Service Credit for State of Texas Retirement

Groups 1, 2 and 3

The information on this page is for ERS members in Groups 1, 2 and 3, that is, who started working at a State of Texas agency before Sept. 1, 2022.

If you are in Group 4, visit the Group 4 service credit page to learn how service credit is applied to your eligibility for retirement with ERS. 

Know your ERS retirement group.

What is service credit?

Service credit is credit for time worked. It is one of the factors ERS uses to calculate when you can retire and how much your annuity will be. Every employee, earns service credit, and/or some employees might be able to purchase service credit.

Earned Service Credit

  • ERS
    Contribute to the ERS Retirement Plan while working at a State of Texas agency. All state agency employees, except return-to-work ERS retirees and contracted/temporary employees, make a monthly contribution to the Plan by direct deduction from their paycheck.
  • Sick and Annual Leave
    If retiring directly from a State of Texas agency: 
    • Group 1 employees can apply unused sick and/or annual leave balances to their service credit to meet ERS retirement eligibility and increase their ERS annuity.
    • Group 2 and 3 employees can apply unused sick and/or annual leave balances to their service credit only to increase their ERS retirement annuity (not to reach retirement eligibility). Group 3 employees can apply unused leave to increase their annuity only if they don’t take a payout for the unused leave with their agency.

If you are retiring after you left state agency employment, you cannot apply sick or annual leave as service credit.

Purchased Service Credit

  • Additional Service Credit (ASC)
    Purchase up to three years of ASC if you have at least 10 years of earned ERS service credit, not including military and unused sick/annual leave, and have purchased all other service credit available to you.
  • Military Service Credit
    Purchase up to 60 months of active duty United States military service credit.
  • Waiting Period Service Credit
    This is the time early in some state employees' careers when they didn’t contribute to the ERS Retirement Plan. If you had a waiting period before you started contributing, you can buy this time to help you retire earlier and increase your monthly payment.
  • Withdrawn (Refunded) Service Credit
    If you worked for the State of Texas before, left and withdrew your retirement account then returned to State of Texas employment, you can buy back the service credit you withdrew.
    Please note: If you returned to work for the State of Texas on or after Sept. 1, 2009, buying withdrawn service credit will not reinstate you to the retirement group you were in before you withdrew your account. You will stay in the retirement group based on the date you returned to State of Texas employment.

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