Chapter 238 — Chapter 238

ORS 238.380 [1995 c.569 §3; 1997 c.175 §5; 2001 c.945 §54; 2003 c.67 §30; 2009 c.868 §1; renumbered 238.364 in 2011]

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ORS 238.382 Statements constitute declaration under penalty of perjury. A statement required under ORS 238.372 to 238.384 constitutes a declaration under penalty of perjury and must include the following sentence in prominent letters immediately above the signature of the declarant: “I hereby declare that the above statement is true to the best of my knowledge and belief, and that I understand it is subject to penalty for perjury.” [2011 c.653 §6]

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ORS 238.384 Rules. The Public Employees Retirement Board may establish rules for the administration of ORS 238.372 to 238.384. [2011 c.653 §7]

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ORS 238.385 [Formerly 237.208; 1997 c.175 §6; 2001 c.945 §55; 2003 c.67 §31; 2009 c.868 §2; renumbered 238.366 in 2011]

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ORS 238.387 [Formerly 238.365; renumbered 238.368 in 2011]

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ORS 238.390 Death benefit. (1) If a member of the system dies before retiring, the amount of money, if any, credited at the time of death to the member account of the member in the fund shall be paid to the beneficiaries designated by the member. For this purpose a member may designate as a beneficiary any person or the executor or administrator of the estate of the member or a trustee named by the member to execute an express trust in regard to such amount. The termination of a person’s membership in the system pursuant to ORS 238.095 (1) or (2) invalidates any designation of beneficiary made by the person before the termination of membership

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ORS 238.395 Additional death benefit. (1)(a) In addition to any other benefits under this chapter, a death benefit, provided by contributions of the public employer under ORS 238.225 and, for benefits that accrue on or after July 1, 2020, amounts in the employee pension stability account established for the member under ORS 238A.353, shall be paid to the beneficiaries designated under ORS 238.390 (1) of a person who is an active or inactive member of the Public Employees Retirement System and who dies as a result of injuries received while employed in the service of the public employer or within 120 days after termination from service with a participating public employer. A member who is on a leave of absence without pay from employment with a participating public employer has not terminated service with that participating public employer for the purposes of this section

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ORS 238.400 Payment upon death of retired member who dies before time expires to make election to change retirement benefits. If a member of the system, who has attained normal retirement age and has retired from service, dies prior to the expiration of the time an election could be made by the member to change the member’s service retirement benefit option under ORS 238.305, and the records of the Public Employees Retirement Board indicate that the member’s surviving spouse is the member’s beneficiary under ORS 238.390, the surviving spouse may, not more than 60 days after the date of the death of such deceased member, elect to receive the amount referred to in ORS 238.390, or elect Option 2 or Option 3 under ORS 238.305 and designate self as the beneficiary thereunder with the same force and effect as if the election and designation had been properly made by the deceased member. [Formerly 237.167; 2025 c.70 §4]

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ORS 238.405 Death benefit payable to survivors of certain police officers or firefighters. (1) The surviving spouse or child of a police officer or firefighter, who died a member of the Public Employees Retirement System while retired either for service or disability and while receiving or being entitled to receive a benefit under ORS 238.345 or under this chapter, is entitled to a benefit under this section. The benefit shall be equal to 25 percent of the unmodified retirement allowance the police officer or firefighter was receiving or was entitled to receive at the time of death under ORS 238.345 or under this chapter. The benefit authorized by this section is in addition to any other benefit the surviving spouse or child is entitled to and is available to the child until the child attains 18 years of age

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ORS 238.407 Distribution of death benefit as rollover distribution. (1) If a benefit is payable under this chapter to a beneficiary by reason of the death of a member of the system, the beneficiary may elect to have all or part of the distribution of the death benefit paid in an eligible rollover distribution to an individual retirement plan described in 26 U.S.C. 408(a), or an individual retirement annuity, other than an endowment contract, described in 26 U.S.C. 408(b), if the plan or annuity is established for the purpose of receiving the eligible rollover distribution on behalf of the designated beneficiary

