If you leave covered employment, you can leave your defined contribution money in the plan.
As long as you have a balance in your defined contribution account, its value will continue to rise or fall depending on investment performance.
If you accumulate 20 or more service credit years and separate from service, your defined benefit retirement payment amount will be increased by approximately three percent each year from your separation until you begin drawing your benefit.
Federal law requires that you begin receiving a minimum amount from your retirement account by April 1 of the year after you reach age 70½, or when you retire, whichever comes later. The portion of your account that you must receive cannot be rolled over. The options you have for receipt of the money are outlined in the Plan 3 Request for Withdrawal of Defined Contributions booklet.
If you leave covered employment and leave your defined contributions in the plan, be sure to inform the record keeper of any name, address and beneficiary changes. You will continue to receive quarterly statements and be able to move your money between investments.
You may restore withdrawn service credit from PERS Plan 2 or PERS Plan 3. To restore withdrawn service credit you must repay the total amount withdrawn, plus interest, within five calendar years of returning to a PERS-eligible position, or before you retire, whichever is first.
It is still possible to purchase withdrawn or optional service credit after the statutory deadline. The cost for purchasing service credit after the deadline date is considerably more expensive.
If you restore service within the deadline, all contributions will be placed in your Plan 3 defined contribution account. If you purchase service credit after the deadline, the money will be split equally between the defined benefit and your defined contribution account.
You can learn more about purchase of service credit by obtaining the DRS brochure, Can I Recover Withdrawn or Optional Service Credit?
If you are a dual member and wish to restore service credit in a system other than PERS, you must repay the amount withdrawn, plus interest from the date of the withdrawal until paid in full, within two years of first becoming a dual member or before you retire, whichever comes first. To find how much it will cost you to restore, contact DRS.
It may be possible to purchase service credit after the restoration deadline. For details, see the DRS publication, What is Dual Membership and How Does it Affect Me?