Tag Archives: ERS

ERS Tier 6 Milestones

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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 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 improvements to your existing benefits. Understanding these milestones and when they occur will help you better plan your career and retirement.

Your milestones depend on your tier and your retirement 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 or in your annual statement, you’re in this plan.

ERS Tier 6 milestones

Major Milestones for Tier 6

Here are some 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 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 fewer 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 more than 20 years of service, your benefit will equal 1.75 percent of your FAE for each year of service.
  • Then, for each year of service beyond 20 years, you will receive an additional 2 percent of your FAE.

Note: The law limits the final average earnings of all members who joined on or after June 17, 1971. For example, for most members, if your earnings increase significantly during the years used in your FAE, it’s possible that some of those earnings may not be used toward your pension. The specific limits vary by tier. Visit our Final Average Earnings page for more information.

The amount of your pension also depends on several factors, including your years of service credit and your age when you retire. Most members can estimate your pension in Retirement Online and enter different retirement dates to see how those choices would affect your benefit. As of April 9, 2022, Tier 5 and 6 members only need five years of service credit to be vested. If you are a Tier 5 or 6 member with between five and ten years of service credit, you can contact us to request a benefit estimate.

ERS Tier 6 Special Plans

Some public employees, such as corrections officers or deputy sheriffs, are in special retirement plans and can receive a pension after completing 20 or 25 years of service, regardless of age. If you are not in the Article 15 retirement plan described above, you should read your retirement plan publication to learn about your plan’s milestones.

Our Find Your NYSLRS Retirement Plan Publication tool can help. To use it, you just need to know your retirement plan code. You can find your code in the ‘My Account Summary’ section of your Retirement Online account homepage or on the second page of your latest Member Annual Statement. You can also use the new tool to search for your plan publication by retirement system, tier and occupation type (uniformed or non-uniformed).

NYSLRS – One Tier at a Time: ERS Tiers 3 and 4

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(We know that’s two, but let us explain.) When you join the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS), you’re assigned a tier based on your date of membership. There are six tiers in the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) and five in the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS). Your tier determines such things as your eligibility for benefits, the calculation of those benefits, death benefit coverage and whether you need to contribute toward your benefits.

Our series, NYSLRS – One Tier at a Time, walks through each tier and gives you a quick look at the benefits in both ERS and PFRS. Today’s post looks at ERS Tiers 3 and 4. Of our current 650,251 ERS members, 263,561 are in Tiers 3 and 4, representing 40.5 percent of ERS membership.

Most ERS Tier 3 and Tier 4 members (unless they are in special retirement plans) retire under the Article 15 retirement plan. Check out the graphic below for the basic retirement information for Tiers 3 and 4 members in this plan.

ERS Tiers 3 and 4 - Article 15

Membership Milestones for ERS Tiers 3 and 4

ERS members in Tiers 3 or 4 need five years of service credit to become vested. Once vested, they’re eligible for a lifetime pension benefit as early as age 55. However, if they retire before the full retirement age of 62 with fewer than 30 years of service credit, their benefit will be reduced. Some Tier 3 and 4 members, such as sheriffs or correction officers, can retire with 20 or 25 years of service, regardless of age and without penalty.

You can check your service credit total and estimate your pension using Retirement Online. Most members can use our online pension calculator to create an estimate based on the salary and service information NYSLRS has on file for them. You can enter different retirement dates to see how your choices would affect your potential benefit.

For more information about Tier 3 and 4 membership, find your NYSLRS retirement plan publication. It’s a comprehensive description of the benefits provided by your specific plan.

What is a Defined Benefit Plan?

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As a NYSLRS member, you are enrolled in a defined benefit plan, also known as a traditional pension plan.

How a Defined Benefit Plan Works

Defined benefit pension plans provide a specified payment amount at retirement. If you are vested and retire from NYSLRS, you will receive a monthly pension payment for the rest of your life. Your pension will be calculated using a preset formula based on your earnings and years of service. Your individual contributions to NYSLRS will not affect the pension you receive when you retire.