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ORS 238.410 Board may contract for insurance for retirees; rules. (1) As used in this section

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ORS 238.415 Payment toward cost of pre-Medicare insurance; rules. (1) As used in this section

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ORS 238.420 Payment toward cost of Medicare supplemental insurance. (1) As used in this section, “eligible retired member” means

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ORS 238.425 Benefits payable to vested inactive member. In the event that an employee who is a vested member of the system and who has not attained earliest service retirement age is separated, for any reason other than death or disability, from all service entitling the employee to membership in the system, the member account, if any, of the member shall remain to the member’s credit in the fund unless the member elects to withdraw it and there shall be paid such death benefits as this chapter provides; or a disability retirement allowance or, after attaining earliest service retirement age, a service retirement allowance, either of which shall consist of the allowance provided in ORS 238.300, but actuarially reduced based on the member’s then attained age. [Formerly 237.111 (1); 2001 c.945 §58; 2003 c.67 §12; 2003 c.625 §15]

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ORS 238.430 Limitation on benefits payable to persons establishing membership on or after January 1, 1996. (1) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, a person who establishes membership in the Public Employees Retirement System on or after January 1, 1996, is entitled to receive only the benefits provided under ORS 238.435 for periods of service with participating public employers after January 1, 1996, and has no right or claim to any other benefit provided under this chapter. A person who establishes membership in the Public Employees Retirement System before January 1, 1996, is entitled to receive those benefits otherwise provided by this chapter, and is not subject to the provisions of ORS 238.435

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ORS 238.435 Provisions applicable to persons establishing membership on or after January 1, 1996. (1) Notwithstanding the definition of “salary” or “other advantages” provided by ORS 238.005, for the purpose of calculating the retirement allowance of a person who establishes membership in the system on or after January 1, 1996, as described in ORS 238.430, the Public Employees Retirement Board shall not include any lump sum payment for accrued vacation pay made to the member during the last 36 calendar months of membership before the effective date of retirement of the member, or during any period of time taken into account for purposes of determining the three years in which the member was paid the highest salary for the purposes of determining the member’s final average salary

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ORS 238.440 Optional purchase of benefit units by police and firefighters. (1) A police officer or firefighter who is a member of the system may elect to make additional contributions to the fund to purchase increased benefits between the date of retirement and age 65. The rate of additional contribution shall be determined by the actuary, dependent upon the age of the police officer or firefighter at the date of election, so as to provide monthly payments on the basis of $10 per unit of benefits purchased. No police officer or firefighter may elect to purchase more than eight units. For each $10 unit purchased by the police officer or firefighter, the employer shall purchase an equal $10 unit. A police officer or firefighter who is retained until age 65 shall receive a lump sum refund of the additional contributions made toward units purchased, plus interest thereon, but shall receive no benefits from the additional contributions by the employer for such units. If a police officer or firefighter retires after age 60 but prior to age 65, the units purchased by additional contributions shall provide increased monthly benefits based on life expectancy, but the matching units purchased by the employer shall not, regardless of age, exceed $10 per month per unit purchased by the police officer or firefighter. If a police officer or firefighter is absent from the employment of a participating employer for any reason and because of such absence is unable to make monthly additional contributions, the benefits provided under this section shall be actuarially reduced upon the retirement of the police officer or firefighter. The Public Employees Retirement Board shall establish an account for each member who elects to make additional contributions under this section and shall credit all contributions made by that member and interest on those contributions to the account

