If job changes have caused you to establish membership in more than one retirement system, you may qualify as a dual member, even if your membership in another system was terminated.
You qualify for dual membership if you meet all the following criteria:
You are not required to retire under dual membership provisions if your benefit will be higher by retiring from each system separately.
Dual members may combine service credit from qualified systems to become eligible for retirement.
Suppose you are age 53 and have 20 years of TRS Plan 1 service credit. If you also have 10 years of service credit in PERS Plan 1, you have a total of 30 years of service credit — enough to retire immediately under the rules of either system.
The provisions of each plan determine the amount of your benefit from each and when it can begin. If you are a dual member of two Plan 1 systems, and your combined service credit exceeds 30 years, benefit reductions will be made to comply with retirement law regarding the maximum benefit amount.
Dual members may have the option of restoring service credit in the other system(s). See “Restorations for Dual Members” below. If you retire under dual membership provisions, your benefit will be calculated using the highest base salary from either system. See “Calculating benefits for dual members”.
If you are a dual member and wish to restore service credit in a system other than TRS, you must repay the amount withdrawn, plus interest, within two years of first becoming a dual member or before you retire, whichever comes first. To determine how much you owe in order to restore service credit, contact DRS.
We will need the following information:
To complete restoration under this provision, a lump sum payment must be made by the statutory deadline.
The provisions governing dual membership do not permit you to: