Refunds to certain members upon discharge of resignation; deferred retirement

(a) Any employee who is discharged by order of the superintendent or otherwise terminates employment with the agency is, at the written request of the member to the board, entitled to receive from the fund a sum equal to the aggregate of the principal amount of moneys deducted from his or her base salary and paid into the fund plus four percent interest compounded thereon calculated annually as provided and required by this article. (b) Any member withdrawing contributions who may thereafter be reemployed by the agency shall not receive any prior service credit in the fund on account of former service. The employee may redeposit in the fund established by this article the amount of the refund, together with interest thereon at the rate of seven and one-half percent per annum from the date of withdrawal to the date of redeposit, in which case he or she shall receive the same credit on account of his or her former service as if no refund had been made. (c) Every employee who completes ten years of service with the agency is eligible, upon separation of employment, to either withdraw his or her contributions in accordance with subsection (a) of this section or to choose not to withdraw his or her accumulated contributions. Upon attainment of age sixty-two, a member who chooses not to withdraw his or her contributions is eligible to receive a retirement annuity. The annuity shall be payable during the lifetime of the retirant and shall be in the amount of his or her accrued retirement benefit as determined under section six of this article, subject to reduction if necessary to comply with the maximum benefit provisions of Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code and section six-a of this article. The retirant may choose, in lieu of a life annuity, an annuity in a reduced amount payable during the retirant's lifetime, with one half of the reduced monthly amount paid to his or her surviving spouse for the spouse's remaining lifetime after the death of the retirant. Reduction of the monthly benefit amount shall be calculated to be of equal actuarial value to the life annuity the retirant could otherwise have chosen. Any retirant choosing to receive the deferred annuity under this subsection is not eligible to receive the annual annuity adjustment provided in section seven of this article. A retiring member under the provisions of this section may receive retirement annuity payments on the first day of the month following his or her attaining age sixty-two and upon receipt of the application for retirement. The board shall promptly provide the member with an explanation of his or her optional forms of retirement benefits and, upon receipt of properly executed forms from the agency and member, the board shall process the member's request for and commence payments as soon as administratively feasible.