PERS was established by the Ohio Legislature in 1933. Benefits were first paid January 1938.
PERS provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits, and health care coverage.
Our program is a defined benefit plan and is pre-funded through employee and employer contributions. The major source of significant revenue is investment income. At our inception, the legislature established a social contract with all of Ohio's public employees. Based on that contract, steps were taken to secure future benefits. Fiscally sound pre-funding was one of the important covenants.