Are you prepared
for Retirement?

Retirement Benefits for JEA Employees Hired before October 1, 2017.

JEA employees hired before October 1, 2017, are under the General Employees Pension Plan (GEPP). The GEPP is a generous pension plan that also has a cost of-living adjustment. While the actual calculations are a little more complicated, you can approximate your benefit with the following two formulas.

If you qualify for normal retirement, the benefit is 2.5% x years of service x monthly income, and if you opt for early retirement, replace 2.5% with 2%.

While these are approximations, I recommend getting an accurate accounting from the pension plan servicer. You also have several options for taking the pension from the monthly benefit to a 100% lump sum, with several options in between. We can help you make the best decision for your situation by providing an unbiased analysis of your options.

Retirement Benefits for JEA Employees Hired on or after October 1, 2017.

JEA Employees hired on or after October 1, 2017, are in the General Employees Defined Contribution Plan (GEDC). The plan allows you to decide how to invest all your retirement benefits, and it will enable you to utilize the funds as you best see fit after retirement. This puts the ball squarely in your court. On the one hand, you have the opportunity to invest 100% of your retirement benefits and potentially grow it to provide a more significant benefit to you in retirement. Still, on the other hand, there is no safety net if you squander it. No pension, no social security. This plan gives you enormous potential, but it also has the potential to get you in a serious bind. We provide investment models based on your goals and years until retirement.

Social Security Windfall Elimination Provision.

The Social Security Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) applies to local, state, and federal workers who are not subject to Social Security taxes. It was created to prevent “double dipping” by gaming the Social Security System and a noncovered pension. Your Social Security benefit listed in ssa.gov does not take into account the WEP. The WEP calculation is complicated, but essentially it reduces your Social Security benefit based on your number of years working a job in the Social Security system and your noncovered pension amount.

Social Security Government Pension Offset.

The Government Pension Offset (GPO) applies to spousal and widow(er) benefits for people with noncovered pensions. Congress created the GPO to better equalize spousal and widow(er) benefits between people fully covered under Social Security and those with noncovered pensions. The offset is for every three dollars of noncovered pension income, the individual’s spousal or widow(er) ‘s benefit is reduced by two dollars.

Unions.

JEA employee benefits are based on individual contracts with each of the five unions representing JEA employees. While many of the benefits are the same across all of the Unions, there are differences between them. So, we’ve included the specific union contracts here for your reference.

• Professional Employees Association (PEA)
• Jacksonville Supervisors Association (JSA)
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 2358 (IBEW)
• Northeast Florida Public Employees’ Local 630, Laborers’ International Union of North America, AFL-CIO (LIUNA)
• The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 79, AFL-CIO, Local 429 (AFSCME)