Updated October 16, 2026. Quick answer: The Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement System (OLERS) documents read describe no choice among payment options at retirement. The pension is 2 1/2% of final average salary for each year of credited service, with a survivor pension equal to the member’s monthly payments for a spouse married 30 months. A member with 20 years of service can elect the Deferred Option Plan (DROP) irrevocably, for up to 5 years, and take a lump sum, rollover or annuity. Leaving earlier means a refund without interest or, after 10 years, a vested benefit. The Handbook is a statutes and rules compilation.
What this page covers and what it does not
This page works from two OLERS documents: the 2025 Member Handbook and the Actuarial Valuation Report as of July 1, 2025 (submitted October 8, 2025). The Handbook is not a plain-language guide. Its cover reads “OFFICIAL OKLAHOMA STATUTES AND ADMINISTRATIVE RULES PERTAINING TO OKLAHOMA LAW ENFORCEMENT RETIREMENT SYSTEM”, and its notice says the material “is consolidated for your information”. So the Handbook reproduces statutes and rules, and the official text controls. Disability retirement and the retiree health supplement are not covered here, except for the statute’s basics: a disability caused by the member’s duties pays 2 1/2% times the greater of 20 years or the actual years of credited service times the final average salary or the position salary the statute names (2-305(E)), and a disability not caused by duty, after three years of vesting service, pays 2 1/2% of final average salary times credited service (2-305(G)). The application must be filed with the System before the member’s date of termination from service, which the Board can waive for good cause, and one filed more than six months after termination never qualifies (2-305(M)).
On size, the valuation says “The number of active members increased from 1,260 in the 2024 valuation to 1,356 in the 2025 valuation”.
When a pension can start and how it is figured
The Handbook ties the normal retirement date to the first of the month after a member “completes twenty (20) years of vesting service” or “attains sixty-two (62) years of age with ten (10) years of vesting service”. The pension is “two and one-half percent (2 1/2%) of the final average salary times years of credited service”, and the valuation adds “There is no maximum on service”. Final average salary is “the average of the highest thirty (30) consecutive complete months of actual paid gross salary”, and gross salary “shall not include severance pay”.
| Item | Figure | Where it is stated |
|---|---|---|
| Member contribution | 8% of actual paid base salary | Handbook, section 2-304 |
| Employer contribution | 11% of actual paid base salary | Handbook, section 2-304 |
| Normal retirement | 20 years of vesting service, or age 62 with 10 years of vesting service (age 62 alone for certain members transferred from OPERS on or after July 1, 1981 who would have been vested there) | Handbook, section 2-300; valuation |
| Pension | 2 1/2% of final average salary times years of credited service | Handbook, section 2-305; valuation |
| Vested benefit instead of a refund | Available at 10 years of credited service | Handbook, section 2-308 |
A computed example from an assumed $72,000 final average salary and an assumed 25 years of credited service, not an OLERS figure: 2 1/2% (2.5 in decimal form) of $72,000 is $1,800 (computed) for each year of service. At 25 years that is $45,000 a year, or a computed $3,750 a month. Some positions have statutory salary rules that can replace the member’s own final average salary in the formula. For the Highway Patrolman, Communications Dispatcher, Capitol Patrolman, Lake Patrolman and OSBI Special Agent or Criminalist positions, subsection C of 2-305 pays the greater of the member’s own formula or 2 1/2% times the years of credited service times the current top base salary of the highest nonsupervisory position in the agency, limited to the federal annual salary limit the statute names. Subsection D does the same with the actual average salary for ABLE Commission Agent III, Narcotics Agent III, Park Ranger II, Pharmacy Inspector and University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University police officers. Subsection C ends: “The provisions of paragraph 1 of this subsection shall not be applicable to any member whose first participating service with the System occurs on or after November 1, 2012, except for those members who died in the performance of their duties pursuant to Section 2-306 of this title.” Those rules are not worked here.
Survivor benefits: what the rules provide instead of an election
In the documents read, a retiring member does not choose between a single-life pension and a joint-and-survivor pension, and no survivor reduction factor is printed. What the Handbook provides is a statutory survivor pension. For a member “retired for length of service”, the survivor pension is “an amount equal to the member’s monthly payments”, paid to a spouse “married to the member at the time of the member’s death, and continuously for the thirty (30) months immediately preceding the member’s death”. A spouse of a member who died in the line of duty “shall not be subject to the thirty-month marriage requirement for survivor benefits”. A spouse of such a member who remarried before June 7, 1993 can still be paid, but only after a written request that OLERS approves, and the statute says: “Upon approval by the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement System, the surviving spouse shall be entitled to the pension benefits provided for in subsection A of this section beginning from the date of approval forward.” (2-306(B)(4)). A spouse of more than one member of the Firefighters, Police or Law Enforcement systems cannot collect from both: “The surviving spouse of more than one member shall elect which member’s benefits he or she will receive.” (2-306(B)).
