FRS Retirement and Cobra Information

The Florida Retirement System

Alachua County participates in the Florida Retirement System. New employees must choose between two different FRS plans, the FRS pension plan and the FRS investment plan. A new employee will receive a new hire kit from the Florida Retirement System with information on the two plan options and instructions on how to make make an election. There is a mandatory 3% employee contribution. Employees enrolled in DROP or re-employed retirees who are not allowed to renew membership are not required to make the 3% contribution.

The FRS Pension Plan is a defined benefit plan, in which you are promised a benefit at retirement if you meet certain criteria. The amount of your future benefit is determined by a formula, based on your earnings, length of service, and membership class, and is adjusted by a 3% cost-of-living each July after retirement for service earned prior to July 1, 2011. Your benefit is pre-funded by contributions paid by you and your employer. The Florida Retirement System must ensure that sufficient funds are available when your benefits are due and bears the market risk and investment decisions.

Click for more Information on the Florida Retirement System Information

The Pension plan membership classes and requirements for retirement are listed below:

Types of Membership Classes

Regular Class consists of members in the FRS who do not qualify for membership in Special Risk or Elected State Officers Class.

Special Risk Class consists of members in the FRS who are employed as Correctional Officers or Firefighters.

Senior Management Service Class, or Elected State Officers Class consists of members in the FRS who are elected County officials.

The FRS Pension Plan

Requirements for Normal Retirement - for members first enrolled in FRS prior to July 1, 2011

Vesting for Pension plan benefit eligibility is after the completion of 6 years of creditable service

Members of the Regular Class, Elected Officers' Class and Senior Management Service Class must either be vested and be 62 years of age or have credit for 30 years of service (which may include any optional service credit you purchase, such as military service), regardless of age.

Members of the Special Risk Class must be vested and be age 55, or have 25 years of special risk service (which may include military service) and be age 52, or have 25 years of special risk service, regardless of age, or have 30 years of any creditable service, regardless of age.

For members of the Special Risk Administrative Support Class who do not have 6 years of special risk service, all service in the Special Risk Administrative Support Class will count the same as Regular Class service and your normal retirement date will be the same as for Regular Class members. If you have 6 or more years of special risk service, all service in the Special Risk Administrative Support Class will still have the same percentage value as Regular Class service, but your normal retirement date will be the Special Risk Class normal retirement date

Senior Management Service Class must have 6 or more years of service and age 62, or 30 years of service, regardless of age.

Elected State Officer's Class must have 6 or more years of elected state officers' class service and age 62, or 6 or more years of service and age 62, or 30 years of service regardless of age.

Requirements for Normal Retirement - for members first enrolled in FRS after July 1, 2011

Vesting for Pension plan benefit eligibility is after the completion of 8 years of creditable service.

Normal retirement for Regular Class, Elected Officers Class and Senior Management Service Class will be either at age 65 and vested or with 33 years of service regardless of age.

Normal retirement for Special Risk is age 60 and vested or 30 years of service regardless of age or age 57 with 30 years of service comprised of Special Risk Class service and up to 4 years wartime military service purchased udner Section 121.111, Florida Statues.

The FRS Investment Plan

The FRS Investment Plan is a defined contribution plan, in which employer and employee contributions are defined by law, but your ultimate benefit depends in part on the performance of your investment funds.

The FRS Investment Plan is funded by employer and employee contributions that are based on your salary and your FRS membership class (Regular Class, Special Risk Class, etc.). The Investment Plan directs contributions to individual member accounts, and you allocate your contributions and account balance among various investment funds. (Participant contributions are not allowed.)

Your Investment Plan retirement benefit is the value of your account at termination. Unlike the Pension Plan, there is no fixed benefit level at retirement. However, a guaranteed lifetime cost of living payment option (based on the benefit to be distributed) can be purchased and is available with annual 3% cost of living increases, like the Pension Plan. Click here for more information on the FRS Investment Plan

Summary of FRS Deferred Retirement Option Program

Summary

Eligibility

Election

Deferred Election

More information

The Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP), implemented on July 1, 1998, is a program that allows you to retire without terminating your employment for up to 5 years (8 years for teachers under certain circumstances) while your retirement benefits accumulate and earn interest compounded monthly at an effective annual rate of 6.5% (if your DROP participation began prior to July 1, 2011) or 1.3% (if your DROP participation began on or after July 1, 2011). This program is available to eligible members of the Florida Retirement System who are in the FRS Pension Plan; it is also available to eligible members of the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) and the State and County Officers and Employees' Retirement System (SCOERS) — defined benefit plans that were closed to new members when the FRS was created in December 1970. To be eligible to participate, you must be an active member of one of these plans. (FRS renewed members and members of the various optional retirement programs available under the FRS are not eligible to participate in DROP.) .

Your participation in DROP does not change your conditions of employment. When your DROP period ends, you must terminate employment (special provisions apply to elected officers). At that time, you will receive your accumulated DROP benefits and begin receiving your monthly retirement benefit (as calculated when you retired and entered DROP, plus any applicable cost-of-living increases).

