If you joined the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) on or after April 1, 2012, you are a Tier 6 member. Let’s look at the ERS Tier 6 milestones you will reach over the course of your public service career and how they will affect your benefits.
Why Milestones Matter
As a NYSLRS member, you earn service credit for your paid public employment. Generally, one year of full-time work equals one year of service credit. As you earn service credit, you’ll reach career milestones that will make you eligible for certain benefits or for increases to your existing benefits. Understanding these milestones will help you plan for retirement.
Your ERS Tier 6 milestones and pension calculation depend on your retirement plan, so it is important to familiarize yourself with the details of your plan. Most ERS Tier 6 members are in the Article 15 retirement plan (named for a section of the New York State Retirement and Social Security Law). If you see Plan A15 listed in the ‘My Account Summary’ section of your Retirement Online account, you’re in this plan. For members not covered by the Article 15 retirement plan, visit our website to Find Your NYSLRS Retirement Plan Publication.
Important ERS Tier 6 Milestones
Here are some additional important milestones for Tier 6 members in the Article 15 retirement plan:
- With ten years of service credit, you can apply for a non-job-related disability benefit if you are permanently disabled and cannot perform your duties because of a physical or mental condition.
- With ten years of service credit, your beneficiaries may be eligible for an out-of-service death benefit if you leave public employment and die before retirement.
- Ten years also marks the point when you are no longer able to withdraw your membership and receive a refund of your contributions if you leave public employment.
- You are eligible to retire once you are age 55 and have at least five years of service credit. However, for most Tier 6 members, there would be reductions to your benefit if you retire before age 63.
- You can retire with full benefits at age 63.
- If you retire with less than 20 years of service, your pension will equal 1.66 percent of your final average earnings (FAE) for each year of service.
- If you retire with 20 years of service, your pension will equal 1.75 percent of your FAE for each year of service.
- For each year of service beyond 20 years, you will receive 2 percent of your FAE.
Note: A new law improves your pension benefits. When you retire, your final average earnings (FAE) will be based on the average of your three highest consecutive years of earnings, the same as members in other tiers. Read our blog post, Calculating Your Final Average Earnings, for more information, including how your FAE will be calculated and limitations.
Most members can estimate their pension in Retirement Online. You can fine tune your estimate by entering your annual earnings and expected pay increases. You can also include any service credit you plan to purchase.
What about vesting for health care?
Since NYSLRS doesn’t administer health insurance benefits, you can check with your employer for answers to such questions.
After 3 years as a bus driver for highland school district I can no longer drive at the moment. I am 72 years old, what options do I have?
Tier 3- 6 members with less than ten years of service may withdraw their mandatory contributions, plus interest, 15 or more days after leaving public service.
To submit a withdrawal request, sign in to your Retirement Online account and click the Withdraw My Membership button. If you prefer, you can also complete and submit a paper withdrawal application.
If you have questions or need assistance, please message our customer service representatives using our secure contact form. Filling out the secure form allows them to safely contact you about your personal account information.
What does that mean ” Ten years also marks the point when you are no longer able to withdraw your membership and receive a refund of your contributions if you leave public employment.” Is that talking about deferred comp? Or if you leave public service before 10 years, you can withdraw funds to rollover into another IRA?
If they leave public employment, Tier 3-6 members with less than ten years of service may withdraw the mandatory contributions they made to NYSLRS. However, withdrawing your contributions terminates your membership and you will not be eligible for any Retirement System benefits. Members with more than ten years of service cannot withdraw their contributions, but they’ll be eligible for a pension when they reach retirement age.
NYSLRS does not administer the New York State Deferred Compensation Plan.
Please provide information about Tier 5
You can find information about ERS Tier 5 in our blog post, One Tier At a Time: ERS Tier 5. For a comprehensive description of the benefits provided by your specific plan, find your NYSLRS retirement plan publication.
Why didn’t you include the lifetime % that us tier 6 workers have to contribute ?
It’s a shame that we must pay throughout our careers. This should be set to 10 years then stop just like tier 4 does.