Any employee who is appointed to a regular position whose service is greater than fifty percent (50%) of the full standard of hours required by the County or another participating SBCERA employer (e.g. 20 hours per week or more) must become a member of SBCERA.

If you are age 60 or older prior to employment, you may waive membership in SBCERA within 90 days of your initial appointment to the position requiring your membership in SBCERA.

Membership Classifications & Tiers

SBCERA administers benefits for two membership classifications, Safety and General, and two tiers, Tier 1 and Tier 2.

Safety members are those employed in active law enforcement or active fire suppression. All other members are classified as General members.

Tier 1 members are those with an SBCERA membership date prior to January 1, 2013.

Tier 2 members are those with an SBCERA membership date on or after January 1, 2013.

Below is a breakdown of the benefit formulas administered by SBCERA for each membership classification and tier:

Membership Tier	Classification	Benefit Formula
Tier 1	General	2% @ 55
	Safety	3% @ 50
Tier 2	General	2.5% @ 67
	Safety	2.7% @ 57

Your SBCERA Membership Date

 Your SBCERA membership date is determined based on the following:

• Your date of hire as a permanent employee, or
• Your date of transfer from a non-qualifying position to one that requires membership, or
• Your date of entry into membership with another public retirement system with which you have established reciprocity. Therefore, if you enter SBCERA membership under Tier 2, but establish reciprocity with another public retirement system where you were a member prior to January 1, 2013, you may be reclassified as a Tier 1 member.