Military Service Credit
ET-4122, Rev. 3/2007
Eligibility Requirements
You may be eligible to receive Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS)
creditable service for part or all of your active U.S. military
service. This service would normally increase your WRS benefits
for calculations in which years of creditable service are a factor,
such as formula retirement or disability benefits and certain death
benefits.
To receive military service credit you must provide a photocopy
of your military service discharge papers, which show your date
of entry into active service and date of discharge (other than dishonorable)
from active duty under the functional control of the U.S. armed
forces. You may be eligible for credit for service aboard an oceangoing
vessel in the U.S. Maritime Service, including the Merchant Marines,
from December 7, 1941 to August 15, 1945. Active duty for training
purposes (ACDUTRA) in the military reserves and the National Guard
is not creditable under the WRS.
Generally, you are eligible for credit for some military service
if:
- You have at least five years of creditable service under the
WRS.
OR
- The military service was a break in continuous covered WRS employment.
Acceptable Military Papers
Although credit for active military service is generally not granted
until you retire, you can submit a copy of your military discharge
papers at any time before you retire. If ETF has received acceptable
military papers by the time we calculate your retirement estimates,
your creditable military service will be included in the estimates.
We recommend that you submit a copy of your military discharge
papers before you retire, since there are statutory limits
on how long after retirement military service can be granted.
NOTE: We recommend that you submit a copy of your
discharge papers even if it appears likely that your benefit will
be higher under the money purchase calculation. You may refer to
Calculating Your Retirement Benefits Booklet for further
information about formula and money purchase benefit calculations.
NOTE: Military Service is not shown on your annual
Statement of Benefits unless it was a break in continuous
covered WRS Service.
If you cannot locate your military discharge papers, your County
Veterans Service Officer may be able to help you get a copy. You
may also be able to obtain a copy at the following address:
Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs
Records Section
P.O. Box 7843
Madison, WI 53707
(608) 266-1311
Granting Military Service Credit
- If you terminate(d) covered WRS employment on or after January
1, 1982, but before March 9, 1984, you will be granted credit
for active military service performed before 1974 if you have
at least 20 years of creditable service (excluding any previously
granted military service, unpaid leave time, or forfeited service
or a non-covered qualifying period that has not been purchased)
under the WRS. You can receive up to a maximum of four years military
service credit.
OR
- If you terminate(d) covered WRS employment on or after March
9, 1984, you will be granted credit for active military service
performed before 1974 if you have 5 to 20 years (or more) of creditable
service (excluding any previously granted military service, unpaid
leave time or forfeited or non-covered qualifying period service
that has not been purchased) under the WRS. You can receive one
year of military service credit for each five years of creditable
service, up to a maximum of four years.
You may be able to buy creditable service for a qualifying period
or certain uncredited teaching service or repurchase service that
was forfeited by taking a separation benefit in order to increase
the amount of military service for which you can receive credit.
A brochure entitled Buying Creditable Service is available
that describes the types of creditable service that can be purchased.
To be eligible for military service credit under these provisions,
you must not be using the military service to establish the amount
of, or entitlement to, a federal non-disability retirement benefit
other than Social Security or reserve military retirement. You will
be required to sign an affidavit to this effect after you submit
your retirement application. This requirement is waived if:
- You had 20 years of non-teaching creditable service before 1982,
OR
- You left Wisconsin teaching to enter military service during
World War II or between June 26, 1950 and June 30, 1966, and returned
to Wisconsin teaching upon honorable discharge. You must also
have contributed to the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS)
after August 4, 1951. You will be required to pay the member's
deposits (based on the salary you received during the first fiscal
year of teaching following your return) for the period of military
service in order to obtain credit.
If credit is granted under the 5 to 20-year provision, and if you
have creditable service in more than one employment category, it
will be allocated to employment categories on the same pro-rata
basis as your accrued creditable service as of when you reached
the greatest of five, 10, 15 or 20 years. For example, if when you
reached 20 years of creditable service, 10 years were teaching/general
and ten were protective, one-half of your military service would
be credited to teaching/general and one-half to protective employment.
