§7-14D-24a. Return to covered employment by retired member.

(a) The annuity of any member who retires under the provisions of this article and who resumes service in covered employment shall be suspended while the member continues in covered employment. The monthly annuity payment for the month in which the service resumes shall be prorated to the date of commencement of service, and the member shall again become a contributing member during resumption of service. At the conclusion of resumed service in covered employment the member shall have his or her annuity recalculated to take into account the entirety of service in covered employment.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, the annuity of a member who retires under the provisions of this article shall not be suspended if the member resumes covered employment and the following conditions are met:

(1) The member has been retired for at least 180 days;

(2) The retired member did not retire as a result of a disability pursuant to the provisions of §7-14D-14 of this code;

(3) The retired member is a certified, or certifiable, law-enforcement officer as provided in §30-29-5 of this code;

(4) The sheriff of the county seeking to re-employ the retired member has fewer than five deputies in his or her employ and has been unable to recruit additional qualified deputy sheriffs despite the exercise of due diligence;

(5) The re-employment of the retired member is for a period not to exceed five years or until such time as the sheriff may recruit additional deputy sheriffs to provide for five full-time deputy sheriffs not hired pursuant to this subsection, whichever is sooner; and the sheriff is required to post the vacancy until it is filled by a non-retirant;

(6) The retired member may not again become a contributing member of the Deputy Sheriff Retirement System while performing services under the provisions of this subsection; and

(7) The employer of any deputy sheriff rehired pursuant to this subsection shall remit an employer contribution pursuant to §7-14D-7 of this code on the deputy sheriff’s monthly salary.

(c) Any retired member who is seeking re-employment pursuant to the provisions of this section shall not be subject to the maximum age restriction set forth in §7-14-8 of this code.

(d) Unless acted upon by the Legislature, the provisions of subsections (b) and (c) of this section will sunset on July 1, 2026. On or before October 1, 2025, any employer of a member of the Deputy Sheriff Retirement System rehired pursuant to subsection (b) of this section must make a report to the Joint Standing Committee on Pensions and Retirement.

(e) Any member who retired under the early retirement provisions of §7-14D-11(b) of this code, and is subsequently reemployed in covered employment pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, and who again retires shall have his or her retirement annuity recalculated as if he or she were retiring at an age calculated by adding his or her original early retirement age to the number of years and months during which he or she was reemployed and contributing to the plan. In the event the artificially determined age, as determined in accordance with the preceding sentence, exceeds 60, the board shall not make any reduction for early retirement.