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Employers Manual
Retirement Incentive Plan for Defined Benefit Plan Members
Employer Requirements
Employers may establish plans to purchase additional STRS Ohio service
credit for eligible members as an incentive to retire. The amount
of service credit offered may not exceed five years and must be offered
uniformly to all eligible members, even though some may not
need the full number of years being offered to qualify for retirement. Only whole years of service credit may be purchased.
Regardless of the number of years offered by the plan, the number of years an employer may purchase for any individual participant is limited to 1/5 of the person’s accumulated service credit before the purchase. Accumulated service includes credit in STRS Ohio, the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), the School Employees Retirement System of Ohio (SERS) and any other Ohio-valued credit purchases by the teacher.
Once established, the plan must remain in effect for a minimum of one
year. An employer may extend an existing plan beyond one year. However, the extension must be submitted to STRS Ohio on the 
Employer Notification to STRS Ohio of Adoption of Retirement Incentive Plan form before the original termination date.
An employer may limit the number of members for whom it purchases retirement incentive credit in a calendar year to a specified percentage not less than five percent of its employees who are members of STRS Ohio on Jan. 1 of that year. When limited, participation must be granted in order of seniority with the employer. Participation in the plan is the option of the member.