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ORS 238.442 Prior service credit. (1) Subject to the rules of the Public Employees Retirement Board, upon commencing participation in the system a public employer that is not a school district may elect to provide prior service credit for employees of the employer who are employees of the employer on the date on which the employer commences participation. Prior service credit may be provided only for employees who are members of the system. Prior service credit under this section may be provided for continuous service by the employee to the public employer before the public employer commenced participation in the system and for any accumulated seasonal employment by an employee before the public employer commenced participation in the system. The public employer and the board shall enter into an agreement that will specify the number of years of prior service credit that employees of the employer will receive. Prior service credit under this section shall be equal to $4 for each year of prior service or major fraction of a year

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ORS 238.445 Benefits exempt from execution, bankruptcy and certain taxes; exceptions. (1) Except as provided in this section, the right of a person to a pension, an annuity or a retirement allowance, to the return of contribution, the pension, annuity or retirement allowance itself, any optional benefit or death benefit, or any other right accrued or accruing to any person under the provisions of this chapter or ORS chapter 238A, and the money in the various funds created by ORS 238.660 and 238.670, shall be exempt from garnishment and all state, county and municipal taxes heretofore or hereafter imposed, except as provided under ORS chapter 118, shall not be subject to execution, garnishment, attachment or any other process or to the operation of any bankruptcy or insolvency law heretofore or hereafter existing or enacted, and shall be unassignable

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ORS 238.447 Execution or assignment of benefits to collect restitution or compensatory fine for felony. (1) Notwithstanding ORS 238.445, any retirement allowance, pension payment, lump sum payment or other distribution payable under this chapter or ORS chapter 238A to a person convicted of a felony is subject to execution, garnishment, attachment or other process to collect, and may be assigned to satisfy, the portion of a money award described in subsection (2) of this section that is included in a judgment entered in the criminal action as provided in ORS 18.048

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ORS 238.450 Computation of retirement allowance or benefit; notice of dispute; prohibition on modification of data. (1) Upon receiving an application for a retirement allowance or benefit from a member of the Public Employees Retirement System and obtaining information necessary for computation of the retirement allowance or benefit to which the member is entitled upon retirement, the system shall provide to the member a written computation of the retirement allowance or benefit to which the member is entitled upon retirement and summary of the information used in making that computation. The written computation must include detailed information about the number of overtime hours performed by the member during the period used to calculate the member’s final average salary and the number of overtime hours applied to the calculation of the member’s final average salary

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ORS 238.455 Estimated benefit payments. (1)(a) Whenever a member of the system is retired for service and is entitled to receive a retirement allowance or benefit that is payable monthly, and the Public Employees Retirement Board is unable to calculate the amount of the monthly payment in time to allow mailing of the monthly payment to the member within 62 days of the date the first monthly payment is due, the board shall calculate an estimated amount for the monthly payment based on the information then available to the board and shall mail that payment to the member within 62 days of the date the first monthly payment is due

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ORS 238.458 Unclaimed benefits. (1) A benefit that is owed to a member or beneficiary of a member under the Public Employees Retirement System shall be forfeited at the end of the system’s plan year in which the benefit becomes due if the Public Employees Retirement Board is unable to locate the member or beneficiary. If the member, beneficiary or any other person thereafter establishes a right to the forfeited benefit, the board shall reinstate the benefit. If the benefit is a periodic payment, the board shall make a retroactive payment to the member, beneficiary or other person in a lump sum for all amounts that would have been paid before reinstatement of the benefit. No interest shall be paid on the benefit for the period commencing when the benefit became due and the date of the retroactive payment

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ORS 238.460 Waiver of retirement allowance. (1) If receipt in full by a person of a retirement allowance or other benefit under this chapter or ORS chapter 238A would prevent such person from receiving in full any other governmental pension to which the person is entitled, such person may waive for a calendar year sufficient monthly payments, or portions thereof, of retirement allowance or other benefit under this chapter or ORS chapter 238A to permit the person to receive in full the other governmental pension. The waiver shall be made in writing and filed with the Public Employees Retirement Board not less than 15 days before the first day of the month to which the waiver applies

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ORS 238.462 Spousal consent required for certain optional forms of retirement allowance. (1) A member of the Public Employees Retirement System who is married on the effective date of the member’s retirement shall receive a service retirement allowance in the form provided for in Option 3 under ORS 238.305 (1) or a disability retirement allowance in the form provided for in Option 3 under ORS 238.325 (1) unless the member provides proof of spousal consent to receiving an allowance in the form provided by ORS 238.300 or 238.320, or in one of the optional forms provided for in ORS 238.305 and 238.325 other than Option 3

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ORS 238.465 Benefits payable to others under certain judgments; rules. (1) Notwithstanding ORS 238.445 or any other provision of law, payments under this chapter or ORS chapter 238A of any pension, annuity, retirement allowance, disability benefit, death benefit, refund benefit or other benefit that would otherwise be made to a person entitled thereto under this chapter or ORS chapter 238A shall be paid, in whole or in part, by the Public Employees Retirement Board to an alternate payee if and to the extent expressly provided for in the terms of any judgment of annulment or dissolution of marriage or of separation, or the terms of any court order or court-approved property settlement agreement incident to any judgment of annulment or dissolution of marriage or of separation. Except as provided in subsection (5) of this section, the total actuarial value of benefits payable to a member and to an alternate payee under this section may not be greater than the value of the benefits the member would otherwise be eligible to receive if the annulment or dissolution of marriage or separation had not occurred. Any payment under this subsection to an alternate payee bars recovery by any other person

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ORS 238.470 Interest on payments from fund. Interest is not payable on any payment from the Public Employees Retirement Fund unless specifically provided for in this chapter. [Formerly 237.202]

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ORS 238.475 Effect of transfer of employee to another participating employer. No transfer after July 1, 1946, by a member of the system from the service of one employer participating in the system to the service of another such employer shall impair any rights or deprive the member of any credits accruing to the member as a result of membership in the system after July 1, 1946, and prior to the transfer. [Formerly 237.101]

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ORS 238.480 Effect of change to calendar year on contributions and credit of members. All contributions made and all service credit earned under the Public Employes’ Retirement Act of 1953 prior to January 1, 1956, on the basis of a fiscal year shall not be affected by the change from fiscal year basis to calendar year basis on January 1, 1956, under the 1955 amendments of the Public Employes’ Retirement Act of 1953, and such contributions and credit are recognized as if no such change had been made. [Formerly 237.107]

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ORS 238.485 Fund established. (1) Pursuant to section 415(m) of the Internal Revenue Code, there is established a Public Employee Benefit Equalization Fund, separate and distinct from the General Fund and from the Public Employees Retirement Fund. The Public Employee Benefit Equalization Fund is declared to be a trust fund. Interest earned on the fund, if any, shall inure to the benefit of the fund. The Public Employees Retirement Board shall administer the fund and shall act as trustee for the fund

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ORS 238.488 Payment of benefits; employer contributions. (1) A member of the Public Employees Retirement System, or the beneficiary of that member, who by reason of the benefit limitations imposed by Internal Revenue Code section 415 receives a retirement allowance under the system that is less than the allowance the member or beneficiary would otherwise have received under ORS chapter 238, excluding any payments the member or beneficiary may receive under this section and ORS 238.485 and 238.490, shall receive from the Public Employee Benefit Equalization Fund a monthly amount equal to the difference. Any overpayment or improperly made payment from the Public Employee Benefit Equalization Fund may be recovered from the member or beneficiary, or from payments to the member or beneficiary from the Public Employee Benefit Equalization Fund, in the same manner as provided in ORS 238.715 for recovery of overpayments and improperly made payments from the Public Employees Retirement Fund. Notwithstanding ORS 238.445, an overpayment or improperly made payment from the Public Employee Benefit Equalization Fund may be recovered on behalf of the Public Employee Benefit Equalization Fund from payments to the member or beneficiary from the Public Employees Retirement Fund in the same manner as provided in ORS 238.715 for recovery of overpayments and improperly made payments from the Public Employees Retirement Fund if

