sra.maryland.gov sra.maryland.gov
Your retirement coordinator can provide you with the
necessary forms to file for a disability retirement
benefit. These forms are also available on our website.
Service Retirement
There are two types of service retirement: early and
normal. Normal service retirement provides full
benefits, while early service retirement provides a
reduced benefit. Your eligibility for either type of
service retirement depends on two factors: your service
credit and age.
Early Service Retirement: Age 60 with at least 15 years
of eligibility service.
Normal Service Retirement: At least 90 years of
combined age and years of eligibility service. For
example:
l
Age 57 with 33 years of service,
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Age 60 with 30 years of service, or
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Age 63 with 27 years of service.
Members with at least 10 years of eligibility service
become eligible for normal service retirement at age 65.
When you retire, you will be able to choose from a
number of payment options. These options range from
the Basic Allowance, which provides the highest
monthly allowance for you alone, to options that reduce
your monthly payment but provide varying degrees of
protection to your beneficiaries upon your death.
Vested Retirement: If you leave employment after you
have earned at least 10 years of eligibility service, but
before you are 65 years old, you are eligible to receive
a future benefit based on your service at your
termination.
If you are not vested when you leave employment and
you don’t anticipate returning to membership, you may
contact the agency to receive a refund of your balance
of accumulated contributions and interest.
If you withdraw your balance of accumulated
contributions and interest, you will forfeit your right to
a future benefit.
During Retirement
As a retiree, once you have been retired one full year as
of July 1, your retirement allowance may be adjusted
each July to help your benefit payments keep pace with
inflation.
Resources
Register for the Retirement Agency’s secure online
participant portal, mySRPS, to view your account
information, create estimates of your service retirement
benefits, and communicate securely with the
Retirement Agency. You may begin the registration
process for mySRPS by visiting the Retirement
Agency’s website, sra.maryland.gov, and clicking on
the mySRPS Login button.
The Retirement Agency’s website also has lots of
additional information for you, including newsletters,
member handbooks, printable forms, and updates on
the system’s financial performance.
To visit the office or write a letter:
State Retirement Agency
120 East Baltimore Street
Baltimore, MD 21202-6700
Email inquiries to [email protected]
To speak with a retirement benefits specialist:
410-625-5555 or 1-800-492-5909
Employees’
Pension System*
3/20
Welcome to the
Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly
Maryland State Insect
Butterfly photo courtesy of Sue Muller
Howard County Department of Recreation & Parks
* For members enrolled on or after July 1, 2011
Maryland State Retirement
and Pension System
120 East Baltimore Street
Baltimore, MD 21202-6700
410-625-5555
1-800-492-5909
sra.maryland.gov
sra.maryland.gov sra.maryland.gov sra.maryland.gov
service within one year of becoming a member of the
EPS. Contact a retirement benefits specialist if this
situation applies to you.
Member Contributions
You contribute 7% of your annual compensation to the
EPS.
Service Credit
You earn service credit toward your retirement benefits
each day you work and pay your required contribution.
Your service credit and age determine when you are
eligible for retirement and how much your retirement
benefit will be.
Eligibility service is used to determine when you are
eligible for a benefit. You earn one year of eligibility
service during any fiscal year when you work a
minimum of 500 regular hours, excluding overtime.
Creditable service is used to determine the amount of
your retirement benefit. A full-time employee will earn
one month of creditable service for each month of
employment. Creditable service also can include
purchased prior service, qualifying military service, and
accrued sick leave that is unused as of your retirement
date.
Your Benefits
The EPS provides survivor, disability and service
retirement benefits. Please see the EPS handbook on
our website for more detailed information.
Survivor Benefits
If you die while in active membership and after you
have earned at least one year of eligibility service, your
beneficiaries are eligible to receive a one-time payment
equal to your annual salary plus your balance of
accumulated contributions and interest.
If, at the time of death, you were an active member,
your spouse or your qualifying children may be eligible
to receive a monthly benefit in lieu of the one-time
payment if: you were eligible to retire, or you had at
least 25 years of eligibility service, or you were at least
60 years old and had at least 15 years of eligibility
service.
In lieu of the survivor benefits mentioned here, you are
eligible for a special death benefit if you are killed in
the line of duty. That benefit is a monthly allowance of
two-thirds of your average final compensation that will
be paid to the first of the following who survives you:
your spouse, your children who are under age 26 or
disabled, or your dependent parents. Also, a return of
your balance of accumulated contributions with interest
will be paid to your designated beneficiaries.
Disability Benefits
If you are permanently and totally disabled from
performing your job duties, as determined by the
System’s medical board and Board of Trustees, you
may be eligible for a lifetime monthly disability
retirement benefit.
Types of Disability Retirement
There are two types of disability benefits:
Ordinary: For a physical or mental condition that
permanently disables you from performing
the duties of your job. To file for ordinary
disability, you must have accrued five years
of eligibility service.
Accidental: For a physical or mental condition that
permanently disables you from performing
the duties of your job, and which results
from an on-duty accident without your
willful negligence. As an active member,
you are eligible to file for accidental
disability from your first day on the job
provided you file within five years after the
date of the accident.
Welcome!
The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System
has a long history of providing retirement benefits to
employees and teachers of Maryland state and local
employers.
This overview deals with the highlights of the
Employees’ Pension System (“EPS”). Please refer to
your system handbook on our website at
sra.maryland.gov for more details about any of these
topics.
A retirement coordinator, usually someone in your
human resources department, can help you file
enrollment forms and answer basic questions about
your benefits. The Maryland State Retirement
Agency also maintains a staff of retirement benefits
specialists to answer questions from members and
retirees.
Enrollment
Membership in the EPS is mandatory, with very
limited exceptions. Please see the pension system
handbook on our website for information about these
exceptions.
To properly enroll, you must submit to the
Retirement Agency an Application for Membership
(Form 1) and a valid proof of birth date document.
You are strongly encouraged at the time of your
enrollment to also submit to the Retirement Agency a
Designation of Beneficiary (Form 4). These forms
are available from your retirement coordinator or on
our website.
If you have membership credit in another Maryland
state or Maryland local retirement/pension system,
you may be able to transfer that service credit to
your new record in the EPS. To qualify for the
transfer, your employment must be continuous and
you almost always must apply to transfer your
