Section 219-S. Participation and service credit

1. A participant must be
  eligible to participate in a supplemental award program  provided  under
  this  article  if  the  participant  has reached entitlement age and has
  completed at least one decade of service in the timeframe designated  by
  the sponsor.
    2.  A  decade  of service shall be credited under a supplemental award
  program for each calendar  year  in  the  timeframe  designated  by  the
  sponsor.
    3.  In  order  to  provide  credit each sponsor shall review its prior
  membership rosters to determine the number of decades of credit for each
  participant who is entitled to credit.  In  making  this  analysis,  the
  standards for active service set forth in subdivision (c) of section two
  hundred seventeen or subdivision three of section two hundred nineteen-m
  of  this  chapter and adopted by the sponsor shall be used. Approval for
  such  prior  service  shall  require  certification  by  the  president,
  secretary and chief of the volunteer fire company.
    4.  In  computing credit for those participants who also serve as paid
  employees within a political subdivision of the state, credit shall  not
  be  given  for  activities  performed  during the individual's regularly
  assigned work periods.
    5. Sponsors may provide  credit  to  participants  whose  service  was
  interrupted  by  full-time  extended obligatory military service or by a
  single voluntary enlistment not to exceed four years in the armed forces
  of the United States.
    6. The president, secretary and chief or comparable officers  of  each
  volunteer  company  shall submit to the governing board of the sponsor a
  list of all participants, certified under  oath,  which  shall  identify
  those participants who have qualified for credit under the award program
  for  the  previous  year. Such list shall be submitted annually by March
  thirty-first or otherwise as provided by local resolution and  shall  be
  accompanied  by  such  membership  records  as  the  governing board may
  require to substantiate the accuracy of the  list.  Notwithstanding  the
  provision  of this subdivision a participant may request that his or her
  name be deleted from said list as  a  "participant."  Such  request  for
  deletion  shall be in writing and shall remain effective until withdrawn
  in the same manner.
    7. The governing board of the sponsor shall review the  list  and  may
  delete  the  name  of  any  person whose point accumulation has not been
  adequately documented. Thereafter, the governing board shall approve the
  list and return a copy of  the  list  to  the  appropriate  company  and
  forward   a   certified  copy  of  the  approved  list  to  the  program
  administrator.
    8. Upon receipt of the approved list the company shall post  the  list
  at  its  principal  headquarters for at least thirty days. A participant
  whose name does not appear on the approved list shall have the right  to
  appeal within thirty days of posting of the list. The appeal shall be in
  writing  and  mailed to the clerk or secretary of the governing board of
  the sponsor, which shall investigate the appeal.  The  decision  of  the
  governing  board shall be subject to judicial review pursuant to article
  seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules.