The Florida Senate

121.121  Future service to include authorized leaves of absence.--Future service of any member as defined in s. 121.021(21) shall also include up to 2 work years of creditable service for authorized leaves of absence if:

(1)  The member has completed a minimum of 10 years of creditable service, excluding periods of leave of absence;

(2)  The leave of absence is authorized in writing by the employer of the member and approved by the administrator;

(3)  The member returns to active employment performing service with a Florida Retirement System employer in a regularly established position immediately upon termination of the leave of absence and remains on the employer's payroll for 1 calendar month, except that a member who retires on disability while on a medical leave of absence shall not be required to return to employment; and

(4)  The member makes the required contributions for service credit during the leave of absence, which shall be 8 percent until January 1, 1975, and 9 percent thereafter of his or her rate of monthly compensation in effect immediately prior to the commencement of such leave for each month of such period, plus 4 percent interest until July 1, 1975, and 6.5 percent interest thereafter on such contributions, compounded annually each June 30 from the due date of the contribution to date of payment. Effective July 1, 1980, any leave of absence purchased pursuant to this section shall be at the contribution rates specified in s. 121.071 in effect at the time the leave is granted for the class of membership from which the leave of absence was granted; however, any member who purchased leave-of-absence credit prior to July 1, 1980, for a leave of absence from a position in a class other than the regular membership class, may pay the appropriate additional contributions plus compound interest thereon and receive creditable service for such leave of absence in the membership class from which the member was granted the leave of absence.

History.--s. 12, ch. 70-112; s. 10, ch. 74-302; s. 2, ch. 80-128; s. 8, ch. 83-76; s. 14, ch. 88-382; s. 776, ch. 95-147; s. 13, ch. 97-180.