The leadership of the NJ State PBA has been working diligently with the Police and Fireman’s Retirement System to preserve the intent of and institute P.L. 2024, Chapter 54-Purchase of Credit for Service as a Class II Law Enforcement Officer. We are proud to announce that the Certifying Officer of your agency will or has received the above notification from the PFRSNJ that on August 22, 2024 Acting Governor Nicholas Scutari signed the Bill into law and active members of the PFRS are eligible to purchase their service credit as a Class II Special Officer as well as their academy time to complete a basic police training course inclusive of alternate route for their employment.
The procedure to purchase your service credit has been established and eligible members can log onto their Member Benefits Online System (MBOS) account and apply to purchase their service credit by following the below steps:
- Access the purchase application via MBOS https://my.nj.gov/aui/Login
- Select the Uncredited Service button
- A Chapter 54 pop-up box will appear then select “ok”
- The Division of Pensions and Benefits (DPB) will send the employer an Employment Verification Form for the time in question which is required to be submitted back to the DPB in order to determine if the purchase is eligible
- Members should provide supporting documents including but not limited to:
- A written summary thoroughly detailing the time requested
- Resolution when hired or appointed to the position
- Payroll records from your employer or pay stubs supporting the time in question (not W2 Forms)
- Records evidencing academy time and completion of academy time
- Certification of graduation/successful completion of the academy
- The information should be sent to the address below:
NJDPB
Attn: Shirlene Scott (Purchase Section)
PO BOX 295
Trenton NJ 08625-0295
PL 2024, Chapter 54 adds to PFRS Fact Sheet 1, Purchasing Service Credit and in that Class II Special Time and associated Police Academy time is now purchasable. However, the member is responsible to pay the full cost of the service time, inclusive of their cost and that of the employer, which will be twice the cost of other types of purchases. The cost will be determined based on the member’s age and salary, as determined by the PFRS actuary. Once applied for, the processing times vary, usually up to 4 months, so please allow several weeks for the Purchase Section to process the requests. Once the requests are processed the purchase quote will be mailed to you, there is no obligation to purchase the time as it is only a quote, if you do not respond the quote will expire in 90 days, you may buy only a portion of the time, and you CANNOT carry payments into retirement
The NJ State PBA will continue to monitor the implementation of the Law and the mechanism governing the approval process of the purchase time. We anticipate a smooth process; however, each purchase is handled on a case-by-case basis, and some may require additional documents or processing. Please contact or email your NJSPBA Pension Coordinator Luke Sciallo at lsciallo@njspba.com or your State Delegate with any questions, needs or issues. Be sure that the email comes from a personal email and has a contact number.
The Law is new and most certainly will experience some growing pains, but we will keep you updated as it progresses and remain committed to provide the members of the NJSPBA with the utmost assistance in obtaining any and all benefits that make us the premiere Law Enforcement Union in the State of New Jersey.
Thank you,
Peter Andreyev
State President