If you are a deferred member who has not yet retired and resume employment in a permanent, full-time position with the County or special district participating in SJCERA, you will be reinstated as an active member. Your original SJCERA membership date is retained, but member contributions will generally be based on your age of reentry.*
If you resume employment in a permanent, full-time position with the County or special district participating in SJCERA after withdrawing your member contributions, you may redeposit your withdrawn contributions and receive the retirement service credit associated with those contributions. For more information, see the Service Credit Purchase Opportunities section of this booklet or download the Service Credit Purchase request.
If you are currently a safety member of SJCERA employed to perform active law enforcement or fire suppression, and you previously withdrew your member contributions for prior public employment from a reciprocal retirement system, you may be eligible to redeposit your contributions and “restore” your retirement service credit under that system. You should contact your former public retirement system for more information concerning your eligibility to redeposit previously withdrawn contributions.
* If you resume full time employment with the same employer, you will be reinstated into the same retirement tier that you were in previously. If your deferred retirement period is more than six months, upon return, your contribution rate will be based on your age at reentry into active membership. If you terminated covered employment due to layoff and are reemployed within one year, your original age of entry will also be used to determine your member contribution rate.