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Service with Other Plans

​​Kentucky Revised Statute 61.680 and Kentucky Administrative Regulation 1:020 provide for a reciprocal agreement between all state-administered retirement systems within Kentucky. 

Members with more than one retirement plan administered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky may be allowed to combine service to determine eligibility for benefits, total service credit, and final compensation. This is often referred to as reciprocity. Each system will pay a benefit based on the applicable retirement formula for the respective system on the amount of service in that system.

The six (6) state-administered retirement systems are:

If you have an account in more than one of the retirement systems, you should contact KPPA to determine the benefits you may be entitled to receive upon retirement. In order to receive benefits from all the systems in which you have service, you must submit the required retirement forms to EACH system at the time of retirement.

FOR EXAMPLE: John was employed with a local board of education in a classified position and accumulated 10 years of service in CERS. He is now employed with the same board of education as a teacher and has accumulated 17 years of service in TRS. John would be eligible to retire at any age with no restrictions in his retirement benefits from KPPA because he has accumulated a combined total of 27 years of service. John would receive a retirement benefit from CERS based upon his 10 years of service and a separate benefit from TRS based upon his 17 years of service.

Retirement Benefits and Health Insurance

At the time of retirement or death, KPPA determines eligibility for benefits and the level of medical coverage by considering the member's total service credit from all systems and the initial participation date with any state-administered retirement plan.

Additionally, for members who have a participation date prior to January 1, 2014, the highest final compensation is used to determine the amount of retirement benefits available to the member from each applicable benefit formula for the respective systems and separate checks are issued by each system independently.

To determine your retirement benefits at KPPA only, log on to Member Self Service. To determine your retirement benefits at TRS, visit the Teachers' Retirement System website at https://trs.ky.gov.

Refunds

Kentucky law does not provide for consolidation of the different retirement system accounts nor does it allow consolidation of the funds accumulated in the separate accounts.

IF YOU TAKE A REFUND OF YOUR TRS ACCOUNT, THIS MAY CHANGE YOUR PARTICIPATION DATE AND BENEFITS WITH KPPA.

Filing for Retirement with Reciprocal Service

In order to receive retirement benefits from any state-administered retirement plans in which you have service, you must meet the retirement eligibility rules for each individual retirement plan. Once you have determined your retirement eligibility, you must complete and submit separate retirement applications to the respective retirement systems for the same retirement date.

IMPORTANT NOTE: TRS HAS DIFFERENT FILING DEADLINES THAN KPPA. Visit TRS' Reciprocity page for more information regarding TRS' process and procedures.

Whether you are filing for retirement online or by paper applicatio​n, if you have service in one of the state-administered plans NOT managed by KPPA, you will need to indicate your outside service by checking the appropriate box or boxes in Section B on the Form 6000, Notification of Retirement.

Each state-administered retirement plan may have different rules about employment after retirement. If you are planning to engage in employment after retirement, you should contact each state-administered retirement plan from which you are retiring. For more information about post-retirement employment rules for the systems operated by the KPPA, please visit the Reemployment After Retirement page​.​


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