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Online Publications
Employers Manual
Service Retirement for Defined Benefit Plan Members
Joint Retirement with OPERS/SERS
Accumulated service credit in either or both the Ohio Public Employees
Retirement System (OPERS) and the School Employees Retirement System
of Ohio (SERS) may be combined with credit in STRS Ohio to qualify for
retirement or to provide a greater benefit. The accounts may be
combined at the time of retirement. The benefit will be paid by the
system in which the greatest amount of service credit has been earned.
Please note the following restrictions on combining service credit:
- A member cannot earn more than one year of service credit per fiscal year (July 1–June 30) in one, two or all three public retirement systems combined.
- Service credit in OPERS or SERS that is concurrent or overlapping with 1.00 year of STRS Ohio credit does not provide additional service credit to a member’s account.
- Postretirement employment restrictions of all retirement systems in which the member earned credit apply to joint retirees.
- Service credit in OPERS or SERS that is not concurrent with STRS Ohio credit may be combined to determine total number of years of service credit with STRS Ohio.
- If the member does not combine the accounts, there may be a reduction in service credit, FAS or both.
- If the member does not combine the accounts at retirement, concurrent service credit will be reduced accordingly based on the ratio of earnings in each system against the total amount of earnings in all retirement systems.