The valuation uses the language of a payment form. Its summary lists “Normal Form of Benefit: 100% joint and survivor” and says “The benefit is paid as a Joint and 100% Survivor Annuity if the Member was married 30 months prior to death”. Read together, the survivor pension appears built into the benefit rather than chosen from a menu, but neither document calls it an election, so confirm with OLERS how it works for a particular member. For systems that do offer an election, see single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension.
| Situation | What the documents provide |
|---|---|
| Retired for length of service, spouse married 30 months | Survivor pension equal to the member’s monthly payments |
| Death in the line of duty | Spouse not subject to the 30 month marriage requirement |
| No surviving spouse, or after the spouse’s death | Caregiver of children under 18, or children 18 to 22 in school; then dependent parents for life |
| Member leaves a spouse and children | $400 a month for each surviving child while the spouse lives and the child is under 18 (or 22 if a full-time student) |
| Death of an active or retired member on or after July 1, 1999 | $5,000 death benefit to the beneficiary or the estate |
| Payments made are less than the accumulated contributions | The difference is paid to the designated beneficiary |
On the order of survivors, the statute pays “to the surviving spouse” first, then children, then “to the dependent parent or parents of said member, for life”. The valuation confirms the $400 child supplement is paid in addition to the survivor annuity. That table is for a retired member. If a member dies before retiring, the amount depends on the cause: a death that is the direct result of the performance of the member’s duties as an officer pays 2 1/2% times the greater of 20 years or the actual years of service times a final average salary the statute builds from the statutory salary schedule when the member had under 20 years (2-306(A)(1)); any other death before retirement pays “an amount equal to the monthly payments which would have been received by the member under subsection E of Section 2-305 of this title had the member been totally disabled” (2-306(A)(2)). A member who was receiving, or was eligible to receive, a disability benefit leaves a pension equal to that member’s monthly payments (2-306(A)(4), (A)(5)). The death benefit is Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) for members who die on or after July 1, 1999; it goes to the designated beneficiary, or to the member’s estate if there is none or the designated beneficiary died first (2-306.3). For a retired member the month of death has its own rule: “Upon the death of a retired member, the benefit payment for the month in which the retired member died, if not previously paid, shall be made to the beneficiary of the member or to the member’s estate if there is no beneficiary.” The next sentence adds: “Such benefit payment shall be made in an amount equal to a full monthly benefit payment regardless of the day of the month in which the retired member died.” (2-306(D)). On contributions, the statute says: “In the event the total retirement payments made to the member and his joint annuitant, if any, are less than the member’s accumulated contributions, the difference shall be paid to the member’s designated beneficiary or if no designated beneficiary survives, then to the member’s nearest surviving next of kin as determined by law.” (2-306.2). The sentence mentions a “joint annuitant, if any” only in passing, and the pages read do not describe how anyone becomes one.
Beneficiary forms, spousal consent, timing and deferral
A beneficiary is “the individual designated by the member on a beneficiary designation form supplied by the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement System”, and “If the member’s spouse is not designated as the sole primary beneficiary, the member’s spouse must sign a consent”. That is a beneficiary designation rule. The pages read do not tie it to a payment-option waiver, since no option is described. For how consent works where an election exists, see spousal consent to waive a joint-and-survivor annuity.
On timing, a rule says “Written requests for retirement benefits must be received” “by the first Wednesday of the month prior to the desired effective date of retirement”. A retiree who goes back to a covered job stops being paid for the time being, and the date matters: “If such a member is reemployed by a state agency in a position which is covered by the System on or after September 19, 2002, such member’s monthly retirement payments shall be suspended until such member retires and is not reemployed by a state agency in a position which is covered by the System.” A retiree reemployed in a position the System does not cover is treated differently: “If such retired member is reemployed by a state agency in a position which is not covered by the System, such retired member shall continue to receive in-service distributions from the System.” (2-305(A)).
A member can also delay the start. The statute allows an election to “defer the commencement of retirement benefits by one-year periods”, made “not later than thirty (30) days prior to the member’s normal retirement date or the member’s actual retirement date, whichever is later”. The start “may not be deferred later than age sixty-five (65)”, and payments “shall be increased by five percent (5%) of the amount that would otherwise be paid for each year payments are deferred”. A computed example from the assumed 25 year pension above, not an OLERS figure: a computed $3,750 a month becomes $3,937.50 after one year of deferral (the monthly pension times 1 plus 5%).
DROP: the lump sum, the annuity and the rollover
The Deferred Option Plan (DROP), with its Back DROP form covered next, holds the irrevocable elections the documents describe. The statute lets a member with “not less than twenty (20) years of participating service” who is eligible for a service pension “make an irrevocable election to participate in the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Deferred Option Plan”. Time in the plan “shall not exceed five (5) years”, and at the end the member must “terminate employment as a member of the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement System”. Reemployment afterward is limited: “Such a member may continue to receive in-service distributions of such member’s accrued monthly retirement benefit from the System if the member is reemployed by a state agency only if such reemployment is in a position not covered under the System.” (2-305.2(C)).
