How Much Does a NYC Sanitation Pension Pay
After 20 or 22 Years?

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Two Plans, One Pension Fund

Every uniformed member of the Department of Sanitation is in NYCERS, the New York City Employees' Retirement System, but which pension formula applies depends on one date: April 1, 2012. Join before that date and you are on the SA-20 Plan, under Tier 4. Join on or after it and you are on the SA-22 Plan, under Tier 3.

The uniformed sanitation force is not in Tier 6, the tier most other city employees hired after that date fall into. NYCERS Fact Sheet #719 lists uniformed sanitation as one of a small number of explicit exceptions, so the Tier 6 provisions that apply elsewhere in city government, including its pensionable-overtime dollar ceiling, do not govern this pension.

SA-20 and SA-22 are not two versions of the same formula. On the same final average salary and years of service, they produce two different pension amounts, and the gap changes depending on how long a member stays.

The SA-20 Formula: Tier 4, Joined Before April 1, 2012

The SA-20 Plan pays 50% of final average salary at 20 years of allowable sanitation service, with no minimum age required to collect it. Every year of service past 20 adds 1.5% of Final Compensation, a separate figure from final average salary, up to a cap at 30 years of service.

That structure gives staying past 20 years a calculable payoff on SA-20: each additional year is worth a known percentage, right up to the point the benefit stops growing at the 30-year cap.

The SA-22 Formula: Tier 3, Joined On or After April 1, 2012

The SA-22 Plan reaches 50% of final average salary at 22 years of service, and the formula stops adding there. Additional years of service past 22 do not add another percentage point to the benefit.

SA-22 also carries a reduction that SA-20 does not. At age 62, the pension is reduced by 50% of the member's primary Social Security benefit. That reduction applies by formula whether or not the member has actually filed for Social Security. A member who retires in their forties on what looks like a fixed monthly number meets a different, smaller one once they turn 62.

Worked Example: $95,000 Final Average Salary, 22 Years of Service

Run the same inputs, a $95,000 final average salary and 22 years of service, through both formulas and the difference shows up directly in the monthly number. On the SA-20 Plan, that combination nets about $4,045 a month after tax. On the SA-22 Plan, the same salary and service nets about $3,831 a month after tax, before the age-62 Social Security reduction described above reduces it further.

This is a hypothetical illustration for education only, built on one salary and one service length. It is not personalized advice, and it is not your number. Final average salary, years of service, and tax situations differ by member; use the calculator below to run your own inputs.

Final Compensation vs. Final Average Salary on SA-20

SA-20's base benefit, the 50% at 20 years, is calculated on final average salary, a three-year average. The 1.5% per year that accrues past 20 years is calculated on a different figure, Final Compensation, a separate five-year average defined in NYCERS Brochure #935. The two numbers are usually close but are not identical, and using one where the other applies produces the wrong estimate for the post-20-year accrual.

Common questions

Am I in Tier 6?

Not if you are in the uniformed force of the Department of Sanitation. NYCERS Fact Sheet #719 lists uniformed sanitation as one of the explicit exceptions to Tier 6. Members are instead placed in the Tier 3 22-Year Plan (SA-22) if they joined NYCERS on or after April 1, 2012, or the Tier 4 SA-20 Plan if they joined before it.

Does staying past 22 years help my pension on SA-22?

Not through the formula itself. NYCERS Fact Sheet #720 states that the SA-22 benefit does not provide additional benefit increments for service rendered beyond 22 years. Additional years can still matter for other reasons, such as a higher final average salary, but they do not add another percentage point to the pension calculation.

Will the age-62 Social Security reduction on SA-22 happen automatically?

Yes. It applies by formula at age 62 regardless of whether the member has filed for Social Security. Members who retire well before 62 should plan for the reduction in advance rather than assume the pension amount at retirement is the number they will still be receiving after 62.