Ohio Public Employees Retirement System

Law Enforcement And Public Safety Officers

OPERS provides special retirement coverage for certain law enforcement and public safety officers who are required to participate in the Traditional Pension Plan. If you are a Law Enforcement or Public Safety Officer, please refer to the

Service Credit With Other Systems

If you have service credit in the School Employees Retirement System of Ohio, the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio Defined Benefit Plan, or the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund you may retire independently from each system or have your contributions and total service credit in the OPERS Traditional Pension Plan, School Employees Retirement System and State Teachers Retirement System Defined Benefit Plan combined for the purpose of determining eligibility for and calculation of benefits.

The system that has the most service credit will pay the benefit, while funds and service credit in the other system are transferred to the paying system.

Please refer to the Service Credit and Contributing Months leaflet for more information.

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Top Review Highlights By Sentiment

• Great benefits.”

• “Bad management, no advancement, forgery, HR department sucks!”
• “No room for advancement if you are educated or have experience”

Pros

The System works hard to provide for the members to ensure retirees will get their pension.

Cons

I have no recollection of cons.

Clean building, professional environment, good benefits

Cons

Low pay for the amount of work, Call center environment.

Good co workers as long as they stay

Cons

Management doesnt value anyone..they will try to squeeze blood out of you as a rock until you leave, they dont value you, dont promote, give you anxiety daily with. Micromanagement and demeanment from the top down

Pros

Had the ability to do come creative investment projects that were quite profitable for the organization.

Cons

The organization has become more bureaucratic and not atypical for a public institution.

Pros

> Respects work/life balance> Management is cooperative and supportive> Stable, secure job> Great retirement benefits> Pretty good health benefits> Willingness to teach and aid in development of job skills> Extremely diverse, accepting culture and coworkers

Cons

Very flexible, allows good work life balance

Cons

Cold at times, parking gets tight.

Sherman V Ohio Public Employees Retirement System

In this case involving a subsidy to offset part of the cost of health insurance that Ohio Public Employees Retirement System provides to retirees receiving an OPERS pension the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals reversing the trial court’s dismissal of the action for failure to state a claim, holding that the court of appeals correctly determined that Plaintiff stated a claim under Civ.R. 12.Plaintiff filed a class action suit against OPERS arguing that reducing the subsidy of any retiree who is reemployed by a public employer that is a member of the OPERS network violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Ohio Constitution. The trial court dismissed the case under Civ.R. 12. The appellate court reversed, holding that Plaintiff stated a claim under Ohio’s Equal Protection Clause. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Plaintiff alleged facts that, if accepted as true, would entitle him to relief.

Primary Holding

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Primary Holding

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Statement Of Benefit Payment

If you annuitize any portion of your account and select one of the OPERS payment plans, you’ll receive a Statement of Benefit Payment any time there is a change in your benefit. You’ll also receive a Statement of Benefit Payment if there is a change in any deductions to your benefit. For example, the statement will show changes such as your cost-of-living adjustment, deductions for health care coverage or Medicare adjustments.

Statement of Benefit Payment are sent at the beginning of the year, or any time a there is a change in your amount of your retirement benefit.

Ohio Public Employee Retirement System

Full and part-time staff is enrolled in the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System upon hire. Each pay period, employees contribute 10% of their wages into their OPERS account and Southern State contributes another 14%. Newly hired full-time employees may choose an Alternative Retirement Plan within 120 days of their first day of paid service. This election is irrevocable and applies to all employment with the current employer.

OPERS offer three retirement plan options for eligible staff who elect participation in OPERS. The options include:

• 1. Traditional Pension Plan The Traditional Pension Plan is a defined benefit plan under which a members retirement benefit is based on a formula. The formula is determined by years of contributing service and the average of the 3 highest years of earnable salary .
• OPERS investment professionals manage the investment of employee and employer contributions to ensure that funds are available to pay the formula benefit.

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Receiving Your First Check

You will receive your first benefit payment approximately 8 business days after OPERS receives all valid documentation from both you and your employer, or your retirement effective date, whichever is later.

If you chose a partial lump sum option payment, it will be released 90 days after your first benefit check.

Am I Eligible To Retire

Perhaps one of the most important things to be aware of when considering retirement is whether or not you meet the retirement eligibility requirements for your plan and retirement group.

You may be financially and mentally prepared to retire, but you need to meet the age and service eligibility requirements set by OPERS to take that next step.

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We Meet With Every Client Personally

Founder Jim Lineweaver, CFP®, AIF®

For 27 years, Lineweaver Financial Group has helped prepare individuals for a successful retirement. In 2013, we expanded to create our Deferred Compensation department, with a focus on first responders, educators, and municipal workers. The five state retirement plans in Ohio can be challenging to navigate, and weve had the privilege of helping hundreds of state employees and their families prepare for a successful retirement. We hope that youll find the information, research, and resources weve assembled for your helpful, and that youll call us with your questions. Were looking forward to speaking with you.