Defined benefit plans are supported by contributions from both members and employers. With defined benefit plans, retirement assets are pooled and the investment risk is shared. These plans are usually administered by professional managers, whose long-term investment strategies help to reduce the impact of market turmoil. NYSLRS employs an experienced group of investment managers.

The biggest contributor to your pension plan is the New York State Common Retirement Fund. Over the past 20 years, the Fund’s investment returns have covered 75 percent of the cost of pensions.

understand your defined benefit plan

Defined Contribution Plans — And Their Risks

Defined benefit plans are often confused with 401(k)-style retirement savings plans, which are known as defined contribution plans.

With a defined contribution plan, the employee, the employer or both make contributions to an individual retirement account for the employee, and the money in the account is invested. In most cases, the employee decides how and where the money is invested (or the plan may offer pre-packaged investment options). At retirement, the employee will be able to draw from the accumulated value of contributions and investment returns, minus any fees.

The amount of money the employee has at retirement depends on the investment returns of the individual account. So, market downturns, especially near retirement, can negatively affect the value of the benefit. Employees depending on defined contribution plans run the risk of outliving their savings.

NYSLRS’ Defined Benefit Plans

NYSLRS administers more than 300 retirement plan combinations, but all of them are defined benefit plans and share certain features. NYSLRS plans:

  • Provide a guaranteed benefit for life;
  • Offer a pension based on final average earnings and years of service;
  • Provide a right to pension benefits (vesting) with five years of service credit;
  • Build a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) into pensions to help offset the effect of inflation; and
  • Include disability retirement and death benefits.

We strongly encourage you to review your retirement plan publication for a complete description of your benefits. To find your retirement plan publication, visit our Find Your NYSLRS Retirement Plan Publication page and follow the steps listed.

Advantages of Defined Benefit Plans

Defined benefit plans provide important advantages for state and local government employers. For one, offering these plans makes it easier to recruit and retain qualified employees, particularly police officers, fire fighters and teachers. Employers can also reduce the risk of employee turnover, which could help cut training costs and improve productivity.

Defined benefit plans also help support state and local economies, because they provide a steady, reliable stream of retirement income for many retirees across New York and the nation.

Read more about the advantages of defined benefit plans.

NYSLRS Membership by Tier

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NYSLRS, which administers the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) and the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS), had 685,450 members as of March 31, 2022. Our members are State government, local government, school district and other public-sector employees from across New York — 650,251 in ERS and 35,199 in PFRS. About 74 percent of our members were active, which means they were on a public payroll as of March 31.

NYSLRS Membership Over Time

A decade ago, more than 80 percent of NYSLRS members were in Tiers 3 and 4. Now, those tiers represent less than 40 percent of our membership. Tier 6, which includes members who joined NYSLRS since April 1, 2012, now has 367,013 members, or 53.5 percent of total membership.

NYSLRS Membership by Tier

Here’s a look at our NYSLRS membership by tier, as of March 31:

Tier 1: NYSLRS’ oldest tier, whose members first joined the system before July 1, 1973 (July 31, 1973, for PFRS members), is dwindling. Tier 1 represented only 0.2 percent of our membership. There were only 1,043 Tier 1 ERS members and 17 Tier 1 PFRS members.

Tier 2: With 18,074 members, Tier 2 represented 2.6 percent of membership. Ninety-four percent of Tier 2 members were in PFRS.

Tiers 3 & 4: Tiers 3 and 4, which have similar retirement plans, had 263,734 members, 38.5 percent of the total membership. Tiers 3 and 4 are primarily ERS tiers. There is no Tier 4 in PFRS, and only 173 PFRS members were in Tier 3.

Tier 5: Tier 5 covers members who joined from January 1, 2010, through March 31, 2012. With 35,569 members, Tier 5 represented 5.2 percent of membership.

Tier 6: This tier covers members who joined since April 1, 2012. Its ranks grew by about 13 percent during the last fiscal year.

