Frequently Asked Questions

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You may not perform any services for an LGERS-covered employer within the first month following your retirement.If you retire with early or service retirement benefits and are reemployed by, or otherwise engaged to perform services for, an employer that participates in the Retirement System from which you retired, the following applies: If you are reemployed with a Local Governmental Employees’ Retirement System employer in a position not eligible for participation in the Retirement System, you will be subject to earnings restrictions of 50% of your gross 12-month pre-retirement salary (excluding termination payments) or $28,080.00, whichever is higher. The dollar figure is adjusted annually according to the Consumer Price Index, which is a national measure of increase in the cost of living from one year to the next. These earnings restrictions apply for the 12 months immediately following retirement and for each calendar year following the year of retirement.

If you exceed your earnings limitations, your retirement benefit will be suspended the first day of the month following the month in which you exceed the limit for the remainder of the calendar year. Your retirement payment will start again on January 1 of the year after your benefit is stopped. If your earnings exceed the allowable amount in the month of December, your benefit will not be suspended.

You may return to work in a position that requires membership in the Local Governmental Employees’ Retirement System, but your retirement benefit will be suspended and you must enroll in the Retirement System as an active employee. If you return to service and contribute for at least three additional years, your service from your first and second periods of employment will be combined at the time of your second retirement, and you can change the retirement payment plan and/or beneficiary you selected at the time of your original retirement. If you return to service for less than three years, your first retirement benefit will be reinstated and you will have a choice of either receiving a lump sum refund of contributions or another (generally smaller) monthly benefit from your second period of employment.