Lineweaver Financial Group is independently owned and operated. Securities offered through Triad Advisors, LLC, Member FINRA / SIPCAdvisory services offered through Lineweaver Wealth Advisors, LLC. Lineweaver Wealth Advisors, LLC, is not affiliated with Triad Advisors, LLC.

Ial Lump Sum Option Payment

Regardless of which payment option is selected, retiring members may also elect a Partial Lump Sum Option Payment . The PLOP allows a member to receive a lump sum benefit payment along with a reduced monthly retirement allowance.

The lump sum payment cannot be less than six times or more than 36 times the monthly amount that would be payable under the plan of payment selected. The lump sum payment cannot result in a monthly benefit that is less than 50 percent of the original monthly benefit.

The total amount paid as a lump sum and monthly payments will be equal to the amount that would have been paid had the member not elected to receive a lump-sum payment.

As a lump-sum distribution, the PLOP is fully taxable, unless it is rolled over to a qualified plan or IRA and, like monthly benefits, may be subject to court orders, such as division of property orders and support withholding orders, if applicable.

An OPERS member who is a law enforcement or public safety officer terminating public employment at age 50 or older and who receives a Partial Lump Sum Option Payment on or after Aug. 18, 2006 will not have to pay the additional 10 percent tax on this distribution, provided the position from which they terminated was their law enforcement or public safety position.

of how a PLOP would affect a recipient’s monthly benefit.

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Ohio Public Employees Retirement System

The Ohio Public Employee Retirement System provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefit programs for public employees throughout the state of Ohio who are not otherwise covered by another state or local retirement system. OPERS serves more than 1 million past and present Ohio workers and had over $94.1 billion in net assets as of the end of 2018. OPERS is the largest pension fund in Ohio and the 12th largest public retirement system in the country.

There is serious and frequent discussion among state legislators focused on reducing the retirement benefits that members of OPERS have spent their working lives accumulating. While no one individual may be able to halt the long-term momentum of public sentiment, you can, to some extent, protect yourself by making sure you and your family have coordinated and managed your future entitlements before you retire.

For an OPERS member to effectively manage their retirement, they need the knowledge to make informed personal decisions and the initiative to take action now. The goal should be to maximize individual benefits available under your personal pension and any deferred compensation plans, and to consider whether a Partial Lump Sum Option Payment may be right for you.

Have I Considered The Cost Of Health Care

Due to rising costs of health care, you may see annual increases in the amount you pay for medical and prescription coverage. Think about how you will pay for expenses not covered by your health plan. Health care costs such as deductibles, copayments, and other out-of-pocket expenses can quickly eat up your retirement savings.

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Mandatory Retirement Plan Options

Both you and the university contribute to your retirement account. Your contributions are made on a pre-tax basis federal and state taxes are deferred until benefits are paid. Employees of Ohio public colleges and universities do not participate in the federal Social Security system, other than contributions to Medicare.

Ohio Public Employees Retirement System

The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System , one of two state-mandated retirement programs, was established to provide a secure retirement for Ohios public employees and their families. Staff, post-doctoral researchers and interns are eligible to participate in an OPERS plan. Student employees are encouraged to visit the Student Retirement Benefits webpage.

Returning To Work After Retirement

Your retirement benefits may be affected if you retire from OPERS and return to work in a job covered by OPERS or another Ohio retirement system. This includes service as an elected official and certain volunteer positions.

For example, if you become re-employed within the first two months after your retirement effective date, you will forfeit your retirement benefit during this period. It’s important to inform your employer that you are receiving an OPERS benefit if you become re-employed by an OPERS-covered employer.

Please refer to the Returning to Work After Retirement leaflet for more information regarding re-employment.

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State And Federal Tax Withholding

Federal and/or state of Ohio income taxes can be taken out of monthly benefit payment.

Changes can be made to your withholding amounts at any time through your online account.

Federal taxes

• If you do nothing, federal income tax will be withheld from your benefit payments using withholding rates applicable to a single individual with no adjustments.
• Even if you elect not to have federal income tax withheld, you are liable for payment of federal income tax on the taxable portion of your payments.

State taxes

• The payments may be subject to Ohio state income tax and you may elect to have Ohio state income tax withheld.

Use The Benefit Estimator

Wonder how much your pension will be when you retire? If you’re in our Traditional Pension Plan, you can use our benefit calculator to estimate the monthly benefit under a number of scenarios â if you take an initial payment, if you add an additional annuity, buy service time, or choose a different payment plan.

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Ohio Public Employees Retirement System Reviews Faqs

Ohio Public Employees Retirement System has an overall rating of 3.0 out of 5, based on over 48 reviews left anonymously by employees. 49% of employees would recommend working at Ohio Public Employees Retirement System to a friend and 38% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has improved by 3% over the last 12 months.

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Ohio Public Employees Retirement System employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.7 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

49% of Ohio Public Employees Retirement System employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Ohio Public Employees Retirement System 3.2 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.1 for culture and values and 2.6 for career opportunities.