Leaving County Employment
Understanding Your Options
If you are leaving County service, you have options when it comes to what you do with your annuity contributions.
Contact us to meet with a counselor or request an application for benefits if applicable.*
Before You Leave
If you are leaving County service, make sure to take care of this business while you’re still employed:
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Repayments to Cook County Pension Fund (CCPF) for any past service
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Impact of your service with a Reciprocal System. Paid service with a Reciprocal System can generally be counted towards service requirements. You must contact each Reciprocal Fund to determine eligibility and
possible costs to re-establish (pay for) any previously forfeited service. It is important to do this now since many Funds require you to be an actively contributing employee to re-establish past service.
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No benefits are paid by CCPF until you apply. You must contact CCPF for the appropriate application
when you want to receive your benefits.
Before you resign, please contact CCPF to learn more.
*Deferred Retirement Benefits for Tier 1 participants begin at age 50 or older.**Any Tier 1 Annuity that begins before age 60 with less than 30 years of service credit will be penalized.
*Deferred Retirement Benefits for Tier 2 participants begin at age 62 or older.**Any Tier 2 Annuity that begins before age 67 will be penalized.
A Special Note On Refunds
When you take a refund, you lose all of your accrued service credit and you give up your right to any future County pension and you give up the right to any future survivor or death benefits. Learn more about refunds.
Did You Know?
- You are allowed to purchase unused sick time for additional service credit. The time must be certified by your department and payment must be made within 30 days after your separation from service. Unused vacation days are paid on your final paycheck and pension deductions are withheld from those funds. Additional service credit is automatically granted on this vacation time.
- Any Optional Credit in your account will be used to increase benefits or will be refunded.
If you believe you may return to Cook County employment or employment covered by another reciprocal fund, you do not have to withdraw your contributions. You can leave contributions with CCPF and service credit will be preserved when you return.