Employer Update

Employees who are preparing to retire may have questions about online retirement, a convenient service available to many members through their myVRS accounts. Help ensure they have a smooth experience by reviewing VRS’ Online Retirement webpage.

The secure, online retirement process offers multiple advantages over the paper retirement form, including real-time benefit information and pre-retirement counseling information through myVRS.

How it works: After logging in to their myVRS accounts and navigating to the Retirement Planning section, members will select Apply for Retirement from the Manage my Benefits drop-down menu. If they are eligible to retire online, they will see an Apply Now button. If they do not see the button (not all members can retire online), they will see a message directing them to submit a paper application directly to VRS.

Your role: Employers should certify all pending retirements through myVRS Navigator as they come in, even if the retirement is dated for a future month. Using the bulk certification feature can help speed the process if you have multiple retirements.

You should also continue to counsel employees during the retirement planning process, especially regarding individual employer benefits. Read more about employer responsibilities in the Online Certification section.

Eligibility: Online retirement is available to many members, but there are some exceptions. These include but are not limited to those retiring with:

• Hazardous duty service.
• Judicial service.
• Long-term disability in their record or retiring on disability.
• Approved Domestic Relations Order (ADRO) on file.
• Ongoing purchase of prior service agreements.

These members are welcome to explore the Retirement Planning section of myVRS; however, they will need to submit a paper retirement application to VRS.