§ 120.202. Membership.

(a)

Consistent with the provisions of Chapter 16 of the City Charter, full-time civil service employees not eligible for membership in another City-sponsored pension plan shall become members of the Plan if hired before October 1, 2017. Any full-time civil service employee hired on or after October 1, 2017, shall not be eligible for membership in the Plan but shall be a member of the defined contribution plan as provided for in Part V, Subpart A.

(1)

Employees who previously met the requirements of Members, who leave employment with the City of Jacksonville but do not remove their contributions from the Retirement Plan, upon being rehired, may re-enroll in the Retirement Plan and be considered Members as defined herein.

(2)

Employees who previously met the requirements of Members, who leave employment with the City of Jacksonville and remove their contributions from the Retirement Plan, upon being rehired, shall not be entitled to re-enroll in the Retirement Plan and shall not be considered Members as defined herein.

(3)

Employees hired on or after October 1, 2017, shall never be eligible to be Members of the Retirement Plan. Employees hired on or after October 1, 2017, shall be members of the General Employees Defined Contribution plan provided for in Part V, Subpart A.

(b)

Appointed and elected officials and permanent employees not in the civil service system may opt to become members of the Plan, consistent with Section 16.04 of the City Charter. Elected officials eligible to receive benefits under this System or any prior Plan shall be permitted to continue to receive those benefits.

(c)

All persons hired on or after the beginning of the first full pay period after October 1, 2009, and before October 1, 2017, must elect between the General Employees Retirement Plan (DB plan) and the GEDC plan following New Employee Orientation (NEO). Failure to make a timely election shall be deemed an election to enroll in the DB plan. Any general employee hired on or after October 1, 2017 shall be a member of the GEDC.

(d)

If a new employee chooses the GEDC plan, the employee may elect to revert to the DB plan not later than the employee's fifth anniversary of, following certification that the employee has completed the intensive training program sponsored by the City. In addition, the employee shall have a one-time option after the employee's fifth anniversary of employment and prior to retirement to convert back to the DC plan.

(e)

If a new employee initially chooses the DB plan, and then elects to convert to the GEDC plan within the first five years of employment, then the employee will have the remaining portion of the initial five-year period of employment to elect to convert from the GEDC plan back to the DB plan. This initial five-year window will be open to a new employee regardless of his or her initial choice of Plan, but the number of changes from one Plan to the other will be limited to three during such five-year period. All employees seeking to revert from the DB plan to the DC plan must be certified to have completed the intensive training program sponsored by the City. A new employee who elects the DB plan will have an additional option after the first five years of employment to convert to the DC plan at any time prior to retirement from the City. A new employee who elects the GEDC plan will not have any option after the end of the first five years of employment to convert to the DB plan.

(Ord. 2005-432-E, § 2; Ord. 2007-1136-E, § 1; Ord. 2013-167-E, § 1; Ord. 2015-311-E , § 2; Ord. 2017-258-E , § 1)