This is dependent on your tier and marital status and options elected at retirement. You can learn more about your survivor benefits in the Summary Plan Description / Handbook or by contacting your Member Services Specialist at 817-632-8900 for an explanation of your survivor benefits.
If you are not survived by a spouse or qualified dependent(s), then your refund beneficiary or estate (whichever is applicable) is entitled to receive any DROP account and any remaining employee contributions plus interest.
You must contact your Member Services Specialist prior to returning to work and coordinate your return-to-work date. Your monthly pension checks will be stopped if you return to work for the city in a regular position or part-time position that is an authorized position receiving benefits. Your retirement will reflect a break in service for the period of time that you were drawing a pension and you will begin to accrue service once again upon rehire, unless you retired under the DROP program. If you retired in the DROP program, no additional service or change in final average compensation will be calculated since you elected to freeze those when you joined the DROP.
If you are returning to a position that is part-time, not an authorized position and receives no benefits, there will be no effect on your retirement. Ensure that any position will not become eligible for benefits and you will not participate in the retirement plan.
No, it will not change your pension. In most cases the amount you receive, if any, from Social Security will be affected by the amount of your pension. You will need to contact Social Security to see if your Social Security benefit will be affected by your pension benefit. See the Windfall Elimination Provision brochure: http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf
You may log on to the Member Portal and look up your DROP balance. You may also call the Retirement Fund at 817-632-8900 to request the balance of your account. Returns for DROP balances left in the Fund after retirement are usually posted the third (3rd) or fourth (4th) week of the following month.
We understand it may be frustrating for retirees to receive their payments after the first of the month. This usually occurs when the first day of the month is on a weekend or a holiday, when banks are not open). This schedule, however, is not set by the Fund but is dictated by the City Retirement Ordinance and banking schedules.
The City Retirement Ordinance requires that pensions be paid on the first of each month. The ordinance states that pensions are “payable monthly on the first day of each month commencing with the month following the board’s approval” of the member’s pension.
Banks are closed on federal holidays and weekends because the Federal Reserve is closed. Because of the way the ordinance is written, when the first falls on a holiday (which is always true for New Year’s Day) or on a weekend, the Fund must pay the next banking day--there is not currently another option.
Knowing this information can help you look check the calendar and plan accordingly. Payment dates are listed on the home page of our website.