South Dakota Proposal Would Raise Retirement Age for State Employees

The committee that oversees retirement savings for state employees wants to make new state employees work a little longer before collecting benefits. The South Dakota Retirement Laws Committee in a joint meeting Wednesday with the South Dakota Retirement System Board of Trustees unanimously advanced a proposal that would raise retirement age for state employees and increase costs to employees who retire early, among other changes. Current state employees would not be affected. What would change under the plan? The normal retirement age for most state employees and judicial employees would be raised from 65 to 67. For public safety employees, it would go from 55 to 57. The threshold for early retirement for most employees would go from 55 to 57. For public safety employees, it would shift from 45 to 47. And employees looking to retire early would face a 5 percent reduction in benefits for every year between the designated retirement age and the age at which they retire. Currently, those who retire early face a 3 percent per year penalty. The state would also eliminate the Rule of 85/75/80, which uses your age plus years worked to determine whether someone can retire without a deduction to his or her benefits.

Source/more: Argus (SD) Leader

David Wingate is an Elder Law Attorney at the Elder Law Office of David Wingate. The Elder Law office focuses in the following areas of law: powers od attorneys, wills, trusts, Medicaid, and asset protection. David Wingate practices in Frederick and Montgomery, Counties, Maryland.