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:
- Having joined the ECO plan before January 26, 2000 and choosing to remain in this plan
- Working for an IMRF employer in an IMRF-eligible position
- Contributing 7.5% of your salary toward your future pension
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.
Receiving an IMRF Pension
Participating in ECO does not change IMRF retirement age or service credit requirements. To begin receiving a pension, you:
- Cannot be working in any position that qualifies for IMRF participation
- Must be at least age 55 and have eight years of service credit if you are not an elected County Sheriff retiring with a SLEP/ECO pension
- Must be at least age 50 and have at least 20 years of SLEP service if you are an elected County Sheriff retiring under the SLEP/ECO plan
If you have a combination of service credit types, the ECO formula will be applied to all of your ECO service and the Regular or SLEP formula will be applied to any non-ECO service. You may convert non-ECO service to ECO, call IMRF to talk about this option.
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:
- Your Final Rate of Earnings (FRE)
- The total amount of your service credit
The formula to calculate an Original ECO pension is:
- 3% of ECO monthly final rate of earnings for each of your first eight years of ECO service credit, plus
- 4% of ECO monthly final rate of earnings for each of your next four 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% at 20 years of service.
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:
- Does not include any lump sum payments for vacation, sick leave, overtime, personal leave, etc.
- Does include stipends, using a monthly portion of the annual stipend.
If you retire with both ECO and Regular or SLEP service credit:
- The ECO monthly FRE will be used with your ECO service credit
- The Regular/SLEP FRE will be used with your Regular and/or SLEP service credit
Service Credit
Service credit is your total time under IMRF, stated in years and months.
Annual Pension Increases
Under Tier 1, your pension is increased by 3% of the original amount on January 1 every year after you retire.
Your first annual increase is based upon the number of months you are retired in your first year. If your pension effective date is January 1, your first year increase will also be 3%. Otherwise, your first year increase will be less than 3%.
| First Year Increase Calculation Example | |
|---|---|
| This example uses a pension of $800.00 per month with an effective date of July 1, 2014 | |
| The full 3% annual increase on 12 months of pension payments is $24.00 | $800.00 x 3% = $24 |
| $24.00 divided by 12 months = an increase of $2.00 per month | |
| However, the pension was in effect for only 6 months in the first year of retirement (July through December), so the first annual increase is applied to only 6 months of pension payments: | |
| 6 months = 1/2 of 12 months | Full increase of $24.00 x 1/2 = $12.00 |
| $12.00 = an increase of $2.00 per month for the first six months of retirement | |
| The annual increase for January 1, 2015: | $12.00 |
| The annual increase for January 1, 2016, and every year after: | $24.00 |
| Annual increases are always based on the original pension amount and are not compounded | |
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.
Did you know?
Use the Pension Calculator in your Member Access account to create your own pension estimates and compare different retirement options.