Chapter 968 Oregon Laws 2001

AN ACT

HB 3406

Relating to public employee retirement; creating new provisions; and amending ORS 238.005.

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:

SECTION 1. ORS 238.005 is amended to read:

238.005. For purposes of this chapter:

(1) The term “annuity” means payments for life derived from contributions made by a member as provided in this chapter.

(2) The term “calendar year” means 12 calendar months commencing on January 1 and ending on December 31 following.

(3) The term “continuous service” means service not interrupted for more than five years, except that such continuous service shall be computed without regard to interruptions in the case of:

(a) An employee who had returned to the service of the employer as of January 1, 1945, and who remained in that employment until having established membership in the Public Employees Retirement System.

(b) An employee who was in the armed services on January 1, 1945, and returned to the service of the employer within one year of the date of being otherwise than dishonorably discharged and remained in that employment until having established membership in the Public Employees Retirement System.

(4) The term “creditable service” means any period of time during which an active member is being paid a salary by a participating public employer and contributions are being made to the system either by or on behalf of the member. For purposes of computing years of “creditable service,” full months and major fractions of a month shall be considered to be one-twelfth of a year and shall be added to all full years. “Creditable service” includes all retirement credit received by a member.

(5) The term “employee” includes, in addition to employees, public officers, but does not include:

(a) Persons engaged as independent contractors.

(b) Seasonal, emergency or casual workers whose periods of employment with any public employer or public employers do not total 600 hours in any calendar year.

(c) Persons, other than workers in the Oregon Industries for the Blind under ORS 346.190, provided sheltered employment or made-work by a public employer in an employment or industries program maintained for the benefit of such persons.

(d) Persons employed and paid from federal funds received under the Emergency Job and Unemployment Assistance Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-567) or any other federal program intended primarily to alleviate unemployment. However, any such person shall be considered an “employee” if not otherwise excluded by paragraphs (a) to (c) of this subsection and the public employer elects to have the person so considered by an irrevocable written notice to the board.

(e) Persons who are employees of a railroad, as defined in ORS 824.020, and who, as such employees, are included in a retirement plan under federal railroad retirement statutes. This paragraph shall be deemed to have been in effect since the inception of the system.

(6) The term “fiscal year” means 12 calendar months commencing on July 1 and ending on June 30 following.

(7)(a) The term “member” means a person who has established membership in the system and whose membership has not been terminated as described in ORS 238.095. “Member” includes active, inactive and retired members.

(b) “Active member” means a member who is presently employed by a participating public employer in a position that meets the requirements of ORS 238.015 (4), and who has completed the six-month period of service required by ORS 238.015.

(c) “Inactive member” means a member who is absent from the service of all employers participating in the system, whose membership has not been terminated in the manner described by ORS 238.095, and who is not retired for service or disability. “Inactive member” includes a member who would be an active member except that the person's only employment with a participating public employer is in a position that does not meet the requirements of ORS 238.015 (4).

(d) “Retired member” means a member who is retired for service or disability.

(8) The term “pension” means annual payments for life derived from contributions by one or more public employers.

(9) The term “public employer” means the state, one of its agencies, any city, county, municipal or public corporation, any political subdivision of the state or any instrumentality thereof, or an agency created by two or more such political subdivisions to provide themselves governmental services. For purposes of this chapter, such agency created by two or more political subdivisions is a governmental instrumentality and a legal entity with power to enter into contracts, hold property and sue and be sued.

(10) The term “retirement credit” means a period of time that is treated as creditable service for the purposes of this chapter.

(11)(a) The term “salary” means the remuneration paid an employee in cash out of the funds of a public employer in return for services to the employer, plus the monetary value, as determined by the Public Employees Retirement Board, of whatever living quarters, board, lodging, fuel, laundry and other advantages the employer furnishes the employee in return for services.

(b) “Salary” includes but is not limited to:

(A) Payments of employee and employer money into a deferred compensation plan, which are deemed salary paid in each month of deferral;

(B) The amount of participation in a tax-sheltered or deferred annuity, which is deemed salary paid in each month of participation; and

(C) Retroactive payments made to an employee to correct a clerical error or pursuant to an award by a court or by order of or a conciliation agreement with an administration agency charged with enforcing federal or state law protecting the employee's rights to employment or wages, which shall be allocated to and deemed paid in the periods in which the work was done or in which it would have been done.

(A) Travel or any other expenses incidental to employer's business which is reimbursed by the employer;

(B) Payments for insurance coverage by an employer on behalf of employee or employee and dependents, for which the employee has no cash option;

(D) Any lump sum payment for accumulated unused sick leave;

(E) Any accelerated payment of an employment contract for a future period or an advance against future wages;

(F) Any retirement incentive, retirement severance pay, retirement bonus or retirement gratuitous payment;

(G) Payments for periods of leave of absence after the date the employer and employee have agreed that no future services qualifying pursuant to ORS 238.015 (3) will be performed, except for sick leave and vacation;

(H) Payments for instructional services rendered to institutions of the Department of Higher Education or the Oregon Health Sciences University when such services are in excess of full-time employment subject to this chapter. A person employed under a contract for less than 12 months is subject to this subparagraph only for the months to which the contract pertains; or

(I) Payments made by an employer for insurance coverage provided to a domestic partner of an employee.

(12) The term “volunteer firefighter” means a firefighter whose position normally requires less than 600 hours of service per year.