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ORS 238.490 Administrative expenses. (1) The administrative expenses incurred by the Public Employees Retirement Board in administering the Public Employee Benefit Equalization Fund shall be paid from interest earned by the fund. If the interest is insufficient, the excess expense shall be paid from the contributions by participating employers under ORS 238.488

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ORS 238.492 Rules for administration of fund. The Public Employees Retirement Board may adopt rules for the administration of ORS 238.485, 238.488 and 238.490. In adopting rules under this section, the board shall consider and take into account all federal law requirements relating to deferred compensation plans, including the requirements imposed for the deferral of income tax on deferred compensation benefits until those benefits are paid or made available to the recipient. [1997 c.201 §5]

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ORS 238.500 Definitions for ORS 238.500 to 238.585. As used in ORS 238.500 to 238.585, unless the context requires otherwise

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ORS 238.505 Judges as PERS members. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a person who is not a judge on December 31, 1983, and who is elected or appointed to the office of judge on or after January 1, 1984, shall become a judge member on the date the person takes the office

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ORS 238.510 [Renumbered 237.350 in 1995]

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ORS 238.515 Contributions. (1)(a) Each judge member shall contribute monthly to the Public Employees Retirement Fund seven percent of the monthly salary of the judge member. The contributions of a judge member and earnings on the contributions shall be credited to the member account of the judge member

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ORS 238.520 [Renumbered 237.355 in 1995]

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ORS 238.525 Compulsory retirement age. A judge member shall be retired from judicial office at the end of the calendar year in which the judge member attains the age of 75 years. [Formerly 237.219]

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ORS 238.530 [Renumbered 237.360 in 1995]

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ORS 238.535 Service retirement allowance. (1) Prior to attaining 60 years of age, all judge members shall elect in writing to retire under either paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection. The election shall be irrevocable after the judge member attains 60 years of age. Any judge member who fails to make the election provided for in this subsection prior to attaining 60 years of age shall be retired under the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection

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ORS 238.538 Health benefit plans for certain retired judge members. (1) A judge member who elects to retire under ORS 238.535 (1)(b)

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ORS 238.540 [Renumbered 237.365 in 1995]

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ORS 238.545 Withdrawal of member account; retirement allowance of inactive judge member. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section

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ORS 238.550 [Renumbered 237.370 in 1995]

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ORS 238.555 Disability retirement allowance. (1)(a) A judge member who has not attained the age of 65 years and who is found to be mentally or physically incapacitated for an extended duration, as determined by medical examination by one or more physicians selected by the board, and thereby unable to perform any work for which qualified, by injury or disease sustained while in actual performance of duty and not intentionally self-inflicted, shall be retired for disability and shall receive as a disability retirement allowance, payable monthly, a pension equal to the service retirement allowance to which the judge member would be entitled under ORS 238.535 (1)(a), had the judge member served as a judge continuously until attaining the age of 65 years, but not less than an annual amount equal to 45 percent of the final average salary, as defined in ORS 238.535 (2), of the judge member

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ORS 238.560 [Renumbered 237.375 in 1995]

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ORS 238.565 Judge’s beneficiaries; spouse’s pension. (1) For the purposes of this section, a judge member may designate a beneficiary or beneficiaries by written designation duly acknowledged and filed with the Public Employees Retirement Board before the death of the judge member. Beneficiaries designated by a judge member may include any persons, the personal representative of the estate of the judge member or the trustee named by the judge member to execute an express trust

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ORS 238.570 [Renumbered 237.380 in 1995]

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ORS 238.575 Cost-of-living adjustments; ad hoc increase. (1) Every monthly retirement allowance or pension payable to a judge member or surviving spouse of a judge member under ORS 238.500 to 238.585 shall be adjusted annually as provided in ORS 238.360

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