Lose or quit my job
If you leave covered employment without being vested, your contributions will remain in the PERS Trust Fund for five years if you do not withdraw your account. At that point, you should contact PERS to apply for a withdrawal, as your account will stop earning interest.
If you leave covered employment without being vested and do not return to covered employment within five years, you lose PERS membership. You could reestablish membership in the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Plan (OPSRP) after serving another six-month waiting period in a qualifying position.
Your Individual Account Program (IAP) in OPSRP can also be withdrawn. If you are an inactive member, you may elect at any time to withdraw your OPSRP IAP employee, rollover, or employer accounts to the extent you are vested in those accounts. (See Refunds ). If an inactive member is not vested in his or her employer account and takes a distribution of his or her employee and/or rollover account, the employer account is permanently forfeited as of the date of that distribution. If you withdraw from one account you must withdraw from all accounts.
Vesting in your employee account under the IAP occurs immediately when you become an IAP member.
Vesting means you cannot lose your benefit rights, even if you stop working in a qualifying position. Under the IAP, your account will continue to have earnings or losses even if you leave PERS-covered employment.
Let PERS know if you change addresses.
Page updated: February 08, 2008
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