81-2025.

Retirement; conditions; deferment of payment; board; duties.

(1) Every officer who has been in the employ of the state as such and who becomes disabled and physically unfit to perform the duties of an officer shall be entitled to retire and receive an annuity as provided by law.

(2) Every officer who has been in the employ of the state as such for ten years or more, as calculated in section 81-2033, and has attained the age of fifty years or more shall be entitled to retire and receive an annuity as provided by law. The right to retire at the age of fifty years shall be at the option of the officer but such retirement shall be mandatory upon the officer attaining the age of sixty years.

(3) Any officer who has attained the age of sixty years upon his or her separation from state service but who has not been in the employ of the state for ten years as such shall be entitled to the annuity as provided for in the Nebraska State Patrol Retirement Act.

(4) Every officer who has been in the employ of the state as such for twenty-five years or more, as calculated in section 81-2033, and has attained the age of fifty years shall be entitled to retire and receive an annuity as provided by law. The right to retire at the age of fifty years with twenty-five years or more of creditable service shall be at the option of the officer but such retirement shall be mandatory upon the officer attaining the age of sixty years.

(5) Every officer who has been in the employ of the state as such for thirty years or more, as calculated in section 81-2033, shall be entitled to retire and receive an annuity as provided by law. The right to retire with thirty years or more of creditable service shall be at the option of the officer but such retirement shall be mandatory upon the officer attaining the age of sixty years.

(6) Payment of any benefit provided under the act shall not be deferred later than the required beginning date.

(7) The effective date of retirement payments shall be the first day of the month following (a) the date a member qualifies for retirement as provided in this section or (b) the date upon which a member's request for retirement is received on an application form provided by the system, whichever is later. An application may be filed no more than one hundred twenty days in advance of qualifying for retirement.

(8) The board shall make reasonable efforts to locate the officer or the officer's beneficiary and distribute benefits by the required beginning date. If the board is unable to make such a distribution, the account shall be distributed pursuant to the Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act and no amounts may be applied to increase the benefits any officer would otherwise receive under the Nebraska State Patrol Retirement Act.