A member may retire early with a reduced retirement benefit after:
- Reaching age 60 with at least five years of membership service
- Reaching age 50 with at least 20 years of creditable service
Although a member may retire early, the retirement benefits will be paid over a longer period of time and are, therefore, reduced. The amount of the reduction depends on the member’s age and service when payments start.
A member who leaves employment before early or service retirement may receive a deferred benefit at a later date once the member has met all retirement eligibility requirements, provided he or she does not withdraw his or her contributions.
For a member who is a general employee, the reduction in the allowance for early retirement is calculated as five percent times the lesser of:
- A member’s creditable service to 30 years
- A member’s age (up to age 60) plus three percent for each year from age 60 to age 65.
For example, a general employee who is 60 years old with 10 years of service would receive 85 percent of the unreduced benefit based on the reduction formula.
If a general employee is between ages 60 and 65, with fewer than 25 years of creditable service, his or her early retirement benefit will be reduced to the following percentages:
| If the member is this age when payments start, | member will receive this percentage of their benefit. |
| 64 | 97% |
| 63 | 94% |
| 62 | 91% |
| 61 | 88% |
| 60 | 85% |
If a general employee is between ages 50 and 59, with fewer than 30 years of creditable service, his or her early retirement will be reduced to the following percentages:
| AGE | Years of Creditable Service | |||||||||
| 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 21 | 20 | |
| 59 | 95% | 90% | 85% | 80% | 80% | 80% | 80% | 80% | 80% | 80% |
| 58 | 95% | 90% | 85% | 80% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 75% |
| 57 | 95% | 90% | 85% | 80% | 75% | 70% | 70% | 70% | 70% | 70% |
| 56 | 95% | 90% | 85% | 80% | 75% | 70% | 65% | 65% | 65% | 65% |
| 55 | 95% | 90% | 85% | 80% | 75% | 70% | 65% | 60% | 60% | 60% |
| 54 | 95% | 90% | 85% | 80% | 75% | 70% | 65% | 60% | 55% | 55% |
| 53 | 95% | 90% | 85% | 80% | 75% | 70% | 65% | 60% | 55% | 52% |
| 52 | 95% | 90% | 85% | 80% | 75% | 70% | 65% | 60% | 55% | 50% |
| 51 | 95% | 90% | 85% | 80% | 75% | 70% | 65% | 60% | 55% | 50% |
| 50 | 95% | 90% | 85% | 80% | 75% | 70% | 65% | 60% | 55% | 50% |
If the member is between birthdays when payments start, the reduction will be adjusted proportionately.
In this example, a member retires early at age 61, with an average final compensation of $41,209 and 24 years of creditable service.
| Here is how we calculate this benefit |
| (AFC) $41,209.00 |
| x 0.182 |
| $750.00 |
| (creditable service) x 24 |
| $18,000.00 |
| Now, apply the early retirement reduction percentage |
| $18,000.00 |
| (percentage at age 61) x 0.88 |
| $15,840.00 |
The member in this example receives a maximum allowance of about $15,840 a year, or about $1,320 a month, which stops when the member dies unless he or she selected a survivor payment option.
This page was last modified on 12/03/2024