For Defined Benefit members to retire under the early reduced pension provision, they must meet the following conditions:
- Worked in the month of their 55th birthday (an exception may apply if they were born in a summer month; see Summer Birthday Provision).
- Have at least 15, but fewer than 30, years of service (YOS), with at least 10 YOS earned under this system.
- Earned creditable service in each of the five school fiscal years before — including the month immediately before — their retirement effective date. The fiscal year in which they retire counts in the five years. (Learn more about earning service credit.)
- Terminated Michigan public school service immediately before their retirement effective date.
Because members must work (and terminate) in the month before their retirement effective date to qualify for the early reduced provision, please verify that termination dates are correct when completing Final Payroll Details (FPD). If the termination date is months after they last worked, it may cause issues with pension eligibility.
In February, each eligible reporting unit will receive a credit for Defined Contribution employer contributions it paid for employees who did not vest in the past year. This is an annual credit distributed around February each year.
The contributions will appear as a credit on your pay cycle statements in early-to-mid-February. The money can only be used to offset future employer contributions on your pay cycle statement(s), according to IRS rules. You are still required to withhold the appropriate employee contributions from your employees. The credit cannot be used to offset employee contributions.
Web administrators will receive more information as soon as it becomes available
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When Public Act 250 of 2024 changed the default plan for new hires as of July 1, 2024, there was an overlap period when some people defaulted into the Defined Contribution (DC) Plan after July 1, 2024, because their first day worked was before July 1, 2024.
Since the overlap period has ended, ORS has updated the language in our letters and other communications. The four letters we send to new hires (welcome, reminder, final notice, and confirmation) no longer refer to the “first day worked.”
In addition, our new hire publications, websites, and videos also got a refresh.
Publications When we mail the confirmation letters, we're also sending a brochure about their plan. The brochures are called Navigating Your Defined Contribution Plan (R2054C) and Navigating Your Pension Plus 2 Plan (R2055C).
Before 2025, we also sent new hires the Retirement Plan Election Guide (R0606C) and the Retirement Plan Decision Guide (R0607C) with the welcome letter. The information in those guides has been combined to create the new Choosing Your Retirement Plan (R2053C) guide to accompany the welcome letter. This new guide has information about the plans, a comparison of plan features, and an activity to help new hires make their decision.
Videos We revised the new hire video and added more Retirement 101 videos to the Michigan Public School Employees' Retirement System — New Hire playlist.
Websites The PickMiPlan website provides full details about each plan for new public school employees who are picking a retirement plan. We updated this website to include the new guide and a link to the video playlist. We also updated the ORS website.
Every year, the IRS announces the latest contribution limits for retirement savings accounts. The limits for 2025 have increased or remained the same. Review the IRS limits for more information based on the employee's age and plan type.
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