While most New York teachers and administrators are in the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System, other school employees are members of the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS). In fact, 1 out of 5 NYSLRS members works for a school district. Their employment is tied to the school year, which is usually 10 months long. So how do we determine service credit for school employees?
You earn service credit for your paid employment with a public employer in New York State. That credit is based on the number of days you work, which your employer reports to us.
Calculating Service Credit for Full-Time School Employees
If you work full-time, you receive one year of service credit per school year, which usually refers to the 10-month period from September through June.
You cannot earn more than one year of service credit, so if you work full-time during the school year, you will not earn additional service credit if you also work during the summer.
Calculating Service Credit for Part-Time School Employees
Your employer determines how many hours are in a full-time day for your position and reports the number of days you work to NYSLRS. Your service credit for the year is then calculated by dividing the number of days worked by the number of days in a school year. Usually, a school year refers to the 10-month period from September through June, which is 180 days. However, depending on your employer, an academic year can be 170 or 200 days.
For employees of school districts and BOCES,
as well as teachers working at New York State schools for the deaf and blind:
Number of days worked ÷ 180 days
For college employees:
Number of days worked ÷ 170 days
For institutional teachers:
Number of days worked ÷ 200 days
Check Your Service Credit in Retirement Online
To find your current estimated service credit:
- Sign in to Retirement Online.
- Look for Total Estimated Service under My Account Summary.
Get Credit for All Your Public Service
Service credit is one of the major factors in calculating your pension benefit, so it’s important to make sure you get credit for all your public service.
You may be able to request additional credit if you:
- Worked for your current or another public employer before joining NYSLRS; or
- Served in the U.S. Armed Forces and received an honorable discharge from active military duty.
Or you may be able to:
- Transfer service: If you are still a member of another New York State public retirement system.
- Reinstate service: If you withdrew your membership in NYSLRS or another New York State public retirement system.
In most cases, you have to pay for additional service or to reinstate service. But because service credit is a factor in the calculation of your retirement benefits, it will usually increase your pension.
If you choose to purchase the additional service, you should submit your request as early in your career as possible. Records we need to verify your service will be more readily available. And the sooner you purchase your credit, the less it will generally cost.
I am currently a Tier 6 yet worked from 2009 to 2013 and was a Tier 5 then. I was denied tier reinstatement citing there wasn’t enough information provided to allow for the reinstatement process and that they did not receive the original application, just a copy from my employer previously, therefore my tier reinstatement/ previous number was erroneous. I sent them copies of the original pay stubs showing I was a contributing member. My reinstatement has been rejected three times. Who can I contact about this?
Your message is important to us, and we have sent you a private message in response.
How long should it take to hear back from NYSLRS regarding Service Credits and unused sick time. I’ve been retired 4 years and am still waiting. I call the system yearly and am told the same thing, recalculations take 5 years. Why?
Your message is important to us, and we have sent you an email in response.
I worked as a work study student part time in two different colleges. I have my NYS payroll summary for both so I can see how much I made and I have what the minimum wage amount was so do I need to calculate that total amount into days by dividing it by what a full time worker would have been required to work?
For example, $1405.70 for one of my years at $4.25 an hour. It was a SUNY college so the work year was 170 days. What other information is required to calculate how many days I worked. The year was 1991-1992.
Thank you. It is so confusing.
If you are looking to purchase this service, you can request it through Retirement Online. We’ll determine whether you’re eligible to purchase additional service credit and provide you with a letter indicating the amount of service credit you are eligible to receive and any applicable cost.
To request your service credit:
Enter the name of the employer and the approximate dates you worked there. Upload any proof you may have of your previous or prior service. We will reach out to your former employer, but you may be able to expedite the process by providing payroll records, such as W-2 forms or pay stubs, when you submit your request.
For more information, read our Requesting Additional Service Credit blog post.
I am currently a Tier 6 yet worked in the 90s and was a Tier 4 then. I was denied tier reinstatement citing there wasn’t enough information provided to allow for the reinstatement process. I have all of the documents showing I was a Tier 4. Who can I contact about this?
Your message is important to us, and we have sent you a private message in response.
what is the purpose of the credit? what do we do with it? I have worked 25 years Full Time at the College i am with. 37.50 hrs per week since the start. Do i do this now or when i am planning to retire? Not sure of any of it.
You can find general information about service credit on our website, in our Service Credit for Tiers 2 Through 6 publication.
For questions about your specific situation, please call our customer service representatives at 866-805-0990 (press 2, then follow the prompts). You can also message them using our secure contact form. Filling out the secure form allows them to safely contact you about your personal account information.
