Section 36-27-51 Credit to Officer or Employee for Prior Service with Another Eligible Employer.

(a)(1) Any person who, as of October 1, 1996, is an officer or a regular employee of an employer eligible to participate in the Employees’ Retirement System under Section 36-27-6, and is covered or eligible to be covered under the state Employees’ Retirement System and who has previously been employed by another employer eligible for participation under Section 36-27-6, shall be eligible to receive up to 10 years of creditable service for employment rendered to another employer eligible for participation in the Employees’ Retirement System under Section 36-27-6 provided, that the member claiming the credit shall have attained not less than five years of contributing membership service credit, exclusive of military service credit under the Employees’ Retirement System, the member shall not have received credit for the prior service under any public retirement or pension plan except the federal Social Security program, and the member performs and complies with the conditions prescribed in subdivision (2). (2) A member of the Employees’ Retirement System eligible under this subsection, may receive credit for service rendered to another employer eligible for participation in the Employees’ Retirement System as provided in subdivision (1), provided that prior to receiving the credit, the member shall contribute, prior to the date of his or her retirement, to the Employees’ Retirement System, for each year of service credit, a percentage of his or her current annual earnable compensation or the average of his or her current annual earnable compensation for the two fiscal years immediately prior to the purchase, whichever is greater; the applicable percentage of the annual earnable compensations shall be the sum of the prevailing percentage rates of employer and member contributions, as required by the most recent actuarial valuation. (b) The eligible employer defined in subsection (a) shall certify in writing to the Employees’ Retirement System of Alabama the total employment status and earnable compensation by fiscal year for the member requesting the service credit. (c) The member shall claim, purchase, and receive credit for all the service certified from the eligible employer up to a maximum of 10 years. In addition, the member is only eligible for a maximum of 10 years of service credit under this section regardless of the total number of eligible employers and total years of service.