The Sacramento County Employees’ Retirement System (SCERS) is processing contribution refunds for about 435 County employees who work the “7/12” shift. 

The refunds are due to past and present Miscellaneous Tier 5 employees who worked a 7/12 shift since April 2019.

The 7/12 shift refers to a work schedule comprised of seven, 12-hour shifts over a biweekly pay period for a total of 84 hours.  In August 2025, the SCERS Board of Retirement determined that the four additional hours worked by Miscellaneous Tier 5 employees over a traditional 80-hour biweekly pay period is considered overtime that cannot be counted in pension calculations. The SCERS Board directed that retirement contributions taken on the additional four hours of compensation be refunded to members.

Employees in Miscellaneous Tier 5 work in non-safety-designated positions and are subject to additional limits on pensionable compensation under the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act (PERPA). Employees in Safety tiers are not affected, nor are Miscellaneous employees in the pre-PEPRA legacy tiers who were generally hired before January 1, 2013.

SCERS completed the first phase of the correction process in January 2025, distributing refunds to approximately 85 active and deferred (former) employees in January 2025, averaging about $680 per refund.  The second phase includes an additional 350 members based on payroll data that SCERS recently received from the County.

For affected members who have retired, SCERS is processing contribution refunds and also re-calculating pensions prospectively after removing the disallowed compensation. Under recent legislation, AB 3025 enacted in 2024, SCERS is not recovering overpaid benefits from retirees; additionally, the employer (Sacramento County) is required to make a payment to the retiree equivalent to 20% of the present value difference in lifetime benefits between the original pension and the adjusted pension. In the first phase, three retired members received pension adjustments, with reductions in allowances ranging from $2 to $65 per month.

Members affected by the correction process will receive notices directly from SCERS with further details. If you have questions, please contact SCERS at 916-874-9119 or sacretire@saccounty.gov.