CREDITED SERVICE. . .

Credited service is the total of membership service and prior service.

Membership service (also referred to as current service) is employment after your political subdivision has joined LAGERS. One month of membership service is credited for each month of full-time employment that a wage is reported for you by your employer.

Prior service is employment with a political subdivision prior to the date the subdivision elects to join LAGERS. One hundred percent of such prior employment is considered for credit unless the political subdivision elects to cover less. In order to receive credit for all eligible prior service, an employee must be employed within the year preceding LAGERS membership and continuously employed for (1) year, or (2) until death, or (3) until total and permanent disability, whichever is earliest.

In the following example, we will assume the employing political subdivision elected to cover 100% of their employees' prior service.

5/1/88    New employee begins work for subdivision
5/1/08    Political subdivision joins LAGERS

Prior service = 20 years   (5/1/09 Employee credited with prior service)


5/1/08   Employee 'active' service credit begins
5/1/13   Employee retires



Membership Service = 5 years

Total Credited Service = 25 years

In this example, the employee was actually a LAGERS member for only five years, yet his or her benefit will be based on 25 years of service credit.

It is also important to note that credited service can be the total amount of service with several employers. Because LAGERS is a state-wide plan with hundreds of member cities, counties and special districts, an employee can work several years with different member employers and continue to accumulate credited service toward his benefit. For example, an employee could have worked for the following:

City of Independence                                  15 years

Buchanan County                                          3 years  

Mid-Continent Public Library                       7 years 
 

Total credited service under LAGERS          25 years

The employee would have 25 years on which to base his or her LAGERS benefit, while each of these employers would be financially responsible only for the service the employee had while working for them. Please note: Employee refunds or extended breaks in service credit may result in a forfeiture of applicable service credit.