Unless otherwise provided in this article, a member electing to receive service credit for time during which he or she was absent from state service shall contribute in a lump sum or by installments over that period and subject to such minimum payments as may be prescribed by regulations of the board, an amount equal to (a) the contributions he or she would have made to this system for the period for which current service credit is granted, assuming that the rate of contribution under his or her employer’s formula at the rate age applicable to him or her at the beginning of his or her first subsequent period of service in membership and his or her compensation earnable on that date had applied to him or her during the period for which credit is granted, plus (b) those added contributions as may be specially
required under this article as a condition for crediting a particular absence, plus (c) the interest that would have accrued to those contributions if they had been on deposit at the beginning date of his or her first subsequent period of service in membership, from that date until the date of completion of payments. The beginning date of the first subsequent period of service for purposes of computation of contributions and interest shall be deemed to be the end of the period of service credited for a member who has no subsequent return to service. For a member who is subject to Section 21076 or 21076.5, and Section 21077, the service and contribution rate to be used for purposes of computation shall be deemed to be the service and contribution rate that would have been used had the member not been subject to Section 21076 or 21076.5, and Section 21077.
Service shall be credited as current or prior service, or both, as it would be credited if the member had been in
state service during his or her absence. All contributions of a member under this article shall be considered to be and shall be administered as normal contributions.