Original ECO Retirement Benefits

for Inactive IMRF Members
Forest pathway

You are an inactive member if you previously participated in IMRF and left your contributions on deposit with us. 

You are guaranteed the return of your contributions as either a pension or a refund. However, if you have enough service credit to qualify for an IMRF pension we strongly discourage you from requesting a refund. There are almost no circumstances when a refund will be an advantage to you over a pension.

Earning an IMRF Pension

Your IMRF pension gives you life-long income protection. You earn service credit toward an Original ECO plan IMRF pension by:

You will continue to earn service credit if you are on IMRF Disability or on an IMRF Benefit Protection Leave.

You must have at least eight years of service credit to receive a future IMRF pension.

How Much Will Your Pension Be?

The amount of your pension is based on your earnings and your service credit. To calculate the amount of your pension, IMRF uses a formula that includes:

The formula to calculate an Original ECO pension is:

Your total pension at retirement cannot exceed 80% of your final rate of earnings.

Final Rate of Earnings (FRE)

Under the Original ECO plan, your FRE is your annualized salary payable on the last day of participation in the ECO plan divided by 12.

The ECO monthly FRE:

If you retire with both ECO and Regular or SLEP service credit:

Service Credit

Service credit is your total time under IMRF, stated in years and months. 

Annual Pension Increases

Under Original ECO, your pension is increased by 3% of the original amount on January 1 of each year after you retire. If your pension effective date is something other than January 1, your first year increase will be prorated based on the number of months you are retired the first year.

Supplemental Benefit Payment ("13th Payment")

After you have retired and have received pension payments for at least 12 months in a row, you will be eligible for a supplemental benefit payment every July. When you first retire, you must have retired on or before June 30 to receive a 13th Payment the next year. For example:

If you retire… You will receive your first 13th Payment in…
On or before June 30, 2017 July of 2018
After June 30, 2017 July of 2019

You will receive this supplemental payment with your usual July pension payment. The amount varies every year, but it will always be less than your monthly pension amount.