Why Your Tier Matters

Your tier is an essential component of your NYSLRS membership because it is one of the factors that determines your benefits. You can find out more by reading your retirement plan booklet. Our recent blog posts explain how to find your plan booklet and how to get the most out of it.

Welcome, New Members

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Welcome new members to the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS).

What is NYSLRS? NYSLRS administers retirement benefits for New York State employees and municipal and non-teaching school district employees outside of New York City. With nearly 1.2 million members, retirees and beneficiaries, NYSLRS is one of the largest public retirement systems in the nation.

NYSLRS is here to help you plan a financially secure retirement. Retirement may seem like a distant concern, but decisions you make now will have a big impact on your post-work life. Here are a few things you should do now as a new member:

Checklist for New Members

new members checklist

Learn About Defined Benefit Plans

Your NYSLRS pension is a defined benefit plan. This means that, once you are eligible and apply for retirement, you are guaranteed a monthly pension payment for the rest of your life. The amount of your payments will be calculated using a formula set by State law.

Defined benefit plans should not be confused with 401(k)-style retirement savings plans, which are known as defined contribution plans. The value of these plans is limited to the contributions made to an individual’s account and the investment returns on those contributions. And, unlike your NYSLRS pension, these plans do not guarantee a lifetime benefit.

While a 401(k)-style retirement savings plan can supplement a pension and Social Security benefits, it does not provide the same level of financial security as a defined benefit plan.

Sign Up for Retirement Online

If you haven’t already, sign up for a Retirement Online account. You can use Retirement Online to look up your estimated total service credit, name a beneficiary for your death benefit, purchase past service credit and more. This online tool will be an important resource throughout your career, especially as you plan for retirement when you can use our benefit calculator to estimate your pension.

Find Your Retirement Plan Publication

Your retirement plan publication is an essential resource that provides comprehensive information about your NYSLRS benefits. You can look up your specific plan using our Find Your NYSLRS Retirement Plan Publication tool. All you need is your benefit plan code and Tier, which you can find in Retirement Online.

Designate a Beneficiary

Your retirement plan provides you with a death benefit, so it’s important that you designate a beneficiary or beneficiaries. You can designate a beneficiary or beneficiaries through Retirement Online or by mailing us a Designation of Beneficiary form (RS5127).

Understand Service Credit

Your NYSLRS pension will be based on factors such as your tier, retirement plan, age at retirement, final average earnings and your service credit. You’ll earn one year of service credit for every year of full-time employment with a participating employer. Part-time employment is prorated. If you worked for a public employer or served in the U.S. armed forces before you were a member of NYSLRS, you may be eligible to receive credit for that past service. Because it is a major factor in calculating a NYSLRS pension, additional service credit would increase your pension in most cases. You can request this service through Retirement Online or by mailing us a Request to Purchase Service Credit (Including any Military Service) form (RS5042).

Start Saving for Retirement

Your pension is only one part of a secure financial future. It’s a good idea to save additional money for retirement. Healthy retirement savings will give you more flexibility to do the things you want to do in retirement. They also can be a hedge against inflation and a source of cash in an emergency. You don’t want to wait to start saving; the sooner you do, the more time your money has to grow.

More Information

Visit our Welcome New Members page for more information about NYSLRS and your benefits.

Find Your Retirement Plan Publication

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Your retirement plan publication is an essential resource that explains your NYSLRS benefits in detail — how long you’ll need to work to receive a pension, how your benefit is determined, what death and disability benefits may be available and more. You should consult it throughout your career, but it’s especially important to read as you prepare for retirement.

finding your retirement plan publication

Finding Your Retirement Plan Publication

NYSLRS administers two retirement systems, six membership tiers and many retirement plans that are described in dozens of retirement plan publications. We want to make sure you find the specific retirement plan information that pertains to you, which is why we have a new tool to help you Find Your NYSLRS Retirement Plan Publication. To use it, you just need to know your retirement plan code. You can find your code in the ‘My Account Summary’ section of your Retirement Online account homepage, or check the second page of your latest Member Annual Statement. You also can also use the new tool to search for your plan publication by retirement system, tier and occupation type (uniformed or non-uniformed).

