§ 24-10-501. Paid and volunteer service

(a)

1. (1) The Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Local Police and Fire Retirement System shall fix and determine by rules the number of years and months of paid service to be credited to each member for his or her employment as an employee.

2. (2) In no case shall one (1) month of paid service credit be credited for any one (1) calendar month after the operative date for which an employee’s pay is less than the minimum amount specified in this chapter, nor shall more than one (1) year of service be credited to any member for all covered employment rendered by him or her in any one (1) calendar year, unless the service credit is volunteer service credited under the employer as provided for in subsection (b) of this section.

(b)

1. (1) Each employer shall regularly report to the board the calendar months of covered employment by each of its members that the employer wishes to be credited to the member as volunteer service.

2. (2) The board shall credit the member with the volunteer service.

3. (3)

   1. (A) Beginning January 1, 2010, the board may credit a member both with volunteer service and with paid service when the member earns the service credit simultaneously.

   2. (B) For purposes of subdivision (b)(3)(A) of this section:

      1. (i) A member is limited to earning volunteer service with only one (1) covered employer at a time; and

      2. (ii) A member shall not earn volunteer service if the member is entitled to paid service for the same work.

(c)

1. (1) Not later than ten (10) calendar days from and after the date an employer covers its employees and before the retirement of a member included in the employees so covered, the employer shall certify to the board the periods of employment of each of its members to be considered for credit as paid service and for credit as volunteer service.

2. (2) Beginning January 1, 2008, employers shall be limited to recognizing a maximum of four (4) years of prior volunteer service credit.

3. (3) No prior service shall be certified under this subsection by an employer for any member unless he or she was employed by the employer within the one-year period immediately preceding the date an employer covers its employees and unless he or she is continuously employed by the employer:

   1. (A) From and after that date for one (1) year;

   2. (B) Until his or her death; or

   3. (C) Until his or her total and permanent disability, whichever is earliest.

4. (4) Beginning January 1, 2012, prior service credit or volunteer service credit shall not be certified under this subsection.

(d) Anything contained herein to the contrary notwithstanding, not later than June 30, 1995, an employer with employees who were not accruing service credit because of the age-related limitation on credited service in subsections (a) and (b) of this section in existence prior to July 28, 1995, and who are or would accrue service credit without such limitations on credited service shall certify to the board the period or periods of previous employment of each such employee to be considered for credited service, and such previous employment shall be considered for credited service, provided the employee pays to the Arkansas Local Police and Fire Retirement System by December 31, 1995, the total member contributions he or she would have contributed to the system had such an age-related limitation not been in effect.

(e)

1. (1) A member who is hired on or after July 1, 2019, may be covered by only one (1) employer until he or she accrues ten (10) years of actual service credit in the system.

2. (2) After a member accrues ten (10) years of actual service credit in the system, the member may only accrue a maximum of five (5) additional years of the service credit described under subdivision (a)(2) of this section.