2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 33 - Retirement of Government Personnel (§§ 761 — 830q) › § 766 - Employees Retirement System—Retirement annuity

(a) Upon separation from service, on or after reaching the age, and after completing the period of service indicated below, all participants who have not been reimbursed their accumulated contributions shall be entitled to receive a retirement annuity. Said annuity shall commence on the date on which the participant files his/her application for retirement, but in no case before his/her separation from the service.
Retirement shall be optional for the members of the System in active service, on and after the date they have attained the age of fifty-five (55) years and have completed at least twenty-five (25) years of creditable service; and for members of the System who having reached the age of fifty-eight (58) years, and have completed at least ten (10) years of creditable service. The members of the Police Corps or the Firefighting Corps shall also have the option to avail themselves of a retirement annuity on and after the date on which they have attained the age of fifty (50) years and have completed at least twenty-five (25) years of creditable service.
Any participant whose separation from the service occurs prior to having attained the age of fifty-eight (58) years, who shall have completed at least ten (10) years of creditable service, and who shall have not applied for, nor received reimbursement of accumulated contributions shall be entitled to receive a deferred retirement annuity. Said participants shall receive a deferred retirement annuity which shall commence upon attaining the age of fifty-eight (58) years or after attaining the age of fifty (50) years in the case of policemen or firemen, and fifty-five (55) years in the case of the other participants, if they have completed at least twenty-five (25) years of service in one case or the other.
The amount of the annuity shall be one and one-half percent (1 1 / 2 %) of the average compensation multiplied by the number of years of creditable service up to twenty (20) years, plus two percent (2%) of the average compensation multiplied by the number of years of creditable service in excess of twenty (20) years. Said annuity shall be payable in full to the members who retire at the age of fifty-eight (58) years or more, and to the members of the Police Corps [or] the Firefighting Corps who retire at the age of fifty (50) years or more and who have completed at least twenty-five (25) years of creditable service. The members or participants who become entitled to a deferred retirement annuity shall receive the percentage of their annuity as provided in this paragraph.
With the exception of the members of the Police Corps and the Firefighting Corps, those participants who apply for and are granted an annuity while under the age of fifty-eight (58) years, request and are granted an annuity, shall have their retirement annuity computed as stated above, except that [it] shall be reduced to an amount representing the actuarial equivalent, at said participant’s age at retirement, of an annuity payable when the participant attains the age of fifty-eight (58) years; Provided, That when any member of the Police Corps or the Firefighting Corps who has completed the requirements of age and of years of service established by §§ 761 et seq. of this title to enjoy a retirement annuity passes or has passed without interruption to another position comprised within the membership of this System, he shall retain his right to an annuity under the provisions in force for the members of the Police Corps and the Firefighting Corps.
However, a minimum pension of five hundred dollars ($500) per month is hereby fixed for those participants who retired in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter 2. Every pensioner receiving a pension of less than five hundred dollars ($500) per month shall receive, on July 1, 2013, the corresponding raise so that his/her pension amounts to five hundred dollars ($500).
The provisions on minimum pensions set forth in this section shall not apply to persons who, having been participants of this System, retire under the jurisdiction of any other of the systems sponsored by the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, in accordance with the provisions set forth in §§ 761—788. of this title.
The maximum retirement annuity for the participants shall be seventy-five percent (75%) of the average compensation.
(b) The preceding provisions of this section shall not be applicable to officer participants of this System who have served as mayors for at least eight (8) years.
Mayors who while being in active service, are not participants of this System may choose to make the transfer of funds and adjustments of the System that may be necessary to avail themselves of the benefits of §§ 761 et seq. of this title, without being subject to the provisions of §§ 797 et seq. of this title.
Mayors who during their term of service to the Commonwealth as such, have been separated from their offices for just cause, shall not be considered as included in the above classification.
Provided, That if the mayor resigns while being investigated, or is afterward investigated, by the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico, the Department of Justice and/or any other state or federal agency, or is convicted for actions related to duties as mayor, he/she shall [lose] the right to receive a pension, pursuant to this section and shall be obliged to return any amounts received as pension, pursuant to this section. Nevertheless, he/she shall have the right to a pension under the provisions of this section for the other participants.
The maximum retirement annuity to be granted under this subsection shall be ninety percent (90%) of the highest salary that the mayor may have earned.
The payments of the retirement annuity shall begin as of the filing date of the retirement application, but never before the mayor has attained fifty (50) years of age.
The amount of the superannuation retirement annuity of mayors who are participants of the System shall be computed on the basis of the highest salary he/she may have received while discharging his/her government duties in the following manner:
(1) For services performed as mayor, five percent (5%) of said salary for each year of creditable service up to a maximum of ten (10) years or fifty percent (50%), plus
(2) for other services performed not included in the above computation, one and one half percent (1 1 / 2 %) of said salary multiplied by the number of years of such other creditable services up to twenty (20) years, or two percent (2%) of said salary multiplied by the number of years of such other creditable services in excess of twenty (20) years.
