Section 76. Vested retirement allowance

a.  A  member who discontinues
  service other than by death or retirement:
    1. who has credit for at least five years of total service, or
    2. who has credit for at least five years of total service,  including
  a  minimum  of  five  years  of  member  service during which the member
  contributed    to    the    system    and/or    participated    in    an
  increased-take-home-pay  or  non-contributory  plan,  and  who  does not
  withdraw his or her accumulated contributions, shall be entitled to make
  application pursuant to section seventy of this  article  for  a  vested
  retirement  allowance  to  be effective on or after the first day of the
  month following his or  her  attainment  of  sixty  years  of  age.  The
  retirement  allowance  provided by this section shall vest automatically
  upon such discontinuance of service by such member.
    3. In the case of such a member who discontinues service other than by
  death  or  retirement  after  March   thirty-first,   nineteen   hundred
  sixty-five,  who had been contributing toward and/or participating in an
  increased-take-home-pay or non-contributory plan  for  retirement  on  a
  basis other than retirement at age sixty for five years preceding his or
  her  discontinuance  of  service,  he  or  she shall be entitled to make
  application for a vested retirement allowance  to  be  effective  on  or
  after  the  first  day  of  the month following his or her attainment of
  fifty-five years of age.
    4. In the case of a member who  discontinues  service  other  than  by
  death   or   retirement   after  March  thirty-first,  nineteen  hundred
  sixty-six, who had been contributing toward retirement on the  basis  of
  the  plan  contained in section eighty of this article for at least five
  years, he or she shall receive at  retirement,  on  the  date  when  the
  member  would  have  completed  twenty  years  of  service had he or she
  continued in the service covered by such section, a retirement allowance
  as computed in accordance with the provisions of subdivision b  of  this
  section.
    b.  The  vested  retirement  allowance  shall  be computed and paid in
  accordance with the provisions of the plan of which the member had  been
  a  participant  provided,  however,  that, except for those eligible for
  benefits pursuant to sections eighty or eighty-a of this chapter, if the
  service fraction used to compute the retirement allowance or the pension
  provides a benefit greater than that which would have been provided  had
  the  service fraction one-sixtieth been used to compute the benefit, the
  service fraction one-sixtieth  shall  be  used  to  compute  the  vested
  retirement  allowance unless such plan shall specify another fraction to
  be used to compute the vested retirement  allowance.  Except  for  those
  covered  for  retirement pursuant to sections eighty or eighty-a of this
  chapter the vested retirement allowance shall not  be  paid  before  the
  member attains age fifty-five.
    c.  In  the  event  of the death of such member prior to the effective
  date of his retirement his accumulated contributions shall  be  paid  to
  his  beneficiary  or estate in accordance with section fifty-one of this
  article.
    d. A member may withdraw his accumulated  contributions  at  any  time
  subject  to  the  limitations  contained  in  section  fifty-one of this
  article. The withdrawal of a member's  accumulated  contributions  shall
  terminate his right to a vested retirement allowance.