5.50 B. Form of the Reciprocal Act

Reciprocity is a method whereby a member who has established at least one year of service credit Service credit is a member's total time under IMRF, stated in years and fractions. Service is credited monthly while a member is working, receiving IMRF disability benefits or while he or she is on IMRF's Benefit Protection Leave. A member earns one month of service credit for each month he or she: (1) works in a qualified position and makes a member contribution. (2) worked in a qualified position prior to his or her employer joining IMRF. (3) receives an IMRF disability benefit. (4) is on an IMRF Benefit Protection Leave (limited to 12 months). (5) purchases a month of past service credit. A member cannot earn more than one month of service credit for any given calendar month. in any retirement system that is covered by the Reciprocal Act may use the combined service from all such systems for the purpose of meeting the qualifying conditions for a pension Also known as an annuity. An IMRF pension is paid as long as the member lives. It is increased by 3% of the original amount each year. A member must have at least eight years of service credit and be age 55 to apply for an IMRF pension under the Regular and ECO plans. A member must be age 50 and have at least 20 years of SLEP service credit to apply for a SLEP pension. from each system.

The combined service credit of the member must be sufficient to meet the longest qualifying period of service under any of the retirement systems concerned.

Example:

1. Both the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) and IMRF's Regular Tier 1 Plan require a minimum of eight years of service to qualify for a formula The Regular formula to calculate a pension is 1-2/3% of a member’s final rate of earnings for each of the first 15 years of service credit, plus 2% of a member’s final rate of earnings for each year of service credit in excess of 15 years. The total pension at retirement cannot exceed 75% of the member’s final rate of earnings. The SLEP formula to calculate a SLEP pension for members who terminate SLEP participation on or after July 1, 2004, is a flat 2.5% of the member’s final rate of earnings for each year of SLEP service credit. For SLEP members who terminated SLEP participation before July 1, 2004, the SLEP formula is 50% of the member’s final rate of earnings for the first 20 years of SLEP service credit, plus 2% of the final rate of earnings for each year of service over 20 and under 30 years, plus one percent of final rate of earnings for each year of service over 30 years. The total pension at retirement cannot exceed 75% of the member’s final rate of earnings. The original ECO formula is 3% of ECO monthly final rate of earnings for each of the first 8 years of ECO service credit, plus 4% of ECO monthly final rate of earnings for each of the next 4 years of ECO service credit, plus 5% of ECO monthly final rate of earnings for each year of ECO service credit in excess of 12 years to a maximum of 80%. A member does not need eight years of ECO service to qualify for the ECO formula. The ECO formula is applied to the ECO service regardless of the amount of that service. For example, if a member has one month of ECO service, the ECO formula will be applied to that one month and the Regular or SLEP formulas applied to the remaining service. The revised ECO formula is the same as original ECO: 3% of ECO monthly final rate of earnings for each of the first 8 years of ECO service credit, plus 4% of ECO monthly final rate of earnings for each of the next 4 years of ECO service credit, plus 5% of ECO monthly final rate of earnings for each year of ECO service credit in excess of 12 years to a maximum of 80%. However, a revised ECO plan member must hold the same elected county position in the same county for a minimum of eight years to qualify for the ECO retirement formula. pension.

2. Assuming a member has established two years of service credit with SERS, and retires under IMRF's Regular Tier 1 Plan after six years of service, the combined SERS and Regular Plan service totals eight years, and thereby meets the minimum qualifying conditions of each system.

3. The member is entitled to a proportional annuity See "pension." from each system.

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