IMRF Service Credit

Service credit is your total time under IMRF, stated in years and fractions. You earn one month of IMRF service credit for each month you:

• work in a position that qualifies for IMRF participation and
• make an IMRF member contribution:
  • 4.50% of salary for regular IMRF members
  • 7.50% of salary for Sheriff's Law Enforcement Personnel
  • 7.50% for Elected County Official Plan.

You also receive service credit while you are working, receiving IMRF disability benefits or while you are on IMRF's Benefit Protection Leave.

Also refer to IMRF's Purchasing IMRF Past Service Credit booklet for detailed information about purchasing service credit.

Table of contents:

• Benefit Protection Leave service
• Concurrent service
• Disability service
• Irregularly paid service
• Military leave service
• Prior service
• Omitted service
• Out-of-state service
• Reciprocal: Service in other Illinois systems
• Reinstated service
• Seasonal service
• Unused, unpaid sick leave

Benefit Protection Leave service

If your employer wishes to provide you with IMRF service credit and IMRF disability and death benefit protection while you are not working (taking a leave of absence), your employer's governing body would grant and file with IMRF an IMRF Benefit Protection Leave.

The total service you can establish under the IMRF Benefit Protection Leave is limited to a maximum of 12 months during your lifetime, e.g. you may be granted a one-time leave of 12 months or several leaves totaling no more than 12 months. To establish the service, you must pay the member contributions that would be due on your unpaid earnings.

Concurrent service

Members who work for two or more IMRF employers at the same time have “concurrent” service. Concurrent service occurs when a member is reported by more than one employer for the same month. However, by law, the member is eligible for only one month of service credit.

 

• If your employers report you under the same plan (e.g., Regular IMRF), you earn one month of service credit and your salaries from all positions are combined for that month. If the concurrent service occurs during your “final rate of earnings” period (see page 16), it can increase the amount of your pension.

• If your employers report you under Regular IMRF and SLEP, you earn one month of service credit but your salaries from the positions are not combined. If you continue to be reported under Regular IMRF and SLEP and you earn 20 or more years of SLEP service credit, each concurrent month will be treated as two months of service: one month Regular IMRF and one month SLEP. When your pension is calculated, the calculation will apply the Regular formula to those months with Regular wages and the SLEP formula to those months with SLEP wages

Disability service

For each month you receive an IMRF disability benefit payment, you earn one month of IMRF service credit. This service credit is granted without any cost to you.

Irregularly paid service

If you perform services for your IMRF employer every month but you are not paid every month, you can receive irregularly paid service credit.

Members who receive irregularly paid service credit are paid bi-monthly (every other month), quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. These members receive service credit for the unpaid months, provided they are paid at least once during the year.

One example of members who receive irregularly paid service credit are elected officials who are in office and work each month during the year, but are not paid each month. These elected officials receive service credit for the months they are not paid. (This assumes the elected office qualifies for IMRF coverage and the necessary enrollment documents have been filed with IMRF.

Military leave service

Under previous Illinois law, a member was eligible to purchase military service if
1. The member left IMRF participation to enter the military, and
2. The member's employer submitted a resolution to IMRF authorizing IMRF to grant service credit for military leave, and
3. The member returned to IMRF participation within 90 days of discharge (not necessarily to the same IMRF employer).

Public Act 90-0448, which became effective August 16, 1997, contains language allowing IMRF members to purchase up to two years of IMRF service credit for time served in the military

• if the member did not return to IMRF participation within 90 days of discharge
  OR
• if the military service occurred before the member began participation in IMRF

Any converted military service credit is applied toward the calculation of the members IMRF benefits. It will also satisfy minimum service such as vesting, the early retirement incentive, SLEP benefits, or avoidance of early retirement reductions.

Military service credit can also be converted under federal law. Refer to Form 602j for details.

Also refer to IMRF's Purchasing IMRF Past Service Credit booklet for detailed information about purchasing service credit.

Return to top

Prior service

Under current legislation, if you were already working for your employer when it joined IMRF, you received prior service credit. The amount of prior service you received was equal to the years and months you worked for that employer (assuming your position qualified for IMRF participation).

Under current law, members do not pay for prior service credit. If you previously worked for an employer and you return to work for the same employer after it has joined IMRF, you may receive prior service credit after two years of service with that employer.

Omitted service

Occasionally, an employer incorrectly omits a member from IMRF coverage. In some cases, the employee is not enrolled in IMRF or the employer does not report a member's wages to IMRF for a certain month(s).

If you were not enrolled in IMRF and you should have been, or if your employer did not report your wages to IMRF, you can receive omitted service credit. To do so, your employer would have to correct the error by submitting the appropriate form and you would have pay the member contributions (interest charges may apply). Also, to receive omitted service you must be participating in IMRF or in another public pension system covered under the Illinois Reciprocal Act.

Out-of-state service

If you have service credit with a public pension system in another state, you may be able to transfer that service to IMRF.

First, you must have worked for your IMRF employer for at least two years. Second, your IMRF employer must agree to grant the service. Out-of-state service credit is authorized at the employer's discretion on a case-by-case basis You may receive a maximum of 120 months of out-of-state credit. Also, once you transfer the service, you give up your right to a pension from the out-of state system.

Reciprocal: Service in other Illinois systems

IMRF is under the Reciprocal Act, as are all other Illinois public pension systems except local police and fire pension funds. Under the Reciprocal Act, service credit may be considered together at the date of retirement or death for the purpose of determining eligibility for and amount of benefits.

For more information on the Reciprocal Act and reciprocal pensions, please request from IMRF a copy of the Reciprocal Act brochure.

Reinstated service

If you stop participating in IMRF (stop working in a position that qualifies for IMRF participation) and take a refund of your contributions, you may redeposit those withdrawn contributions and reinstate your years of service credit.

To do so, you would have to participate for two years in IMRF or another Illinois public pension system covered under the Illinois Reciprocal Act. You could redeposit the withdrawn contributions, plus interest, either in a lump sum or installments.

Seasonal service

If your job requires you to work at least six consecutive months during the year, you may receive service credit for the off-season months (the months you don't work).

If you are a seasonal employee of a school district, a special education cooperative, a park district, or a forest preserve district, you automatically receive 12 months of service credit if you are employed for the entire year. (Employer can designate a different seasonal pattern.)

If you are a seasonal employee for any other IMRF employer, you can receive 12 months of service credit if you are employed the entire year and your job is identified as seasonal when you enrolled in IMRF.

Once your seasonal pattern is determined, you will automatically receive seasonal service credit for the seasonal months unless:

• Your employer does not report wages for the months you normally work (your “on season” months), OR
• Your employer submits a Notice of Termination (IMRF Form 6.41) for you, OR
• You are on an IMRF Benefit Protection Leave (BPL) of Absence (you receive BPL service credit), or
• You receive an IMRF disability benefit payment (you receive disability service credit).

Unused, unpaid sick leave

You may qualify for a maximum of one year of additional service credit for unused, unpaid sick leave accumulated with your last employer.

This additional service credit applies only if you are leaving employment for retirement. The service credit is earned at the rate of one month for every 20 days of unused, unpaid sick leave or fraction thereof.

Unused, unpaid sick days	Additional months of service credit
22	2
68	4
136	7

Please note: converted sick leave service credit cannot be used to meet the:

• eight-year requirement for an IMRF pension,
• 35-year requirement for a non-discounted (unreduced) pension under age 60, or
• 20-year requirement for the IMRF Early Retirement Incentive.

The sick leave must have been accumulated under an established sick leave plan available to all employees or a class of employees, and the effective date of your pension must be within 60 days of your termination

Return to top