Retirement

[E3CSHARP]

Has anyone ever worked for a agency that got absorbed by another agency? If so, did the new agency honor the previous benefits offered?

Has anyone ever worked for a city PD that disbanded and/or city became unincorporated? Anyone know if you lose your benefits because the city became unincorporated?

The police contracts seem to have literature in it hinting to the effect of what is in the contracts may not be the end all be all.

[me_again]

Has anyone ever worked for a agency that got absorbed by another agency? If so, did the new agency honor the previous benefits offered? In Florida, if a police department is absorbed by a sheriff's office, the employees of the PD usually have to apply to work for the s/o. It's usually just a formality, although the s/o isn't obligated to hire everyone. The new s/o employees are provided whatever benefits are available from the s/o. Since the PD no longer exists, it's former benefits also no longer exist.

Has anyone ever worked for a city PD that disbanded and/or city became unincorporated? Anyone know if you lose your benefits because the city became unincorporated? If an incorporated municipality un-incorporates, then all incorporated jobs are lost. However, any money that you have put into a pension fund isn't lost because it's protected by a municipal pension fund.

The above two replies are generally how it works, but there have been exceptions, such as in Miami-Dade and Jacksonville -- but they are the exception and not the rule.

[E3CSHARP]

Thank you me_again. As young as I am these are the little things that I want to be informed about while at this age. I worked department stores and have had co-workers who were 55+ with no retirement.

[L-1]

Re agency mergers - a couple of things come into play.

Most state labor laws have a "meet and confer" clause that requires an employer to meet and confer with the union before the make any significant changes in working conditions. When two agencies merge, usually management and the union have signed off on whatever contract changes are going to take place. In any case, union contracts are only negotiated for a limited period of time - usually one to three years, after which they are renegotiated again, so there is rarely anything in there that is a lifetime guarantee. Often changes will occur with a merger, usually for the better. For example, when the California State Police merged with the California Highway Patrol, State Police Officers changed job classifications to that of comparable Highway Patrol positions. Their old contract went out the window to be replaced by a new CHP contract and overnight they got a 45% increase in pay and benefits. To their detriment, they lost their seniority rights and they had to adapt to different contractual working conditions of the new agency, but after all, they were now working for a new department.

With respect to an agency disbanding, again, your benefits come from a contract with is negotiated only for a limited number of years and is then renegotiated. Once the contract terminates or is modified, any guarantees under that contract end or change with it.

Pensions may have permanent vesting rights, depending on the system you are in. For example, one California city has declared bankruptcy. But their employees are members of the state retirement system, so even if the city is broke, their retirees will still continue to get their pensions from the state. If your city disbands but you pay into a state or county system, you should be vested for the time you have paid in.

Without further information is hard to respond to your question.

[E3CSHARP]

I see, well the realities of being hired under a retirement that is not FRS is something to be aware of. With this information I will have to decide what will benefit me more. At least with FRS your benefits follow you to other FRS agencies if you transfer.

[L-1]

Remember too, a lot of different retirement systems have reciprocity. In California we have the state system, 20 different counties have their own systems, 20 different cities have their own systems, the teachers have their own system and the judges have two different systems. However, all have reciprocity agreements. So, it doesn't matter if you work under multiple retirement systems. When you retire, they all blend together at the end to give you a substantial pension.

Be sure to check and see what reciprocity agreements the systems in your state have.

[E3CSHARP]

Thank you L-1, I will be sure to check into that.

[fleetguy]

Many cities are actually on FSR in Florida I can think of two in my county that are and I have heard another city in this county will be switching over to FRS in October. I believe Jacksonville is the only SO not in FRS. I don't know of anybody who has attempted to buy out military time or another public service retirement, because of the extremely high cost with FRS. The really good thing about FRS for me is when I quit my job at the SO I was not vested, but my benefits were frozen and when I came back I still received credit for the time from my pervious employment even though I was not vested.