(13) The term “school year” means the period beginning July 1 and ending June 30 next following.

(14) The term “police officer” includes:

(a) Employees of institutions defined in ORS 421.005 as Department of Corrections institutions, whose duties, as assigned by the director, include the custody of persons committed to the custody of or transferred to the Department of Corrections and any other employee of the Department of Corrections who was classified as a police officer on or before July 27, 1989, whether or not such classification was authorized by law.

(b) Employees of the Department of State Police who are classified as police officers by the Superintendent of State Police.

(c) Employees of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission who are classified as enforcement officers by the administrator of the commission.

(d) Sheriffs and those deputy sheriffs or other employees of a sheriff whose duties, as classified by the sheriff, are the regular duties of police officers or corrections officers.

(e) Police chiefs and police personnel of a city who are classified as police officers by the council or other governing body of the city.

(f) Parole and probation officers employed by the Department of Corrections, [and] parole and probation officers who are transferred to county employment under ORS 423.549 and adult parole and probation officers, as defined in ORS 181.610, who are classified as police officers for the purposes of this chapter by the county governing body. If a county classifies adult parole and probation officers as police officers for the purposes of this chapter, and the employees so classified are represented by a labor organization, any proposal by the county to change that classification or to cease to classify adult parole and probation officers as police officers for the purposes of this chapter is a mandatory subject of bargaining.

(g) Police officers appointed under ORS 276.021 or 276.023.

(h) Employees of the Port of Portland who are classified as airport police by the Board of Commissioners of the Port of Portland.

(i) Employees of the State Department of Agriculture who are classified as livestock police officers by the Director of Agriculture.

(j) Employees of the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training who are classified by the department as other than secretarial or clerical personnel.

(k) Investigators of the Criminal Justice Division of the Department of Justice.

(L) Corrections officers as defined in ORS 181.610.

(m) Employees of the Oregon State Lottery Commission who are classified by the Director of the Oregon State Lottery as enforcement agents pursuant to ORS 461.110.

(n) The Director of the Department of Corrections.

(o) An employee who for seven consecutive years has been classified as a police officer as defined by this section, and who is employed or transferred by the Department of Corrections to fill a position designated by the director as being eligible for police officer status.

(p) An employee of the Department of Corrections classified as a police officer on or prior to July 27, 1989, whether or not that classification was authorized by law, so long as the employee remains in the position held on July 27, 1989. The initial classification of an employee under a system implemented pursuant to ORS 240.190 will not affect police officer status.

(q) Employees of a school district who are appointed and duly sworn members of a law enforcement agency of the district as provided in ORS 332.531 or otherwise employed full-time as police officers commissioned by the district.

(r) Employees at the MacLaren School, Hillcrest School of Oregon and other youth correction facilities and juvenile detention facilities under ORS 419A.050, 419A.052 and 420.005 to 420.915, who are required to hold valid Oregon teaching licenses and who have supervisory, control or teaching responsibilities over juveniles committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections or the Oregon Youth Authority.

(s) Employees at youth correction facilities as defined in ORS 420.005 whose primary job description involves the custody, control, treatment, investigation or supervision of juveniles placed in such facilities.

(t) Employees of the Oregon Youth Authority who are classified as juvenile parole and probation officers.

(15) The term “final average salary” means whichever of the following is greater:

(a) The average salary per calendar year paid by one or more participating public employers to an employee who is an active member of the system in three of the calendar years of membership before the effective date of retirement of the employee, in which three years the employee was paid the highest salary. The three calendar years in which the employee was paid the largest total salary may include calendar years in which the employee was employed for less than a full calendar year. If the number of calendar years of active membership before the effective date of retirement of the employee is three or less, the final average salary for the employee is the average salary per calendar year paid by one or more participating public employers to the employee in all of those years, without regard to whether the employee was employed for the full calendar year.

(b) One-third of the total salary paid by a participating public employer to an employee who is an active member of the system in the last 36 calendar months of active membership before the effective date of retirement of the employee.

(16) The term “firefighter” does not include a volunteer firefighter as defined in subsection (12) of this section, but does include:

(a) The State Fire Marshal, the chief deputy fire marshal and deputy state fire marshals; and

(b) An employee of the State Forestry Department who is certified by the State Forester as a professional wildland firefighter and whose primary duties include the abatement of uncontrolled fires as described in ORS 477.064.

(17) “Earliest service retirement age” means the age attained by a member when the member could first make application for retirement under the provisions of ORS 238.280.

(18) The term “normal retirement age” means:

(a) For a person who establishes membership in the system before January 1, 1996, as described in ORS 238.430, 55 years of age if the employee retires at that age as a police officer or firefighter or 58 years of age if the employee retires at that age as other than a police officer or firefighter.

(b) For a person who establishes membership in the system on or after January 1, 1996, as described in ORS 238.430, 55 years of age if the employee retires at that age as a police officer or firefighter or 60 years of age if the employee retires at that age as other than a police officer or firefighter.

SECTION 2. The amendments to ORS 238.005 by section 1 of this 2001 Act apply to all service by an adult parole and probation officer that is performed on and after the date that the adult parole and probation officer is classified as a police officer for the purposes of ORS chapter 238 by the county governing body, whether that classification occurs before, on or after the effective date of this 2001 Act.

Approved by the Governor August 15, 2001

Filed in the office of Secretary of State August 16, 2001

Effective date January 1, 2002

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