Retirees Who Elect a Total Lump-Sum Option and Return to Active Membership

If you are a Tier One/Tier Two Pension Program member and elect a Total Lump-Sum retirement benefit and later return to PERS employment and active PERS membership, you are not entitled to select any other option at your subsequent retirement unless you repay an amount equal to the lump sum and the interest that would have accumulated on the sum to the fund. If you repay the total lump sum (plus interest), then you may elect any retirement option available to Tier One/Tier Two Pension Program members at your subsequent retirement.

Explanation: Effective January 1, 2004, all employee contributions for Tier One/Tier Two and OPSRP Pension Program members were statutorily redirected to the Individual Account Program (IAP).

Upon reemployment on or after January 1, 2004, employee contributions are directed to the IAP, not the Tier One/Tier Two member account.

Because your member account was paid out in full at the first retirement if you elected the Total Lump-Sum Option, your account balance remains at zero and provides no balance upon which to base an additional total lump-sum retirement benefit. Thus if you do not repay the total lump-sum amount (plus interest), you will receive no further benefit payment from PERS except for the balance of your IAP account.

 

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