Military Service Credit

This publication relates to the following retirement systems:

• Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) Plans 2 & 3
• School Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) Plans 2 & 3
• Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) Plans 2 & 3
• Public Safety Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) Plan 2
• Law Enforcement Officers’ and Fire Fighters’ Retirement System (LEOFF) Plan 2
• Washington State Patrol Retirement System (WSPRS) Plan 2

What is interruptive military service credit?

If you take a leave of absence from your retirement covered position to serve in the United States uniformed services, you are interrupting membership in your retirement system for that military service.

If you return to your position, you may be eligible to recover service credit for the time you spent in the uniformed services. That service credit is called interruptive military service credit.

Service credit is one of the factors used in computing your retirement benefit, so increasing your service credit would increase your future benefit.

What qualifies as military service?

The military service must have been creditable in the uniformed services of the United States. These services include:

• Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or their Reserve units;
• United States Coast Guard;
• Service in the Public Health Service; and
• National Guard.

How much military service credit can I recover?

You may have up to ten years of interruptive military service credit, five years at no cost and five years you may purchase by paying the required contributions.

Whether you receive full or partial service credit months will be determined by the service credit rules in place at the time you served in the military.

How do I recover the service credit?

To recover interruptive military service credit, you must:

• Leave retirement-system covered employment to serve in one of the uniformed services of the United States;
• Receive an honorable discharge;
• Return to employment with your employer within 90 days; and
• Submit a copy of your DD214 to DRS.

We will review your documentation and if applicable, apply the service credit to your account. You will receive a confirmation when your account has been adjusted.

If you're requesting military service credit beyond the five free years, we will send you a bill for the contributions due. You must complete payment of the contributions within five years of returning to employment or before you retire, whichever comes first. Contact DRS  for more information.

What if I die or become disabled as a result of military service?

You may apply for interruptive military service credit if you become totally incapacitated for continued employment as a result of service in the uniformed services of the United States. Your surviving spouse* or eligible children may apply for interruptive military service credit if you die while serving. Contact DRS for more information.

*Note for LEOFF Plan 2 and WSPRS Plan 2 members: All rights and benefits available to spouses are equally available currently to state-registered domestic partners. The law granting domestic partnership rights for all other retirement plans becomes effective January 1, 2014.

Contacting DRS

Military service credit is unique to each individual. If you have any questions about eligibility, time lines, documentation or more, we encourage you to speak with a retirement services analyst.