ORSSCHOOLS - Membership

ORS — Public School Employees Retirement System

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>	Membership

>	MIP or Basic

>	Contributions

>	Leaving School Employment

>	Qualifying for Your Pension

>	Estimating Your Pension

>	Earning Service Credit

>	Adding to Your Service Credit

>	Disability Benefits

>	Your Insurance Benefits

>	Beneficiary/Death Benefits

>	Retirement At A Glance

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Who is a Member?

You may be active, deferred, or retired.

Active Member. You are on the payroll of one of the participating Michigan public school systems described. You remain an active member for up to one year while laid off, or as long as an employee-employer relationship exists while on a leave of absence.

Deferred Member. You leave public school employment after you are vested but before you're old enough to draw your pension. You are vested for your pension (meaning you have sufficient service to qualify for a benefit but don't yet meet the age requirement) when you have the equivalent of 10 years of full-time employment. You remain in deferred status, as long as your contributions remain on account, until you apply for your pension at age 60 and become a retiree.

Retiree. You are receiving a pension (disability or retirement) from the retirement system.

Glossary of Terms

Optional Retirement Plan

You become a member and begin accruing credit toward a pension on the first day you work in a participating Michigan educational institution.

Members include the following:

Employees of K-12 public school districts.
Employees of intermediate school districts.
Employees of district libraries.
Employees of some public school academies.
Employees of tax-supported community colleges.
Certain employees who became employed before January 1, 1996, by one of these seven universities: Central, Eastern, Northern, and Western Michigan Universities, Ferris State and Lake Superior State Universities, and Michigan Technological University.

Note: When you see the terms members and schools throughout this site, we are referring to the employees and employers described above who participate in the Public School Employees Retirement System.

Exceptions to membership.

The following employees are not members of the Public School Employees Retirement System:

A person who has retired from the system and is receiving a pension (even if he or she returns to public school employment).
A person employed by a public school while enrolled as a full-time student in that system.
A person under the age of 19 employed in a temporary, intermittent, or irregular seasonal or athletic position, whether a student or not.
An instructor or administrator of a community college or eligible university who elected an optional retirement plan (such as TIAA/CREF) offered under Public Act 156 of 1967, as amended.
A new employee of a library or museum hired after it separated from the school district.
A person who is working in the public school system only through a program resulting from the Federal Work Force Investment Act of 1998; Michigan Community Service Corps (Public Act 259 of 1983); Senior Community Service Employment Program (Public Law 89-73); or Work First Program.

Note: Administrators of any of these programs who were previously members of the retirement system, and who remain in the employ of the school, may retain membership in the retirement system.
An employee enrolled in a transitional public employment program.
A person enrolled in a federally-funded neighborhood youth corps program or similar training program operated by an intermediate school district to prevent or rehabilitate high school dropouts.
A person who is working for the school for the sole purpose of a political election.
A person working in a public school who is contracted by an outside company, rather than hired directly by the school.
A person working in a public school who is self-employed as an independent contractor.