New opportunity for past judges and justices
Are you a member of the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) with service credit earned while serving as an elected or appointed judge or justice? If so, you may be able to increase your PERS retirement benefit by purchasing a higher benefit multiplier for the service credit you earned during your career as a judge or justice. Only PERS members who are not currently serving as a judge and have not started receiving a PERS monthly benefit are eligible for this program.
The benefit multiplier is the percentage component of the benefit formula.
For Plans 1 and 2, the benefit formula is:
2% x Service credit years x Average Final Compensation (AFC) = Monthly benefit
For Plan 3, the benefit formula is:
1% x Service credit years x Average Final Compensation (AFC) = Monthly benefit
House Bill 2887, passed by the 2008 Legislature, allows Plan 1 and 2 members to increase their benefit multiplier from 2% to 3.5%. Plan 3 members can increase their benefit multiplier from 1% to 1.6%. The increased multiplier will only apply to service credit earned as a judge or justice.
To receive the higher multiplier, you must pay the actuarial equivalent of the resulting increase to your future retirement benefit. Your request to increase must be made between January 1, 2009 and June 30, 2009 and payment must be made in full in a lump sum.
If you are interested in learning more about this new opportunity, read the Frequently Asked Questions, or call a PERS Judicial Benefit Team analyst to discuss your specific account information. You will need to provide the dates of your past judicial service and the name(s) of your previous judicial employer(s). PERS will work with your former judicial employer(s) to verify your service as a judge or justice.
The PERS Judicial Benefit Team can be reached at (360) 664-7966 or 1-800-547-6657, ext 47966. You may also send an e-mail to recep@drs.wa.gov.