As a law enforcement officer, you are automatically a member of the NC 401(k) Plan. Your employer pays an amount equal to 5 percent of your salary into your account in the Plan, and you may elect to make additional contributions. You decide how the contributions in your account are invested and also how you want to receive the contributions when you separate from employment. 

As a law enforcement officer, you may, at retirement, elect to transfer eligible contributions, not including any Roth after-tax contributions, from the NC 401(k) Plan to TSERS and be paid an additional monthly benefit from TSERS based on your transferred balance.

Learn more about the NC 401(k) Plan

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The death benefit under this plan is administered by the Retirement Systems Division. You may also be entitled to additional benefits, such as:

• A line-of-duty death benefit of $100,000  is administered jointly by the North Carolina Industrial Commission and the Department of State Treasurer.
   
• Conner’s Law increases the Line-of-Duty Death Benefit to the beneficiary of a covered public safety worker from $100,000 to $200,000 when the covered person is “murdered in the line of duty” as determined by the North Carolina Industrial Commission. This provision is effective retroactively to July 1, 2016, and applies to qualifying deaths on or after that date.
   
• A line-of-duty death benefit from the federal Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program, Bureau of Justice Assistance, United States Department of Justice.

Additional information is available from your employer or one of the above agencies.

As a law enforcement officer, if you retire on a service retirement allowance (i.e., 30 years of creditable service at any age, or age 55 with at least five years of credit as a law enforcement officer) you may be eligible for a monthly separation allowance payable until you reach age 62. Other conditions apply. 

Contact your employer for details, since your employer is responsible for making all determinations of eligibility and for making these benefit payments when they become payable.

If your death occurs while you are in active service:

• $5,000 is paid to your surviving spouse unless you designated a different beneficiary. The amount is increased by $2,100 if your death is line-of-duty related.

If your death occurs after you are retired from active service:

• $4,000 is paid to your surviving spouse unless you designated a different beneficiary

Claims Process for Death Benefits

Your survivors should submit a copy of the final certificate of death to the death benefits administrator:

N.C. Department of State Treasurer
Retirement Systems Division
3200 Atlantic Avenue
Raleigh, NC 27604
Phone: (919) 814-4590, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. EST