The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) offers a defined benefit retirement plan. It provides benefits based on members years of service, age, and final compensation. In addition, benefits are provided for disability death, and payments to survivors or beneficiaries of eligible members. By statute, the California State University (CSU) participates in the CalPERS program. Membership is mandatory for those CSU employees who are eligible.
CalPERS uses contributions of the employer and the employee as well as income from investments to pay for employee retirement benefits. Employee and employer contributions are a percentage of applicable employee compensation and are made on a pre-tax basis; federal and state taxes are deferred until benefits are paid. Any investment return on an employee’s account is also tax-deferred. The investment of contributions are managed by CalPERS; therefore, employees do not bear any investment risk. Employee benefits grow with years of service and final average salary.
The following summary is subject to change at any time. For the most current and detailed information, employees can visit the CalPERS website or call CalPERS at (888) 225-7377. Members may log into MyCalPERS to manage their account online.