PART II. MEMBERSHIP

§2051. Membership

A. The membership of the retirement system shall be composed as follows:

(1) All persons who shall become employees as defined in R.S. 11:2031(10), except those specifically excluded under R.S. 11:2052, shall become members as a condition of their employment. Any employee who was excluded from membership on the basis of age, shall be entitled to receive credit in the system for the period in which he was denied membership. In order to obtain such membership and credit for such service, each such person shall make application to the board of trustees therefor prior to January 1, 1994, and shall furnish to the board a detailed statement of all service for which credit is claimed. In addition, each such person shall pay into the system the member's and employer's contributions on the salary earned during the period for which credit for service is claimed at the contribution rates which were in effect at the time service was rendered plus eight percent interest thereon from the time the service was rendered until paid. However, the employing agency may pay the employer's contributions and interest in its discretion. However, in no event shall the amount paid be less than the actuarial cost of the creditable purchased time. The amount to be paid hereunder shall be paid in one lump sum prior to July 1, 1994. Any person who is an employee as defined in R.S. 11:2031(10), except those excluded under R.S. 11:2052, and who was denied membership in the system because of his age, may elect not to be covered in the membership of the system in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph (2) of this Subsection.

(2) All persons who are employees as the term is defined in R.S. 11:2031(10), except those specifically excluded under R.S. 11:2052, and who were denied membership in the system on account of age, shall become members on July 1, 1993, unless within a period of ninety days thereafter any such employee shall file with the board of trustees on a form prescribed by such board a notice of his election not to be covered in the membership of the system and a duly executed waiver of all present and prospective benefits which would otherwise inure to him on account of his participation in the retirement system.

(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any person who is retired from service under any actuarially funded state, municipal, parochial, or other retirement system which is supported in whole or in part by public funds, and who is receiving retirement benefits therefrom, who is otherwise eligible for membership in this system by reason of employment, shall be eligible to become a member of this system if he was under the age of fifty-five years at the time of the employment which normally would render him eligible for membership. Any such person may gain credit for service, rendered on and after January 1, 1976 as an employee in an office of a registrar of voters while he was not a member of the system, if he pays into the system an amount equal to all contributions which would have been required had he been a member of the system, plus interest thereon at the rate of five percent per annum compounded to the date of repayment. No such person shall be permitted to retire from the system until he has been a member of this system for at least four years.

B. All persons who are employees as the term is defined in R.S. 11:2031, Paragraph (10) on the date as of which the retirement system is established, who are members of any fund or who are eligible for membership in any fund operated for the retirement of employees by the state of Louisiana, or by a city, parish, or other political subdivision of the state of Louisiana when this Chapter takes effect, shall cease to be members in such fund upon the effective date of this Chapter and shall receive a refund of all amounts paid into such fund, together with any interest which may have accrued thereon, and shall become a member of the Registrars of Voters Employees' Retirement System with full credit for all prior service.

Acts 1954, No. 215, §3; Acts 1962, No. 13, §1; Acts 1974, No. 388, §1; Acts 1975, No. 539, §1; Acts 1976, No. 526, §1; Redesignated from R.S. 18:1681 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §3, eff. June 25, 1991; Amended by Acts 1993, No. 448, §1, eff. July 1, 1993.