I worked for the NYC summer program for kids. I worked 4 summers. When I tried to get that time back I was told that they couldn’t find my information. Can you help with that?
When we receive your request for additional service credit, we must first verify your earnings and service dates.
In most instances, your employer will be able to supply us with this information. However, if records are unavailable, we will accept documents such as W-2 forms from your tax returns or Social Security earnings records.
We may ask you to request a “non-certified detailed (itemized) earnings statement” directly from the Social Security Administration (SSA) by completing form SSA-7050-F4. This form is available from your local SSA office, on the SSA website or by calling 1-800-772-1213. (We cannot request the information for you.) There is a service charge to obtain this information from the SSA.
For questions about your specific situation, please call our customer service representatives at 866-805-0990 (press 2, then follow the prompts). You can also message them using our secure contact form. Filling out the secure form allows them to safely contact you about your personal account information.
What if I am already retired and drawing a pension and am working P/T as a substitute. Can those credit hours be collected and reset my pension benefit?
If you retire from public employment in New York State and later decide to go back to work in the public sector, you have the option of rejoining NYSLRS. However, if you are considering rejoining NYSLRS, you should understand how rejoining would affect your pension benefits.
If you rejoin NYSLRS, your pension will be suspended. Rejoining NYSLRS may increase your total service credit, allowing you to reach certain milestones that would increase your pension. An increase in earnings could also result in a higher pension when you retire again. However, depending how long you work after rejoining, your new pension may not be higher than your original amount.
If you are thinking about rejoining NYSLRS, we strongly recommend you speak to a customer service representative to discuss your specific situation. Call 866-805-0990, press 2, then follow the prompts. You can also message them using our secure contact form. Filling out the secure form allows them to safely contact you about your personal account information.
Does Mayors Summer Youth through the city when I was a teenager counts towards years of service credit?
Generally, you may be able to request additional service credit if you worked for a participating employer before joining NYSLRS. (Examples of participating employers include New York State agencies, cities, counties, towns and villages.)
For questions about purchasing service credit for your specific work experience, please call our customer service representatives at 866-805-0990 (press 2, then follow the prompts). You can also message them using our secure contact form. Filling out the secure form allows them to safely contact you about your personal account information.
I keep trying to get into my account using all my correct information and then it comes back that my account is locked and to get in touch with NYSLRS, please help
We’re sorry for the trouble signing in to Retirement Online. For help unlocking your account, please call our customer service representatives at 866-805-0990 (press 2, then follow the prompts).
So people who work 10 months get a full year credit and those who work 12 months get the same. Where is the logic in that? There should be some sort of advantage for working 12 full months over 10 months.
If you are employed or coded as a PT/Hrly but work between 6.5 to 8 hrs a day during the 180 days how would that be recorded? We have what the district calls FT employees that work 6.5 hrs and PT/Hrly that work more hours per day. Also working for summer school each year , would that also help to get you to the full year credit?
Thank you so many people have this same question.
Your employer determines how many hours are in a full-time day for your position and reports the number of days you work to NYSLRS. To earn a year of service credit, a part-time school district employee would need to work 180 days.
You can see your total estimated service credit in Retirement Online. Sign in to your account and scroll down to the My Account Summary area of your Account Homepage.
For account-specific questions about earning service credit, 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.
If u worked for head start does that count.
For questions about purchasing service credit for your specific work experience, please call our customer service representatives at 866-805-0990 (press 2, then follow the prompts). You can also message them using our secure contact form. Filling out the secure form allows them to safely contact you about your personal account information.
how many years due i have credit four ?
Retirement Online is the fastest way to look up your account information—including your estimated total service credit.
If you don’t have an account, learn more about Retirement Online and click Register Now. If you need help with Retirement Online, read our Retirement Online Tools and Tips blog post.
Otherwise, for account-specific information, please call our customer service representatives at 866-805-0990 (press 2, then follow the prompts). You can also message them using our secure contact form. Filling out the secure form allows them to safely contact you about your personal account information.
Hi, my name is Juan Antonio Zayas and am a reteree from the Sate education department where I served for 30 years,, do I qualify for this benefit? Please send me more information on how to apply.
Thanks,
Juan Zayas
Ph. 518-429-8#29
For questions about your specific situation, please call our customer service representatives at 866-805-0990 (press 2, then follow the prompts). You can also message them using our secure contact form. Filling out the secure form allows them to safely contact you about your personal account information.
I have been trying to get into
My account foronthd with no luck
For help with Retirement Online, check the Tools & Tips section of our Retirement Online page. You can find step-by-step guides to retrieving your user ID, resetting your password, unlocking your account and more.
If you still need help, please call our customer service representatives at 866-805-0990 (press 2, then follow the prompts).