Looking Up Your Plan Milestones

Once you have found your publication, check to see what minimum age or service milestones you’ll need to reach to receive your pension. Most retirement plans allow for full pension benefits at 62 (63 for Tier 6 members) or a reduced benefit starting at age 55. Members in some plans can apply for their pension once they reach 20 or 25 years of service credit, regardless of age.

The years of service credit you earn may also change the calculation of your pension. For example, the percentage of earnings used to determine your retirement benefit may increase once you reach certain milestones — such as when you have 20 years of credited service — but that depends on what retirement plan you are in.

Knowing your plan-specific age and service requirements can help you decide when to retire and anticipate the income your benefit would provide in retirement. If you want to work until a certain age or need to earn a specific amount of service, now you can set that goal and prepare accordingly.  

For more detailed information on what you can find in your plan publication, check out our blog post, How to Read Your Retirement Plan Booklet.

Help for New Members

New NYSLRS members may also be interested in our New Member webpage. This page collects several resources that can help you understand your NYSLRS membership and pension.

Manhattan skyline with light memorial

World Trade Center Presumption Deadline Extended

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The deadline for members to file a notice with NYSLRS of their participation in the World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup efforts has been extended.

The new deadline is September 11, 2026.

World Trade Center Presumption

What is the World Trade Center Presumption Law?

The World Trade Center Presumption Law provides a presumption that eligible NYSLRS members and retirees — who become permanently disabled and are unable to do their jobs due to certain conditions — can claim their permanent disabilities are the result of participation in World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup operations. The presumption will apply unless it’s proven the condition was the result of other factors.

If you participated and you meet the eligibility requirements, the presumption allows you to:

  • File for an accidental disability retirement in the future;
  • Have an existing disability retirement benefit reclassified as an accidental disability retirement benefit; or
  • Leave your beneficiaries an accidental death benefit.

Your disability or death must be due to one of the qualifying conditions specified in the law.

Who should file?

You must file an Application for World Trade Center Notice (RS6047-N) prior to submitting an Application for World Trade Center Accidental Disability Presumption (RS6047-W). Even if you do not currently suffer one of the qualifying conditions, filing this notice will protect your rights — and the rights of your beneficiaries — to apply for benefits in the future.

Once you file a notice with NYSLRS, there is no subsequent deadline to file for an accidental disability retirement or retirement reclassification should the need arise.

Questions?

If you have any questions, check out our Frequently Asked Questions, email us or contact our Call Center toll-free at 1-866-805-0990 (518-474-7736 in the Albany, New York area).

Making Loan Payments When You Leave Public Employment

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To repay a NYSLRS loan, you make loan payments automatically through payroll deductions. But what happens if you go off the public payroll before the loan is paid off?

The answer is…it depends. If you leave your job because you’re retiring, then your pension will be reduced. (Employees’ Retirement System members may repay their loan after retiring, but they must pay the full balance in a single payment.)

However, if you leave public employment for any other reason, you must make loan payments directly to NYSLRS at least quarterly and pay off your loan balance within five years from the date the loan was issued. If you fail to meet either of these conditions, your loan will go into default.

You will still need to repay the outstanding balance to NYSLRS, and the loan will continue to accrue interest and insurance charges until it’s paid in full.

loan payments when you leave public employment

What Happens If My Loan Defaults?

If your loan defaults, NYSLRS will report your outstanding balance, minus any previously taxed amount, to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a distribution to you. You must also include the loan on your federal income tax return for the year it defaults. (If it was taxable before default, you will not be re-taxed on that portion of the loan.)

If you’re younger than 59½ in the year the loan defaults, the IRS will charge an additional 10 percent penalty on the taxable portion of the loan. (There are no New York State or local taxes due on the distribution.)

