Employees must file a retirement application in order to start receiving their pension.

• Retirement Online is the fastest way for employees to file their service retirement applications and other required documents. (Applications for disability retirement cannot be filed online at this time. Employees filing for disability retirement must submit a paper application.)
• As an alternative to Retirement Online, employees can mail a paper application, available on our Forms page.

Filing Applications for Your Employees

Many NYSLRS documents, including retirement applications, must be “filed with the Office of the State Comptroller” within a specific time period to be effective. These documents are considered filed when they are received by our Albany office, one of our consultation sites or another Office of the State Comptroller. Documents received by employers from employees have not been “filed with the Office of the State Comptroller.”

As an employer, you can file a disability application on behalf of one of your employees (see Disability Retirement Applications), but other applications or documents must be filed by the employee. If an employee gives you their completed retirement application or other NYSLRS form, please forward it to us immediately by email, fax or mail:

• Email: You can forward NYSLRS forms to us using our secure contact form. We consider an emailed form filed on the date we receive the email. If the form requires a notarized signature, you must also mail the form to us. We must receive the original document in order for the filing requirement to be met and for processing to continue. Disability applications can also be emailed to our Disability Processing bureau at [email protected].
• Fax: You can fax retirement applications to our Benefit Calculation and Disbursements Bureau at 518-474-3510. We consider a faxed document filed on the date of transmission; however, we must receive the original document for the filing requirement to be met and for processing to continue. Refer to NYSLRS Contact Information for other fax numbers.
• Mail: We suggest mailing forms to us by “Certified Mail — Return Receipt Requested.”

A delay in forwarding an application can result in a missed filing deadline, which could make the employee ineligible for the benefit. Service retirement applications, for example, must be on file at least 15 days but not more than 90 days before the employee’s chosen date of retirement.

Meeting a Filing Deadline

Specific filing instructions and deadlines for all benefits are listed in retirement plan booklets, available on our Publications page. Employees who are concerned about meeting a filing deadline should submit their applications using Retirement Online, certified mail or fax.

An employee may also email a form directly to us using our secure contact form. If the form requires a notarized signature, the employee must also mail the original form to us.

Rev. 12/21