In addition to allocating creditable service to your employment
categories, the years in which you earned the service may also affect
your military service credit. The "formula multiplier"
differs by employment category and by the years in which the creditable
service was performed. If you were actively employed under
the WRS after 1999, a higher formula multiplier applies to your
service performed before 2000. If you terminated all WRS employment
before January 1, 2000, the lower formula multiplier applies to
all of your creditable service. Please refer to the Calculating
Your Retirement Benefits brochure (ET-4107) for information
about the formula multiplier's for pre-2000 and post 1999 service.
The formula multipliers for Pre-2000 service apply to the years
of creditable military service to which you are entitled based solely
on your years of creditable service performed before 2000.
The Post-1999 formula multipliers would apply to any additional
military service credited based on your years of creditable service
performed after 1999.
Break in Continuous Covered Employment
You are eligible for military service credit if you left covered
employment to enter military service, and returned to the same employer
within 180 days after being discharged. Military service may also
be used toward a federal benefit if you meet these requirements.
Note: If you closed your account by taking a separation benefit
before returning to work for your WRS employer, you are not eligible
for military service credit under this provision.
Upon return from the military you must provide copies of military
discharge papers to ETF which show entry date into active service,
discharge date, and the type of discharge (other than dishonorable).
Continuous military service is available in addition to any other
military service creditable under the 5, 10, 15 or 20-year provision
for those who have creditable military service performed before
1974. However, you are limited to a total of four years of military
service credit unless your continuous military service was involuntarily
extended past four years.
Old Law Provisions (Teachers Only)
It is also possible to receive credit for:
- Service between September 16, 1940 and June 30, 1966, in the
Merchant Marines or overseas with the American Red Cross or the
United Service Organization if the service was a break in continuous
employment as a teacher with Milwaukee Public Schools.
- Service as an Army instructor or instructor-in-training during
World War II or between June 26, 1950 and June 30, 1966, if the
service was a break in continuous Wisconsin teaching under the
STRS. As described earlier, payment is required in order to receive
credit.
USERRA
You may also be eligible for additional WRS credits if you assert
your rights under the federal Uniformed Services Employment
and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). The key eligibility
criteria under USERRA are listed below:
- You must have left covered WRS employment to enter military
service, and must have notified your employer that you were leaving
to enter the military, and
- You must meet one of the following criteria:
- If you were in the military for less than 31 days, you must
have reported back to work with the same WRS employer on the next
regularly scheduled work day after adequate travel and rest time.
- If you were in the military for 31 to 180 days, you must have
applied for reemployment with the same WRS employer within 14
days after completing your military service.
- If you were in the military for more than 180 days, you must
have applied for reemployment with the same WRS employer within
90 days after completing your military service.
If you qualify for retirement credit under USERRA, you are treated
as though you were continuously employed by your WRS employer throughout
your period of military service. Your WRS account is credited with
both the years of service and the retirement contributions that
would have been credited to your account if you had remained continuously
employed. This will increase any benefits paid from your account
that are based on the dollar balance of your account (e.g. separation
benefits, active or inactive death benefits and money purchase retirement
benefits), as well as any benefits based on your years of creditable
service (formula retirement benefits and WRS disability benefits).
You are responsible for paying any employee contributions to the
Department that you would actually have paid had you remained employed,
and the employer is responsible for any contributions it would have
paid on your behalf plus the accrued interest on both the employee
and employer contributions.
It is important that you assert your rights under USERRA
as soon as possible after you return to work with your WRS employer.
This can avoid significant interest charges on late-reported
contributions, and assures that you will retain your rights to WRS
service credits and contributions under USERRA.
If you took a separation benefit before returning to work with
your WRS employer and you are asserting your USERRA rights, since
you would be deemed to have been continuously employed by your WRS
employer throughout your period of military service, your separation
benefit is considered to have been paid in error (and is therefore
considered an overpayment). Your account is restored as though you
had never taken the separation benefit, and you must repay
your separation benefit plus interest. If you have already
bought back part or all of your forfeited service, your service
purchase payment(s) will be applied to your overpayment.
Great effort has been made to ensure that the information in
this circular is accurate. However, if there is any conflict between
the information and the law, the law must be followed.
The Department of Employee Trust Funds does not discriminate
on the basis of disability in the provision of programs, services
or employment. If you are speech, hearing or visually impaired and
need assistance, call 1-877-533-5090 or TTY (608) 267-0676. We will
try to find another way to get the information to you in a usable
form.
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