Police and firefighter unit benefits

Tier One or Tier Two member can purchase P&F units if they are working as a police officer or firefighter as defined by Oregon law. Your employer is responsible for the accurate reporting of your job classification to PERS.

OPSRP members are ineligible for P&F units.

Oregon Revised Statutes Chapters 238 and 238A defines police officers as including the following:

• Director and employees of the Department of Corrections (DOC) whose duties include the custody of adults-in-custody.
• Corrections officer who has supervisory or management authority over other corrections officers.
• Persons classified as police officers on July 27, 1989, who continue in the same position.
• Persons who have been classified as police officers for seven consecutive years and are transferred to other positions identified by the director of DOC as “police officers.”
• Adult parole and probation officers, including those transferred DOC to county employment under the Community Corrections Act.
• Oregon State Police officers.
• Sheriffs and deputy sheriffs.
• City police chiefs and police officers.
• Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission officers.
• State Capitol and state building police.
• Port of Portland airport police.
• Commissioned university police.
• Department of Agriculture livestock police.
• Employees of the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training who are not clerical or secretarial personnel.
• Department of Justice investigators in the Criminal Justice Division.
• Oregon State Lottery Commission enforcement agents.
• Employees at youth correction facilities and juvenile detention facilities:
  • Who hold valid Oregon teaching certificates and have supervisory, control, or teaching responsibilities over juveniles committed to the custody of the DOC or the Department of Services to Children and Families.
    OR
  • Whose primary job descriptions involve custody, control, treatment, investigation, or supervision of juveniles placed in schools.
    OR
  • Who are juvenile parole and probation officers working for Oregon Youth Authority.
• Persons employed as a deputy district attorney on January 1, 2024, for duties performed on or after that date.
• Certified parole and probation officers who hold the Department of Public Safety Standard and Training (DPSST) certification and are employed by the State Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision as of January 1,2024.

Note: The police officer classification does not include volunteer or reserve police officers, civil deputies, or clerical personnel.

Oregon Revised Statutes 238 and 238A include the following as firefighters:

• State and chief deputy state fire marshals.
• Deputy state fire marshals.
• An Oregon Department of Forestry employee who is certified by the state forester as a professional wildland firefighter and whose primary duties include fighting uncontrolled fires.
• Employees of the Oregon Military Department whose primary duties include fighting structural, aircraft, wildland, or other fires.
• Persons employed by cities, counties, or districts whose duties involve firefighting.

The firefighter classification does not include volunteer firefighters.

If you are younger than 65 and working in a P&F-qualifying position, you can purchase up to eight units through payroll deductions.

P&F members who plan to retire before purchasing the maximum of eight units will have the option to purchase any remaining units as a lump-sum payment in the 90-day window immediately prior to their retirement. However, this lump-sum purchase option is not available if the member is no longer actively employed in a P&F position or has already reached age 65.

The full cost to purchase eight units of additional P&F benefits is $4,000.

You can pay by monthly payroll deduction before age 65.

The amounts of the payroll deduction is based on your age when you sign up for P&F units and the actuarial assumed rate of interest. This rate is currently 6.9% but could change.

Contact the human resources (HR)/benefits department at your employer to make P&F unit purchases through payroll deduction.

If no prior payroll deductions for unit benefits have been made, and you are younger than age 60, and still working in a P&F-qualifying position, you can purchase P&F units in a lump-sum payment within 90 days prior to your effective retirement date.

To make a P&F unit purchase immediately before retirement, complete the Police Officer and Firefighter Unit Purchase Election at Retirement form and submit it to PERS.

Yes. Your unit account will be credited annually with the same earnings as your regular member account. The amount in your unit account will be shown on your PERS Member Annual Statement.

No.

You may voluntarily withdraw your unit account by submitting a Member Account Withdrawal Application and selecting to withdraw “Only my P&F unit account.”

You can only withdraw if you are no longer employed by a PERS-participating employer or a participating employer's controlled group under the federal law.

If you voluntarily withdraw your unit account, you will not be allowed to sign up for P&F units again if you return to a PERS-qualifying P&F position. You can withdraw a unit account without having to withdraw your other member account(s).

Your P&F unit account balance will be involuntarily refunded along with your other PERS account. You would be allowed to sign up for P&F units again if you return to a PERS-qualifying P&F position.

P&F unit payments may begin on or after the date of your service or disability retirement but no earlier than age 50.

Payments are made over a minimum of five years (60 months) unless payments begin after you reach age 60. Generally, each P&F unit purchased provides a $20 monthly benefit if paid for 60 months: $10 from your unit account and $10 from your employer. Eight fully paid-up units provide $160 per month for 60 months. Receiving your P&F unit account over a longer period of time (more than 60 months) reduces the amount of each monthly payment.

Sometimes the earnings credited to unit accounts exceeds the actuarially assumed interest rate and the account balance may be greater than $4,000 when you start your P&F unit payment. You will receive a lump-sum distribution of any amount over $4,000. This payment may be eligible for rollover. You will receive information regarding the rollover of this payment, if applicable.

If you are actively employed as a P&F member in a PERS-qualifying position and you are less than age 65, you will be given the opportunity to purchase the remaining balance. If you choose not to make the additional purchase, you will receive a reduced monthly unit benefit based on the balance in your unit account.

At retirement, you will apply for your units to begin either effective at your retirement date, or on a future date. PERS will automatically start your unit monthly benefit at the time you choose. However, monthly unit benefits will not be paid once you reach age 65. (See the preceding question: “What if my unit account at retirement is less than the amount required to fund the maximum benefit?”)

You may change the date to begin payments of your unit benefit any time before the issue date of your first unit benefit payment.

If you retire after age 60 but before age 65, your P&F unit benefit will be paid to you from your effective retirement date to age 65. You will receive increased monthly benefits from your unit account based on the number of months you are to receive your benefit. However, the amount provided by the employer will not exceed $10 per month per unit purchased (maximum $80 monthly benefit for eight units).

If you retire on or after age 65, your unit account will be paid to you in a lump sum and would not include an employer benefit.

No. Your unit benefit is a separate payment.

Your P&F unit benefits are subject to federal taxes. Your unit benefit payments are subject to a 10% early distribution penalty if you separate from employment with your PERS employer before the calendar year you reach age 50 and start your P&F unit benefits before age 59½. For further information, we advise you to consult a qualified tax professional or the IRS.

Your P&F unit benefits are subject to Oregon state income tax if you are an Oregon resident.

If you are not an Oregon resident, you are not subject to Oregon state income tax. However, your benefit may be subject to taxation in the state where you reside.

You will be eligible to receive monthly P&F unit benefits at retirement if:

• You are at least age 45 when you leave a P&F position.
  OR
• You return to employment as a police officer or firefighter (as defined by Oregon law) before the end of five years from the date you transferred to a job classification other than police officer or firefighter. If, at the end of five years, you have not turned 50 or returned to a qualifying P&F position, your unit account, including annual earnings, will be refunded to you at that time.

Your unit account will be paid to your designated beneficiary. If your monthly P&F unit payments have started, your remaining unit account balance at your death will be paid to your designated beneficiary. There is no death benefit due from employer contributions.