Retirement Plans - ERS - TRS - ORP

RETIREMENT PLANS

Plan	Contact	Description	Eligibility	Plan Type	Employee Contribution	University Contribution	Vesting	Date	Age	Additional Information
ERS	NYS ERS 866-805-0990	Employees’ Retirement System (NYS and Local)	Available to all State employees.	*Defined Benefit Plan – (guaranteed pension) is based on your final average salary, years of service, age at retirement and a percentage.	Employee contribution for the duration of employment	Contribution limit is based on maximum annual earnings of $225,000.	Vested in pension after 5 full-time equivalent years of service.	State pension provided on retirement after vesting.	Full retirement benefits at age 63. May retire as early as age 55 with a 6.5% reduction for each year under age 63.	ERS for Tier 6 Members
TRS	NYS TRS (800) 348-7298	Teachers’ Retirement System (NYS)	Available to State employees who teach or supervise teachers.	*Defined Benefit Plan – (guaranteed pension) is based on your final average salary, years of service, age at retirement and a percentage.	Employee contribution for the duration of employment.	Contribution limit is based on maximum annual earnings of $225,000.	Vested in pension after 5 full-time equivalent years of service.	State pension provided on retirement after vesting.	Full retirement benefits at age 63.	TRS Handbook
ORP	Contact Information	Optional Retirement Plan	Available to full-time State employees and part-time State employee’s with TERM appointments.	*Defined Contribution Plan – is based on the Employee (EE)/Employer (ER) contributions and success of investments.	Employee contribution for the duration of employment. For UUP and M/C, contributions are subject to the standard 415 cap which is currently $290,000.	SUNY contribution is 8% for the first seven years of employment and 10% thereafter.	Vested in SUNY contribution after 366 days. Employees with previous TIAA, VALIC, VOYA, or Fidelity retirement annuity contracts (RA) vest immediately.			ORP Plan Summary

*Contribution & vesting details applicable to employees enrolling on or after 4/1/12 (under Tier 6 provisions).

ELIGIBILITY

Eligibility

Enrollment in a retirement plan is mandatory for most full-time employees, but voluntary for part-time employees.

This does not apply to employees who have retired from a state or a participating agency.
You must enroll to be eligible for retirement benefits.

Effective Date

TRS and ORP

Provided you enroll within 30 days of your hire date, the effective date of your retirement plan will be your hire date. Missing the 30 day deadline will result in an off-cycle effective date.

ERS

Under the ERS plan, employees have 30 days to enroll online and submit their paper application for membership to be effective from date of appointment; if the employee enrolls after the 30 day period, membership is as of the date of enrollment.

SIGNING UP

This is an irrevocable decision!

Choose one plan within 30 days of your hire date. Enrollment is not finalized until you complete both your electronic and paper enrollment.
Visit Retirement@Work to elect your plan electronically. For live assistance with Retirement@Work, call 866.271.0960.
By selecting ERS/TRS, you must ALSO complete a paper application form (ERS Formor TRS Form) and send it to our HR Office for processing.
Again, this is an irrevocable decision.