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Reciprocity


Definition

Reciprocity is an agreement between the San Luis Obispo County Pension Trust and the California Public Employees Retirement System (Cal-PERS). Through sections of the California Government Code cited in the agreement, reciprocity also exists between the Pension Trust and those County Retirement Plans that are established pursuant to the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 as well as certain other systems that have established reciprocity with Cal-PERS.

Reciprocity DOES NOT extend to the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) or the University of California Retirement Plan (UCRP) nor to systems maintained by or in other states or by the Federal Government.


Establishing Reciprocity

In order to establish reciprocity, an individual must terminate membership in one system (System A) and enter into membership in the second system (System B) within six months. There should be no overlap of service and the break in service between systems cannot be greater than six months.

The election to establish Reciprocity is irrevocable. The only way a member can abrogate reciprocity is by terminating his or her employment and withdrawing contributions from all systems where reciprocity was established. This is important to remember because once reciprocity is established, contributions in the reciprocal system are not available for refund unless employment in all systems where reciprocity is established is terminated.

If you have worked or are planning to go to work for a reciprocal system and would like to establish reciprocity please contact the Pension Trust Office at (805) 781-5465. Reciprocity must be established prior to retirement. If you have any questions on this or any other matter you should contact the Pension Trust Office at (805) 781-5465 or email us!


Benefits

Reciprocity provides a type of "portability" of benefits among reciprocal systems. When a member establishes reciprocity, service rendered in the various reciprocal systems is counted toward vesting the member in all systems. In addition, the highest final compensation determined by the retirement systems with which a member has established reciprocity will be used by all the member’s reciprocal systems to calculate his or her retirement benefit. There is no transfer of assets nor service credit.

Members that have established reciprocity must retire concurrently from all reciprocal systems.