date of establishment of the retirement system,
and if such employee or person, in the case of a person who has once
elected not to become a member, has filed his application for membership
within one hundred and fifty days after such date of establishment, or, in
the case of a person on leave from service on the date of establishment,
within one hundred and fifty days after the termination of such leave, the
Board shall issue to such member a prior service certificate certifying the
length of service rendered by him. Any period or periods during which any
such member has been on leave from service shall not be counted 1n his
prior service credit. The Board may issue prior service certificates to
any other member who was an employee at any time during the three.
year period next preceding the date of establishment of the retirement
system and who re-enters service within the three-year period next fol-
lowing such establishment.

In addition to any prior service credit certified on his prior service
certificate for service rendered as an employee, as that term is defined in
this act, a member shall also be entitled to have certified on his prior
service certificate, as a part of his prior service credit, one year’s credit
for each year prior to the date of establishment of the retirement system
during which he was regularly and continuously employed by the Com-
monwealth, or by any department, institution or agency thereof, and not
compensated on a salary basis, regardless of the method upon which
he was compensated and of the intervals at which his compensation was
paid; provided that any person who has been a continuous employee of
the Department of Highways since the establishment of the secondary
system of State highways, and who was, at that time and prior thereto,
under employment by any county for work on any road which became
a part of such secondary system, shall be entitled to have one year’s
credit on his prior service certificate for each year he was continuously
so employed by such county; provided further that whatever contribu-
tions are required to be made to entitle the employee to such credits.
shall be made by the Department of Highways out of funds appropriated
to that department.

(d) A prior service certificate shall be conclusive as to such prior
service credit unless and until it is modified by the Board upon applica-
tion made by the member to whom it is issued within one year after the
date of its issuance or of any such modification, or upon discovery by the
Board of material error or fraud.

(e) When membership ceases, such certificate shall become void.
Should the employee again become a member, such employee shall enter
the system as an employee not entitled to prior service credit, except
as otherwise provided in subsection (e) of section nine.

(f) Creditable service at retirement on which the retirement allow-
ance of a member shall be based shall consist of the membership service
rendered by him, since he last became a member, and also, if he has a
prior service certificate which is in full force and effect. the service certi-
fied on his prior service certificate.