When the Legislature made significant changes to NHRS statutes in 2011, benefit eligibility, pension calculations, and whether certain types of pay were reportable to NHRS have been dependent on a member’s vested date or hire date.

Different benefit provisions are applicable to:

• Members vested prior to 1/1/2012
• Members in service prior to 7/1/2011 but not vested prior to 1/1/2012
• Members hired on/after 7/1/2011

When NHRS transitions to an updated pension administration system later this year,  members will see a new way to describe which category they fall into. In the new system – including the My Account online portal – members will be shown as being in different “Tiers,” which is just a shorter way to describe their existing status. 

Here is what the tiers will mean:

• Tier A = Member vested prior to 1/1/12
• Tier B = Member in service prior to 7/1/11 and not vested prior to 1/1/12
• Tier C = Member hired on/after 7/1/11

This change in terminology does not impact a member’s benefit in any way, it only standardizes and simplifies the way these members are described, within either Group I or Group II.

Here are some examples:

• A police officer who commenced service on 2/15/03 is … Group II, Tier B
• An employee who commenced service on 8/17/87 and was vested on 1/1/12 is … Group I, Tier A
• A teacher who commenced service on 9/1/11 is … Group I, Tier C

Note: There are a small number of members hired on/after 7/1/11 who became vested by age prior to 1/1/12. These members are considered Tier A/C.

Throughout this fall, the retirement system will be updating its online and print materials for members and employers to incorporate references to these tiers.

Remember, this is just a new way to describe the current benefit structure: no one’s benefits are changing!