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.
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Information on the Florida Retirement System Information
The Pension plan membership classes and requirements for retirement are listed below: True 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.
False 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. False 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 False 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
8 years while your retirement
benefits accumulate and earn interest compounded monthly. 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.
Normal retirement date requirements for age or service for a
Special Risk Class member are as followed:
Age 55 with at least six years of Special Risk Class
service but fewer than 25 years of Special Risk Class
service;
Any age before age 55 with 25 years of Special Risk
Class service; or Age 52 with a combined total of 25 years of Special
Risk Class service and up to four years of purchased
wartime 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
This is just summary information...please contact the Florida Retirement System or reference your member guide book for more information.
False 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
False
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