WEST VIRGINIA CODE











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WVC 5 - 10 C- 4

§5-10C-4. Pick-up of members' contributions by participating

public employers.

(a) The State of West Virginia for its public employees and

county boards of education for its teachers shall pick-up and pay

the contributions which the employees are required by law to make

to the retirement system in which they are a member for all

compensation earned by its member employees after June 30, 1986.

Any political subdivision that is a participating public employer

in the West Virginia Public Employees Retirement System shall

pick-up and pay the contributions which the employees are required

by law to make to the retirement system in which they are members

for all compensation earned by its member employees after January

1, 1995. Public employers participating in the Municipal Police

Officers and Firefighters Retirement System shall pick-up and pay

the contributions which the employees are required by law to make

to the system in which they are members for all compensation earned

by its member employees beginning January 1, 2010. Counties shall

pick-up and pay the contributions which the employees are required

by law to make to the Deputy Sheriff Retirement System in which

they are members for all compensation earned by its member

employees after June 30, 1998. Any election made by a political

subdivision to pick-up and pay employee contributions prior to

January 1, 1995, remains in effect and is not altered or amended by

the amendments made to this section during the regular legislative

session, 1995. Unless a different commencement date for pick-up is specifically stated in this section, all participating public

employers under this article, with respect to retirement systems

subject to this article, shall pick-up and pay the contributions

which their employees are required by law to make to the retirement

system in which they are a member from and after the commencement

of the required employee contributions.

(b) When the participating public employer picks up and pays

the contributions of its member employees, the contributions,

although designated by statute as employee contributions, shall be

treated as employer contributions in determining the tax treatment

thereof under article twenty-one, chapter eleven of this code and

the federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and the

contributions shall not be included in the gross income of the

employee in determining his or her tax treatment under those

provisions until they are distributed or made available to the

employee or his or her beneficiary. The participating public

employer shall pay these employee contributions from the same

source of funds used in paying compensation to the employee, by

effecting an equal cash reduction in the gross salary of the

employee, or by an off-set against future salary increases, or by

a combination of reduction in gross salary and off-set against

future salary increases. In no event shall any employee of a

participating public employer have the right to opt out of pick-up

or to elect to receive the picked-up and contributed amounts

directly instead of having them paid by the participating public employer into the retirement system pursuant to this article.

(c) When employee contributions are picked up and paid by the

participating public employer, they shall be treated by the board

of trustees in the same manner and to the same extent as employee

contributions made prior to the date on which employee

contributions are picked up by the participating public employer.

(d) The amount of employee contributions picked up by the

participating public employer shall be paid to the retirement

system in the manner and form and in the frequency required by the

board of trustees and shall be accompanied by supporting data that

the board of trustees may prescribe. When paid to the retirement

system, each of these amounts shall be credited to the deposit fund

account of the member for whom the contribution was picked up and

paid by the participating public employer.


Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2015 Regular Session

The WV Code Online is an unofficial copy of the annotated WV Code, provided as a convenience. It has NOT been edited for publication, and is not in any way official or authoritative.