(c) Notwithstanding that the annuity is payable for life upon reaching the retirement age, if any annuitant returns to the service, the payment of such annuity shall be suspended. After separation from service, the payment of said annuity shall be resumed and, in addition, the annuitant shall have the option to withdraw any contributions made from the date on which the pensioner returned to service to the date he/she separated from service if, upon returning to service, he/she worked less than five (5) years or accumulated contributions amounting to less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000). In the event that, upon returning to service, the pensioner worked five (5) years or more and accumulated ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or more, such pensioner, after he/she separates from service and reaches the age established in § 787j of this title, shall be entitled to a supplemental annuity computed in accordance with § 787j of this title, over the basis of the contributions made from the date on which such pensioner returned to service to the date he/she separated from service.
(d) Any person who may have been pensioned on a superannuation retirement annuity under the provisions of §§ 761 et seq. of this title may serve the Government and its instrumentalities and public corporations thereof, including the municipalities without prejudice to the pension being received, subject to the standards the Administrator may establish and to the following:
He/she may serve as a member of a board or commission where his/her services are compensated on a per diem basis; serve as a legislator without receiving compensation, except per diems and mileage; or may render professional or consulting services on a fee basis, or render services of any other nature at the corresponding compensation, provided such services constitute a contractual relation which clearly does not constitute a regular employment. Any annuitant retired because of age and years of creditable service may hold a part-time regular employment whose time and compensation does not exceed one-half (½) of the regular working hours and for which he receives compensation not greater than one-half (½) of the compensation that would correspond to same employment were it on a full-time basis. The persons covered by this provision shall not be active participants of the System and shall be, for all purposes, considered as annuitants for retirement purposes.
(e) Except the members of the Police Corps and mayors, the annuity of the rest of the participants under the Coordinating Plan and receiving Social Security benefits, and who meet other requirements shall be subject to the following conditions:
(1) If retirement occurs at the age of sixty-five (65) or later, and the participant has attained the status of fully insured under the Federal Social Security Act, the amount of the annuity shall be equal to the sum of the following products: one percent (1%) of the average compensation up to the maximum salary in effect for the computing of the pensions by the Social Security on the date of retirement of the participant, multiplied by the years of creditable service, up to twenty (20) years; (2) one and one-half percent (1 1 / 2 %) of the average compensation up to the maximum salary, multiplied by the years of creditable service in excess of twenty (20) years; (3) one and one-half percent (1 1 / 2 %) of the average compensation in excess of said maximum salary, multiplied by the years of creditable service, up to twenty (20) years; and (4) two percent (2%) of the average compensation in excess of said maximum salary, multiplied by the years of creditable service in excess of twenty (20) years. If the participant has not attained the status of fully insured and is not eligible for primary benefits under the provisions of the Federal Social Security Act, he/she shall be entitled to receive a retirement annuity as described above and subject to the conditions set for in subsection (a) of this section, until he/she shall have qualified for primary benefits pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Social Security Act. When he/she qualifies, the retirement annuity shall be recomputed according to the formula given in this subsection.
(2) If retirement occurs before the age of sixty-five (65) years, the participant shall be entitled to a retirement annuity as described above and subject to the conditions established in subsection (a) of this section, until he/she shall have attained the age of [sixty]-five (65) years. When he/she attains the age of sixty-five (65) years, the retirement annuity shall be recalculated on the basis of the formula provided in this subsection. On and after such date, such member shall receive payments from the System at the resultant rate.
(f) The deferred retirement annuity provided in this section shall take effect at the participant’s request.
History —May 15, 1951, No. 447, p. 1298, §§ 6, 6a; May 13, 1952, No. 427, p. 862, § 1; July 19, 1960, No. 136, p. 390; June 28, 1961, No. 132, p. 283, § 1; June 24, 1963, No. 73, p. 233; June 10, 1967, No. 127, p. 388, § 1; June 29, 1968, No. 160, p. 512, § 1; June 29, 1968, No. 161, p. 520, § 1; May 20, 1970, No. 31, p. 61; Apr. 24, 1987, No. 15, p. 34, § 1; June 24, 1996, No. 57, § 1; renumbered as § 2-101 on Sept. 24, 1999, No. 305, § 11; Aug. 30, 2000, No. 234, § 1; Sept. 2, 2000, No. 302, § 1, June 27, 2003, No. 156, § 1; Apr. 24, 2007, No. 35, § 3; July 6, 2011, No. 116, § 2, retroactive to July 1, 2011; Apr. 4, 2013, No. 3, § 4, eff. July 1, 2013.