Eligibility

As an eligible member of the FRS Pension Plan, TRS, or SCOERS, you may participate in DROP when you are vested and have reached your normal retirement date. Your “normal retirement date” is the earliest date at which you become eligible for full, unreduced benefits based upon your age and/or service.

If you enrolled in the FRS prior to July 1, 2011, normal retirement is age 62 with at least 6 years of service or 30 years of service, regardless of age. For Special Risk Class members, normal retirement is age 55 with at least 6 years of Special Risk service, or 25 years of Special Risk service, regardless of age, or age 52 with 25 years of Special Risk service and military service.

If you enrolled in the FRS on or after July 1, 2011, normal retirement is age 65 with at least 8 years of service or 33 years of service, regardless of age. For Special Risk Class members, normal retirement is age 60 with at least 8 years of Special Risk service, or 30 years of Special Risk service, regardless of age, or age 57 with 30 years of Special Risk service and military service.

Election

If you wish to participate in DROP, you may make your election up to 6 months before the date you plan to begin participation, but the Division of Retirement must receive your election no later than the month you wish to begin DROP. You must make your election within a 12-month election window that begins when you first reach your normal retirement date unless you are eligible to defer your election as described below. If you do not apply within your prescribed election window, you will lose your eligibility to participate

Deferred Election

You may defer your DROP election under the following circumstances:

• If you complete 30 years of service (if you enrolled in the FRS prior to July 1, 2011) or 33 years of service (if you enrolled in the FRS on or after July 1, 2011) before you reach age 57, you may defer your DROP election and may elect to begin DROP participation at anytime between completing 30 or 33 years of service and reaching age 57 (FRS special risk members who complete 25 years of Special Risk Class service (if you enrolled in the FRS prior to July 1, 2011) or 30 years of Special Risk Class service (if you enrolled in the FRS on or after July 1, 2011) before age 52 may defer DROP to age 52).
• If you are an elected officer participating in the FRS Elected Officers' Class (EOC), you may defer DROP until your next succeeding term of office after first reaching your normal retirement date and may participate for the lesser of 5 years or the length of that term.
• If you have covered employment in the FRS Special Risk Class as well as other employment covered by a different FRS membership class or plan, you may elect to participate in DROP when you reach your normal retirement date for either class.
• If your employer considers you “instructional personnel” in grades K-12 as defined in s. 1012.01(2), F.S., you may choose to participate in DROP at any time after reaching your normal retirement date and you will still be entitled to elect to participate for a full 60 months (96 months under certain circumstances).

This is just summary information...please contact the Florida Retirement System or reference your member guide book for more information.

Florida Retirement System

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Is 2nd Election Right for me
• Pension Plan
• DROP
• Investment Plan

COBRA Continuation

COBRA provides certain former employees, retirees, spouses, former spouses, and dependent children the right to temporary continuation of health coverage at group rates. This coverage, however, is only available when coverage is lost due to certain specific events. Group health coverage for COBRA participants is usually more expensive than health coverage for active employees, since usually the employer pays a part of the premium for active employees while COBRA participants generally pay the entire premium themselves.

Qualified Beneficiaries

A qualified beneficiary generally is an individual covered by a group health plan on the day before a qualifying event who is either an employee, the employee's spouse, or an employee's dependent child. In certain cases, a retired employee, the retired employee's spouse, and the retired employee's dependent children may be qualified beneficiaries. In addition, any child born to or placed for adoption with a covered employee during the period of COBRA coverage is considered a qualified beneficiary. Agents, independent contractors, and directors who participate in the group health plan may also be qualified beneficiaries.

Qualifying Events

Qualifying events are certain events that would cause an individual to lose health coverage. The type of qualifying event will determine who the qualified beneficiaries are and the amount of time that a plan must offer the health coverage to them under COBRA.

Qualifying Events for Employees:

• Voluntary or involuntary termination of employment for reasons other than gross misconduct
• Reduction in the number of hours of employment

Qualifying Events for Spouses:

• Voluntary or involuntary termination of the covered employee's employment for any reason other than gross misconduct
• Reduction in the hours worked by the covered employee
• Covered employee's becoming entitled to Medicare
• Divorce or legal separation of the covered employee
• Death of the covered employee

Qualifying Events for Dependent Children:

• Loss of dependent child status under the plan rules
• Voluntary or involuntary termination of the covered employee's employment for any reason other than gross misconduct
• Reduction in the hours worked by the covered employee
• Covered employee's becoming entitled to Medicare
• Divorce or legal separation of the covered employee
• Death of the covered employee

Florida Blue is the administrator for Cobra continuation coverage for health and dental insurance. Once Risk Management is notifed that an an employee or their dependent has had a qualifying event Florida Blue will be notified and will send the qualified beneficiary the information needed to elect continutation coverage under COBRA.