To be eligible for ERS membership, the employee must be employed in a position working 20 or more hours per week and more than 90 days in duration.
Graduate Assistants are not eligible for ERS membership.
As a new University of Hawaii employee hired on or after July 1, 2006, you are enrolled in the HYBRID PLAN.
Your Pension Plan:
- If your membership date is after June 30, 2012:
- Your mandatory contribution rate is 8% of eligible pay each paycheck.
- You become fully vested at 10 years of creditable service.
- If your membership date is prior to July 1, 2012:
- Your mandatory contribution rate is 6% of eligible pay each paycheck.
- You become fully vested at 5 years of creditable service.
As a University of Hawaii employee hired on or after July 1, 1984, you are enrolled in the NONCONTRIBUTORY PLAN (unless you made an election to join the Hybrid Plan in 2006).
Your Pension Plan:
- You do not contribute anything to the ERS so no contributions will be deducted from your salary.
- You become fully vested at 10 years of creditable service.
As a University of Hawaii employee hired prior to July 1, 1984, you are enrolled in the CONTRIBUTORY PLAN (unless you made an election to join the Noncontributory plan in 1984 or made an election to join the Hybrid plan in 2006).
Your Pension Plan:
- If your membership date is after June 30, 2012:
- Your mandatory contribution rate is 9.8% of eligible pay each paycheck.
- You become fully vested at 10 years of creditable service.
- If your membership date is prior to July 1, 2012:
- Your mandatory contribution rate is 7.8% of eligible pay each paycheck.
- You become fully vested at 5 years of creditable service.
If you are a highly compensated employee, earning more than $345,000 in 2024:
- contributions to ERS will be calculated based on earnings up to $345,000
- $345,000 is the maximum amount used to compute your Average Final Income (AFC), which is used to determine your pension benefits
This limit is $345,000 in 2023 ($330,000 in 2023) and is adjusted annually.
Service credit is the length of time you work for the State or County government while a member of the ERS and it determines not only the amount of your retirement benefits, but also when you will be eligible for retirement.
Purchase Service
Starting July 1, 2020, the cost to purchase ERS service for eligible refunded service or previous membership service, or for active duty military service, will be actuarially calculated. The actuarial calculation takes into consideration the member’s age, retirement age eligibility requirements, the investment yield rate, and other actuarial assumptions.
Unused Sick Leave
If you have 60 or more days of unused sick leave when you retire and leave government service in good standing, you will receive an additional month of service credit for every 20 days of unused sick leave. Any balance of 10 or more days will provide an additional month of service credit.
Service credit provided by unused sick leave is used to increase the amount of your retirement benefit but cannot be used to meet eligibility requirements for retirement.
Create an eHawaii.gov account to find your plan information, check your membership date and years of creditable service, and see your accumulated contributions.
All ERS retirees considering returning to State or County employment must comply with the following requirement under Section 88-9 (Act 179), Hawai‘i Revised Statutes:
- A 6 consecutive calendar month break in State or County employment prior to the first day of employment if the retiree is employed in a position that is excluded from ERS membership; OR
- A 12 consecutive calendar month break in State or County employment prior to the first day of employment if the retiree will be employed in a position identified as a labor shortage or difficult to fill position.
Act 179 protects and preserves the tax exempt status of the ERS, and does not prohibit the employment of retirees who re-enroll as active ERS members when returning to State or County employment. Upon re-enrollment, the retiree’s pension and other retirement benefits will be suspended until the member retires again.
Documents:
The Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) has updated its procedures applicable to employees returning from military deployment who are covered under the Servicemen’s Act. This memo supersedes our memorandum dated May 30, 2012 and conforms employer payroll reporting with our new template. Instructions for employers may be found on the ERS website.