54-52-17.4. Purchase of additional credit

54-52-17.4. Purchase of additional credit 1. A participating member may elect to purchase credit for years of service and prior service for which the participating member is not presently receiving credit. A participating member is entitled to purchase additional credit under this section for the following service or prior service, except this service is not eligible for credit if the years claimed also qualify for retirement benefits from another retirement system: a. Active prior employment in the armed forces of the United States, except as provided in section 54-52-17.14, for up to four years of credit. b. Employment as a permanent employee by a public employer either within or outside the state of North Dakota. c. Employment as a permanent employee by a political subdivision participating in the public employees retirement system which did not pay the cost of past service benefits under section 54-52-02.1. d. Service the participating member did not elect to repurchase upon re-employment under section 54-52-02.6. e. Service of an eligible employee, who exercised the privilege to withdraw from the predecessor plan to the public employees retirement system under subsection 10 of section 54-52-17 as created by section 13 of chapter 499 of the 1977 Session Laws. f. Employment as a permanent employee by the federal government. 2. A participating member may elect to purchase credit for the following absences for which the participating member is not receiving service credit: a. Employer-approved leave of absence; or b. Months away from work while participating as a seasonal employee. 3. Supreme and district court judges under the public employees retirement system may elect to purchase credit for the following years of service: a. Except as provided in section 54-52-17.14, for up to four years of credit for active employment in the armed forces of the United States. b. As a county judge in a county or counties that did not participate in the public employees retirement system under this chapter. c. Participation in the public employees retirement system as a county judge may be converted to credit in the judges' retirement system. 4. The participating member may purchase credit under this section, or the participating member's employer may purchase for the participating member, by paying to the board an amount equal to the actuarial cost to the fund of providing the credit. If the participating member purchases credit pursuant to subdivision d of subsection 1, the participating member must pay to the board an amount equal to the greater of the actuarial cost to the fund of providing the credit, or the amount the participating member received upon taking a refund of the participating member's account balance, plus interest at the actuarial rate of return from the time the participating member was issued the refund. If the participating member is not repurchasing all of the credit originally refunded, the participating member must pay a pro rata amount of the refunded amount determined by dividing the refunded amount by the number of months of credit refunded, multiplying that amount times the number of months of credit the participating member seeks to repurchase, and adding interest at the actuarial rate of return. The participating member or the participating member's employer shall also pay to the retiree health benefits fund established under section 54-52.1-03.2 an amount equal to the actuarial cost to that fund for the additional credit. This contribution must be recorded as a member contribution pursuant to section