(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, for the purpose of this article, the retirement board shall grant prior service credit to members of the retirement system who were honorably discharged from active duty service in any of the Armed Forces of the United States in any period of national emergency within which a federal Selective Service Act was in effect. For purposes of this section, “Armed Forces” includes Women's Army Corps, women's appointed volunteers for emergency service, Army Nurse Corps, SPARS, Women's Reserve and other similar units officially part of the military service of the United States. The military service is considered equivalent to public school teaching, and the salary equivalent for each year of that service is the actual salary of the member as a teacher for his or her first year of teaching after discharge from military service. Prior service credit for military service shall not exceed ten years for any one member, nor shall it exceed twenty-five percent of total service at the time of retirement. Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this subsection, contributions, benefits and service credit with respect to qualified military service shall be provided in accordance with Section 414(u) of the Internal Revenue Code. For purposes of this section, “qualified military service” has the same meaning as in Section 414(u) of the Internal Revenue Code. The retirement board is authorized to determine all questions and make all decisions relating to this section and, pursuant to the authority granted to the retirement board in section one, article ten-d, chapter five of this code, may promulgate rules relating to contributions, benefits and service credit to comply with Section 414(u) of the Internal Revenue Code. No military service credit may be used in more than one retirement system administered by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board.
(b) Subsection (a) of this section does not apply to any member who first becomes an employee of a participating public employer on or after July 1, 2015. This subsection applies to any member who first became an employee of a participating public employer on or after July 1, 2015, and also applies to any member who became an employee of a participating public employer before July 1, 2015, and is unable to meet the requirements of subsection (a) of this section.
(1) Any member may purchase up to sixty months of military service credit for time served in active military duty prior to first becoming an employee of a participating public employer if all of the following conditions are met: