Rule 145-2-19 | Aggregating combined and traditional plan service credit for retirement eligibility.
(A) This rule amplifies section 145.195 of the Revised Code.
(B) Pursuant to the authority specified in section 145.195 of the Revised Code, for retirement effective dates on or after July 1, 2025, members who have service credit in both the traditional pension plan and the combined plan may aggregate such service credit for determining eligibility for age and service retirement if the following coditions are met:
(1) The member shall have attained at least five years of contributing service in either the traditional pension plan or the combined plan and is, or will become, eligible for an unreduced age and service retirement allowance after the service credit is aggregated.
(2) Service credit shall be aggregated for retirement eligibility into the retirement plan in which the member has the most total service credit and, if the member has an equal amount of total service credit in both retirement plans, the retirement plan in which the member has the greatest total contributions.
(3) Calculation of the unreduced retirement allowance shall be based solely on the total service credit in the retirement plan into which service credit was aggregated for retirement eligibility.
(4) The member shall apply, at the time of application for retirement, for a refund of contributions under section 145.40 of the Revised Code or Article VIII of the combined plan document, as applicable, for the service credit that was aggregated for retirement eligibility. A member who elects to aggregate for retirement eligibility is not eligible for the addtitional amount described in rule 145-2-54 of the Administrative Code.
(C) If a member described in this rule has service credit and contributions in the school employees retirement system or state teachers retirement system, the member may aggregate service credit under this rule if the public employees retirement system is the paying system, as defined in section 145.37 of the Revised Code, and the member otherwise meets the requirements of that section regarding the member's service credit in the traditional pension plan, prior to a determination of aggregating service credit under this rule.
(D) A member who elects to aggregate service credit for age and service retirement eligibility, as described in this rule, shall do so on a form provided by the retirement system. If such member later elects to withdraw the retirement application or the refund application as permitted under rules 145-1-71 and 145-1-73 of the Administrative Code, the member shall withdraw both the retirement and refund applications.
(E) For purposes of determining eligibility under rule 145-4-27 of the Adminstrative Code, the retirement system may aggregate years of employer contributions earned and purchased in both the traditional pension plan and the combined plan if the requirements descibed in this rule are met.
Last updated October 6, 2025 at 7:59 AM
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