I was hired November 1st 2015. I was wondering how long I have to work for the state in order to draw retirement when I am the age I can retire. Like if its 5 years, Say I work 5 years and quit the state job because I have a baby and need to be a stay at home, when I am 55 can I draw retirement, or do I lose retirement because I quit?You have to work long enough to be vested in order to receive a future retirement benefit. Once you are vested with MOSERS, even if you leave state employment, you will be eligible for a lifetime monthly benefit once you meet the age and all other legal requirements and retire under a MOSERS defined benefit pension plan. The good news is the legislature passed a bill this year to change the vesting requirement for members who were first employed on or after January 1, 2011 (members of MSEP 2011) from 10 years to 5 years. The 5-year vesting for MSEP 2011 members will go into effect on January 1, 2018. MSEP 2011 members must be actively employed on or after January 1, 2018 to be covered by this change.
Vesting is one part of retirement eligibility. The other part is age. As a member of MSEP 2011, you will become eligible for normal retirement when you are age 67 and have 5 years of service OR under the “Rule of 90” which is when you are at least age 55 and your age and service equals 90 by the time you leave state employment.
For example, let’s say you are employed by the state for 7 years, leave state employment for five years, then return to work and work for another 23 years for a total of 30 years of service. If you were age 60 with 30 years of service and still employed, you would be eligible to retire under the Rule of 90. On the other hand, if you became vested but never returned to state employment, then you could begin receiving your MOSERS retirement benefit at age 67. The formula for calculating your benefit is Final Average Pay x Multiplier (0.017) x Service Credit = Monthly Benefit so, the longer you work, the more your benefit will be.
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