Make a copy of your Statement, circle the mistake and send it with a signed letter requesting the change. You can fax your request to 518-474-9438 or mail it to:

NYSLRS
Member Enrollment Unit
110 State Street, 5th Floor
Albany, NY 12244

We will contact your employer for supporting documentation if needed.

The code listed after your “Enrolled Retirement Plan” indicates which retirement plan you are in. For example, most members will see the code A15, which means you are in the retirement plan covered under Article 15 of the Retirement and Social Security Law.

You can use your Enrolled Retirement Plan code to find your NYSLRS retirement plan publication. It’s an essential resource that explains your NYSLRS benefits in detail — how long you’ll need to work to receive a pension, how your benefit is determined, what death and disability benefits may be available and more. You should consult it throughout your career, but it’s especially important to read as you prepare for retirement.

Here are two common reasons why your estimated death benefit is not listed on your Statement:

• You have less than one year of total service credit; or
• You are off the payroll of a participating employer and have less than five years of service credit.

Find your retirement plan publication for information about how your death benefit would be calculated.

To find out your estimated death benefit amount, mail a written request to:

NYSLRS
Benefit Calculation and Disbursement Services
110 State Street
Albany, NY 12244

Please include your NYSLRS ID (provided on your Statement) and your signature in your letter.

Your NYSLRS pension is part of a defined benefit plan and is based on your years of service, earnings and plan benefits, not the specific amount contributed by either you or your employer.

Employers make annual contributions to NYSLRS to help fund the benefits that you accrue during your working years. Employer contributions are based on the salaries of all their employees and the pension plans offered to their employees. The contribution rates paid by employers are set annually by NYSLRS’ Actuary and approved by the Comptroller.

Sign in to your Retirement Online account or check your Statement for the contributions you have made to NYSLRS (note: this amount does not include your employer’s contributions).

The “Total Credited Service” listed in your statement is as of March 31, 2024.

Sign in to your Retirement Online account to view your current total estimated service credit, including your employment history and reported earnings for the last five years.

If you worked for a public employer before joining NYSLRS or if you were in the military, you may be eligible to request to purchase additional service. Purchase previous service credit well before retirement and save on interest costs.

If you need to know if you have the service required to qualify for a pension benefit, please write to us. Include your name, retirement registration or NYSLRS ID number, public employment and military service in your letter and mail it to:

NYSLRS
110 State Street
Albany, NY 12244

Salary information is provided to us by your employer and represents pensionable salary they paid you during the State fiscal year (April 1, 2023 through March 31, 2024). ​There are several reasons why the salary information in your Statement may not be what you were expecting:

• Depending on your retirement plan and tier, certain payments (for example, meal and uniform allowance) cannot be used in calculating your pension and therefore are not included in the salary shown on your Statement; or
• Your employer may not have reported your March earnings to us in time for earnings to be included in your Statement.

Remember, the information in your Statement is for the fiscal year, so it will not match the calendar year earnings in your W-2 statement.

If you feel your salary information is not correct, contact your payroll office. If there is a discrepancy, your employer must send us an adjustment report requesting a change.

For most members, your Statement provides a projected monthly retirement benefit to help with retirement planning. It is generally based on a milestone such as your full retirement age.

If you have already reached full retirement age, we provide your estimated benefit at the end of the State fiscal year, March 31, 2024. The amount is an automated calculation based on retirement law and earnings information we have on file for you. It projects service credit that you would earn between March 31, 2024 and the sample retirement date, but it does not assume increases in salary. It will be different from the benefit that a retirement examiner will calculate when you retire and a retirement examiner reviews your salary and service information.

Sign in to your Retirement Online account to create your own pension estimate. Your estimate will be based on the most up-to-date account information we have on file for you. You can:

• Enter different retirement dates and beneficiaries to see how they affect your potential benefit;
• Adjust your earnings or service credit if you anticipate an increase in earnings or plan to purchase past service; and
• Save your estimate.

The Statement projection is an automated calculation that only uses information we have on file for you as of March 31, 2024. During a pre-retirement consultation, customer service representatives may add information supplied by you, such as sick leave accruals and lump sum payments, to the calculation of the projection. This information has not yet been verified with your employer, so it is not included in your Statement benefit projection or the estimate you received in the mail.

The fastest way to get your Statement is with Retirement Online.

• Sign in to Retirement Online.
• From your Account Homepage, click the “View My Member Annual Statement” button.
• Select the year you wish to view from the dropdown.

Statements beginning with fiscal year end March 31, 2020 are available in Retirement Online.

Reprints are available for the current year and can be requested after the mailing is complete, usually in July. It typically takes two to four weeks to produce and mail reprints. Please contact us to request your reprint.

If you need verification of your NYSLRS account (for example, if you are applying for a mortgage):

• Sign in to Retirement Online.
• From your Account Homepage, in the ‘I want to...’ section, click the “Generate Mortgage Verification Letter” link.

We can only issue reprints to the member or someone authorized to act on a member’s behalf in a legal or business matter. Anyone who has the legal authority to act on a member’s behalf must put their request in writing and send us a copy of their Power of Attorney (POA).

Here are the most common reasons why you may not have received your Statement:

• Your Statement was mailed but the address we have on file for you was not current.
• You had an open retirement case before May 1, which means you will no longer be an active member.
• You withdrew your membership or transferred it to another public retirement system.
• You joined NYSLRS during the fiscal year, but your employer did not report any earnings or days worked.
• Your salary and service crediting has been suspended pending compliance with one or more NYSLRS requirements (for example, the submission of a record of activities required of some elected and appointed officials).
• Your membership is no longer active (you were not vested when you left public employment and you have not been employed by a participating employer for seven or more years).
• You joined NYSLRS, but we have not finished entering your membership information in our records.