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    PUBLIC SCHOOL EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM (PSERS)

    Qualifying for Membership

    PSERS membership is mandatory for qualifying employees of Pennsylvania public school entities.  Qualification is determined by employment type and the amount of service rendered during a school year (July 1 – June 30) as defined by PSERS, not the employer.

    Full-Time Employees

    PSERS considers you full time if you are reported in one of the following ways:

    • Salaried –works at least five full days per week for a stated salary.
    • Hourly –works at least 25 hours per week, not including overtime hours, and paid based on the number of hours worked.
    • Per Diem –works at least five full days per week and is paid on a daily basis. A workday must include a minimum of five hours to be considered a full day.
    • Adjunct –works at least 30 credit hours in a fiscal year.

    Members who work full time must contribute a percentage of their salary toward a retirement benefit from the first day of employment.

    Members who work full -time must contribute a percentage of their salary toward a retirement benefit from the first day of employment.

    Part-Time Employees

    PSERS considers you part time if you are reported in one of the following ways:

    • Salaried –works fewer than five full days a week for a stated salary
    • Hourly –works fewer than 25 hours a week and paid based on the number of hours worked
    • Per Diem –works fewer than five days a week and is paid on a daily basis. A workday must include a minimum of five hours to be considered a full day.
    • Adjunct –works fewer than 30 credit hours in a fiscal year.

    Part-time salaried employees are eligible for membership from the first day of employment. If you are hired as a part-time hourly or per diem employee, you must initially meet certain qualifications to become a member of PSERS.

    • Part-time hourly employees must work at least 500 hours in a school year to become eligible for membership.
    • Part-time per diem employees must work at least 80 days in a school year to become eligible for membership.
    • Employees with more than one part-time position must work a combination of days and/or hours where the service credit calculation is equal to 0.44 to become eligible for membership.

    Part-time employees who do not meet the minimum criteria above do not qualify for membership.

    If you are a part-time non-salaried employee, your employer may begin withholding DB contributions from your first day of employment, or delay withholding until you qualify for membership. If DB contributions were withheld and you did not qualify for PSERS membership by the end of the school year, PSERS will automatically refund the DB contributions to you. DC contributions are not withheld until you qualify for PSERS membership.

    Once you qualify for membership, contributions are mandatory unless there is a break in membership. A break in membership occurs when:

    • A member terminates employment and refunds all contributions and interest.
    • A non-vested member terminates employment without refunding contributions and interest and does not return to active service for a period of two school years.
    • A non-vested member is not reported by a Pennsylvania public school employer for a period of two full fiscal years from June 30 of the last fiscal year of the member's last day of paid service, unless the member was granted multiple service membership and is active with the State Employees' Retirement System (SERS).

    You are potentially eligible for membership in PSERS if you are an employee who works for:

    • A Pennsylvania public school district
    • An intermediate unit
    • An area vocational-technical or career technology school
    • A participating charter school
    • A community college
    • A state-owned college or university
    • Pennsylvania State University
    • The State Board of Education
    • The Thaddeus Stevens State School of Technology
    • The Pennsylvania State Oral School for the Deaf  

     

    Charter Schools - Charter schools are considered public schools but not all participate in PSERS. If you are a member of PSERS and decide to begin employment with a charter school, you should verify that the charter school participates in PSERS.

    Colleges - Employees working for a community college, Penn State University, or other state-owned University may generally select a retirement plan from among a few plans, including PSERS. Your employer should be able to discuss with you all retirement plans available to you.

    PSERS realizes it is difficult for employers to determine when you work for more than one employer and you qualify for membership in PSERS on a combined employer basis. We automatically determine this and notify your employer(s) when to begin retirement deductions.

    If you qualify for membership and the employer did not withhold contributions from the first day of employment, PSERS will automatically send a Statement of Amount Due to both you and the employer. This statement represents the employee contributions that should have been withheld from your pay and sent to PSERS.

    The Statement of Amount Due does provide information on different payment plans for your convenience.

    You may not qualify for membership in PSERS if you work in one of the following classifications:

    • Tax Collector
    • Solicitor
    • Doctor
    • Dentist
    • Consultant
    • Psychologist

    School crossing guards are prohibited by law from membership in PSERS. Only a borough, a first- or second-class township, or a third class city may employ persons in such positions even though a school district may assume the hiring and oversight of these employees.

    Any employment in a private school, including colleges and parochial schools, does not qualify for membership in PSERS. PSERS is a retirement plan expressly for public school employment and employers directly connected to public school employment.

    Membership Qualification Rules as it relates to the Purchasing of School Service