Retirement Benefit Eligibility Requirements

The information contained in this section is to provide you with some general information about retirement eligibility. 

If an employee comes to you with questions about their personal eligibility, please do not advise them. 

Because of the many laws, statutes and individual circumstances that impact eligibility, we do not expect you to be an expert in North Carolina retirement rules and laws. Therefore, please refer all employee questions about eligibility and other retirement-related issues to the Retirement Systems Division. 

Below is information about the TSERS benefits available to general employees of a TSERS employer.

TSERS benefits can be divided into two basic categories:

  • unreduced Benefits and 
  • reduced Benefits.
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A member becomes vested in TSERS after completing a minimum of five years of membership service. This means that the member will be eligible to apply for lifetime monthly retirement benefits based on age, service requirements and the formula described in this manual, as long as the member does not withdraw his or her contributions. A member also may be eligible for retiree health coverage.

A member may retire with an unreduced service retirement benefit after: 

  • Reaching age 65 with at least five years of creditable service 
     
  • Reaching age 60 with 25 or more years of creditable service 
     
  • Completing 30 years of creditable service, regardless of age

  • A law enforcement officer qualifies for an unreduced benefit after reaching age 55 with at least five years of creditable service as a law enforcement officer. 
     
  • A law enforcement officer also qualifies for an unreduced benefit after completing 30 years of creditable service, regardless of age.

Effective on January 1, 2025: Members who are in receipt of severance pay cannot apply to begin receiving their retirement benefit coincident with their severance pay. If the severance payment is made in a lump sum, but based on a certain period, such as a number of weeks or months, the member is not eligible to receive retirement during the period used to calculate the lump sum value.

In most cases, TSERS is required to pay benefits to non-retired members with open TSERS accounts by April 1 of the year after the member reaches 73 years old or ceases to be an employee, whichever is later. 

Members who are vested (five or more years of eligible service) who fail to complete the retirement process will receive a monthly retirement benefit based on the Maximum Allowance. 

Non-vested members who fail to complete a refund application will receive a refund of their contributions and interest

This page was last modified on 11/06/2024