Newly Hired after September 1, 2009

Effective September 1, 2009, some changes were made to retirement benefits that apply to these two groups:

• Employees who first start working for the State on or after September 1, 2009, and
• Former state employees who never contributed to the system, or withdrew all of their money from their ERS retirement account, then come back to work for the State on or after September 1, 2009.

Retirement benefits for these groups are different in the following ways:

• Sick/Annual Leave - Unused leave may not be used as service credit to meet retirement eligibility.
• Retirement benefit (annuity) calculation - Benefits will be based on the highest 48 months of salary instead of highest 36 months of salary.
• Vesting (Retirement eligibility):
  • Keep the Rule of 80 and reduce the annuity by 5 percent for each year an employee retires before age 60. The reduction will be capped at 25 percent.
  • Change the alternate vesting rule to age 65 with 10 years of service. This is the same as insurance plan eligibility under current plan design.