We also cannot issue a new loan until the defaulted loan has been repaid.

Managing Your Loan Payments

If you leave public employment, contact us as soon as possible. We’ll tell you the exact amount you’ll need to repay each quarter to avoid defaulting.

Retirement Online offers a convenient way to manage your NYSLRS loan. Sign in to check your balance. You can also use Retirement Online to make quarterly loan payments or pay off the balance. If you don’t have an account, sign up today.

If you mail your loan payments by check, be sure to write “loan payment” on your check and include your NYSLRS ID number so we can apply it to the correct account. Mail payments to:

NYSLRS
Attn: Accounts Receivable
110 State Street
Albany, NY 12244-0001

Member Milestones for ERS Tier 3 and 4

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Knowing your member milestones can help you plan for your retirement. Most Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) Tier 3 and Tier 4 members (unless they are in special retirement plans) retire under the Article 15 retirement plan. If you’re covered by this retirement plan, you have a set of member milestones that affect how your pension is calculated and how much you’ll receive at retirement.

ERS Tier 3 and 4 member milestones

Here are some important Tier 3 and 4 milestones:

  • With ten years of service credit, you would be eligible to 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.
  • Also 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.
  • With ten years of service credit, 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 five years of service credit. However, there would be reductions to your benefit if you retire before age 62 with less than 30 years of service credit.
  • You can retire with full benefits at age 62.
  • If you retire with less than 20 years of service credit, the benefit is 1.66 percent of your final average earnings (FAE) for each year of service.
  • If you retire with 20 to 30 years of service credit, the benefit is 2 percent of your FAE for each year of service.
  • If you retire with more than 30 years of service credit, the benefit is 2 percent of your FAE for each year of service up to 30. For each year of service beyond 30, you will receive 1.5 percent of your FAE.

Note: The law limits the final average earnings of all members who joined on or after June 17, 1971. For example, for most members, if your earnings increase significantly during the years used in your FAE, it’s possible that some of those earnings may not be used toward your pension. The specific limits vary by tier. Visit our Final Average Earnings page for more information.

The amount of your pension also depends on several factors, including your years of service credit and your age when you retire. Read our blog post, Tier 3 & 4 Members: When Is The Right Time To Retire?, for information to consider. You can also estimate your pension in Retirement Online and enter different retirement dates to see how those choices would affect your benefit.

When Retirees Rejoin NYSLRS

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rejoin NYSLRS

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 the Retirement System, you should understand how rejoining would affect your pension benefits.

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. However, depending how long you work after rejoining, your new pension may not be higher than your original amount.

Note: This post applies to service retirees of the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) or the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS) who are rejoining the same system. Different rules may apply to retirees of other retirement systems, retirees joining a system other than the one they retired from, and disability retirees.

What Happens to Your Pension When You Rejoin NYSLRS?

If you rejoin NYSLRS, your pension will be suspended. If you are in Tiers 2 through 6 and you earn less than two years of new service credit after you rejoin, your original pension would be reinstated when you retire the second time. Any new service credit and earnings would not affect your pension. (Tier 1 members would receive an additional benefit even if they earn less than two years of service in their new membership.)

If you earn two or more years of new service, you can either receive your original pension or you can receive a recalculated benefit that includes your additional service. If you choose the recalculated benefit, you will have to repay the entire pension amount you have already received, plus interest. (The pension amount you repay would be based on the Single Life Allowance rate.) You may repay that amount in a lump sum or by installments before you retire again — or request a permanent reduction to your new pension.

Other Factors

Here are other things to consider before you rejoin NYSLRS:

  • When you retire again, your new retirement date can delay your eligibility for the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).
  • If you are in Tier 1 or 2, rejoining may affect your death benefit.

Where to Go for Help

If you are considering rejoining NYSLRS, we strongly recommend you speak with a customer service representative to discuss how rejoining would affect your benefits. You can call them at 866-805-0990 or send them a message using our secure contact form.

You may also wish to read our publication Life Changes: What If I Work After Retirement?