State of Texas Retirement for Former Employees

The State of Texas Retirement program is a defined benefit retirement plan for eligible employees or former employees of State of Texas agencies.

Note: ERS does not administer retirement benefits for employees of higher education institutions, the Community Supervision and Corrections Department, or Windham School District. If you work for one of these entities, please see the Teacher Retirement System of Texas/Optional Retirement Program (TRS/ORP) page for information about your retirement benefits. Please see the Insurance Benefits in Retirement page for information about your insurance benefits as a retiree.

Program includes:

• Monthly annuity for life when a vested member becomes eligible and chooses to retire
• Options for a lump-sum payment on retirement and/or survivor benefits after retiree’s death

Note: Former employees must be vested in State of Texas Retirement to be eligible for a retirement annuity. You become vested when you have contributed to your State of Texas Retirement account for five or 10 years, depending on when you started working for the state.

Eligibility to participate:

• Former employees of State of Texas agencies, former elected state officials, former district attorneys and former state judges who are no longer employed/no longer contributing to their State of Texas Retirement account can leave their money in their account. If they were vested when they stopped contributing and leave their money in their account, they can get a retirement annuity from ERS when they’re eligible and apply to retire.
  • Former employees who kept their money in their State of Texas Retirement account will resume contributions to their account if they return to state employment/office. They will also start earning service credit again. Their new service credit will be added to their existing service credit.
• Former employees of Texas agencies, former elected state officials, former district attorneys and former judges who are no longer employed/no longer contributing to their State of Texas Retirement account can withdraw their money from their account. If they withdraw their money, they are no longer ERS members and lose all their service credit. They will not be eligible to get a retirement annuity from ERS. 
  • Former ERS members become members again if they return to state employment or office and start contributing to a State of Texas Retirement account again. However, they will not be able to buy back their previous service credit.

Annuity options:

If you were vested in your State of Texas Retirement account when you left state employment and did not withdraw your account, you will receive a lifetime monthly payment (called an annuity) when you become eligible and apply for retirement. You may choose:

• the standard annuity or
• an option that continues payments to your designated beneficiary after your death and/or
• a partial lump-sum payment upon retirement.

Note: If you’re vested and decide to retire, you don’t have to be working for the state to be eligible for a State of Texas Retirement annuity, but you must apply to retire. ERS won’t notify you when you become eligible.

Retirement Accounts

• Regular agency employee overview
• LECOSRF overview
• Elected state official overview (includes district and criminal attorneys that receive salaries from the state general revenue fund)
• JRS overview
• Texa$aver℠ 401(k) / 457 Program (personal retirement savings to supplement your State of Texas Retirement income)

Resources

• Managing Your Annuity
• ERS Retirement and Insurance Overview (pdf)
• Planning Your Retirement (pdf)
• Frequently asked questions about retirement