The New York State Legislature has passed budget bills S2509C and A3009C, including an Early Retirement Incentive (ERI) {part KKK} and sent them to the governor on April 7, 2021. If and when the Governor signs the bill, the City will have the option of implementing it or not. The Mayor can deny any individual or title or unit deemed “critical” for revenue or public safety reasons. He can designate each agency’s commissioner to make these decisions for their respective agencies.
MEA Pension Consultant Jay Warshofsky has analyzed the bills’ basic points to note to potential participants:
- The bills include NYCERS, TRS and BERS members only {subpart C.} NY State and local pension systems are not mentioned.
- If approved by the Governor and the Mayor, the ERI in NYCERS cannot start before June 30, 2021 and end no later than October 31, 2021. The ERI in TRS cannot start before April 1, 2021 and end no later than August 3, 2021. The open application period for both will probably be 90 days. Any retiree must provide at least 14 days notice.
- All pension members would retire under the rules of their current tier and plan. To be eligible they must have a minimum age of 50 with minimum 10 years pension credit.
- Employees both age 55 or older and with 25 years or more of pension credit will not incur an age penalty.
- The ERI provides one month additional credit for each year of credited service with a maximum of 36 months credit.
We await details and procedures from NYCERS, DCAS, OLR and each individual agency if and when our Mayor signs the executive order to initiate the process. We will share them with you as soon as we receive them and will schedule a Zoom seminar with Mr. Warshofsky to help answer questions that you may have after the procedures have been posted in your agencies.