South Carolina Retirement Systems - SCRS Basic Information

SCRS - Basic Plan Information

Your Contributions
Correlated Systems
Leaving before Retirement
Beneficiaries
Retirement Eligibility
Teacher and Employee Retention Incentive (TERI) Program
Unused Leave at Retirement
Your Average Final Compensation
Payment Plans at Retirement
Calculating Your Benefit

Annual Leave
Only an amount up to and including 45 days pay for unused annual leave from your last termination payment, paid at retirement, shall be included before averaging your 12 highest consecutive quarters of earnable compensation.

Sick Leave
At retirement, you may receive service credit for up to 90 days of unused sick leave from your last employer at no cost to you. This service credit cannot be used to establish retirement eligibility. One month of service is granted for each 20 days of sick leave.

School District and Higher Education Employees
To calculate an appropriate average final compensation, adjustments may be required so that you receive credit for three full years of earnings. Adjustments may be needed for changes in payroll cycles, contract payouts, and any other occurrence that could potentially cause the average final compensation to include more or less than three full years of earnings.

Your unused annual and sick leave amounts are reported to the Retirement Systems by your employer after retirement.

TERI Participants with Retirement Dates on or

after July 1, 2005

The first several annuity benefits posted to your TERI account will be based on information received up to that point because your account is considered to be in an estimated status.

After your employer submits your final earnable compensation information, retirement contributions for your 12 highest consecutive quarters of earnable compensation will be audited. Your average final compensation may be adjusted accordingly after the audit and to include unused sick leave only. This is called finalized without annual leave status. Your account will remain in this status for the duration of your TERI period.

Upon termination of employment at the end of your TERI participation, your annuity will be recalculated to include payment for up to 45 days of unused annual leave paid at termination. This is post-finalized status with annual leave.