On the money, “the contribution of the member shall cease”, and employer contributions are “credited equally to the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement System and to the member’s Oklahoma Law Enforcement Deferred Option Plan account”. The monthly pension is not paid out during the plan; it “shall be paid into the member’s Oklahoma Law Enforcement Deferred Option Plan account”, and a participant “shall be eligible to receive cost of living increases”. The account earns interest at “two percentage points below the rate of return of the investment portfolio of the System, but no less than the assumed interest rate”, and the assumed rate is “seven and five-tenths percent (7.5%)” until the Board changes it. The statute adds: “The interest shall be credited to the individual account balance of the member on an annual basis.” (2-305.2(E)(2)). It also says: “Participation in the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Deferred Option Plan must begin the first day of a month and end on the last day of the month.” (2-305.2(C)). The pages read do not state the System’s actual rate of return, so no DROP interest figure is given.
Two rules matter before electing. The pension “is frozen at the inception of their participation”. And an application is due early: “OLERS must receive the application a minimum of thirty (30) days prior to the effective date”. After approval and the first credit, participation “is irrevocable as long as the member remains employed”.
A computed example from the assumed 25 year pension of $3,750 a month, not an OLERS figure: five years of pensions paid into the account is 60 deposits, or $225,000 before interest, any cost-of-living increases and the employer credit.
At the end the statute gives these payout choices: “A lump-sum payment from the account equal to the option account balance of the member, payable to the member”; a lump sum “payable to the annuity provider which shall be selected by the member”; or “Any other method of payment if approved by the Board”. The rule adds that “The member may select a direct rollover of their distribution” and that once the account is paid as a rollover or to an annuity provider, “the member shall not have any recourse against OLERS”. A lump sum or annuity choice is the kind of decision covered at pension lump sum versus monthly annuity break-even. Money not rolled over falls under the IRS rules below; see 20% withholding on a pension lump sum. If the member dies in the plan, “a lump-sum payment equal to the account balance of the member shall be paid to the designated beneficiary”.
Back DROP: electing as of an earlier date
The statute offers a second form. The back drop date is a date selected by the member “up to five (5) years before the member elects to participate”, “but not before the date at which the member completes twenty (20) years of participating service”. At the end, the pension “shall be determined based on the earlier attained participating service and on the final average salary as of the back drop date”. The account receives the benefits that would have been paid since then and “one half (1/2) of the employer contributions”, with interest, and the member is refunded the contributions made since the back drop date, “but excluding any interest”. Once the Board approves, “the member’s participation in the OLERS Back DROP is irrevocable”. A member already in the forward DROP can convert, with the combined time capped at five years.
The pages read do not state the dollar value of picking a back drop date, so no example is run. The tradeoff to price with OLERS is that the pension is figured at the earlier service and salary.
Leaving before retirement: refund or vested benefit
A member who leaves before the normal retirement date, other than by death or disability, is “entitled to be refunded from the fund an amount equal to the accumulated contributions the member has made to the fund, but excluding any interest or any amount contributed by the state”. The alternative: “If such member has completed ten (10) years of credited service at the date of termination, the member may elect a vested benefit in lieu of receiving his accumulated contributions”. The vested annuity starts “on the member’s normal retirement date to be determined as if the member’s employment continued uninterrupted” and equals “two and one-half percent (2 1/2 %) of final average salary multiplied by the number of years of credited service”. A rule protects the choice: “The member must sign a written waiver of such benefit before such refund will be processed for payment”. The valuation summarizes shorter service as “Refund of contributions without interest”. For the general question, see pension refund versus leaving it.
A computed example from an assumed constant $72,000 salary and 12 years of service, not an OLERS figure: contributions at 8% of salary for 12 years total $69,120 with no interest, while a vested pension of 2 1/2% x $72,000 x 12 years is $21,600 (computed) a year, starting at the normal retirement date. The two are not directly comparable: one is a one-time sum and the other a future lifetime payment.
A member who takes a refund and later returns can reinstate the service if “Such application for reinstatement is made within three (3) years from the date of such termination of such membership”, the member “remains a member of the System for a period of five (5) consecutive years after reinstatement of membership”, and the member “reimburses the Fund, at the time application for reinstatement is made, with the amount of any portion of the membership contribution which has been refunded to the member under the provisions of Section 2-308 of this title” (2-307(b)). Reinstatement is the Board’s decision on an application made like an original one, and the repayment can be a cash lump sum or a transfer or direct rollover from certain 403(b), 457(b), 401(a) or IRA money, but not from a Roth account, a Coverdell account or after-tax contributions. See the pension buyback calculator for the general idea.
Two other kinds of service credit are in the statute. Up to 240 days of unused sick leave count toward the service credit of a member who retires, elects the DROP or elects a vested benefit, at 20 days to a month in whole months (2-307.2(A)). Prior active-duty military service can count for up to five years (2-307.4(A)); a member whose membership began on or after July 1, 2000 receives it only on payment of the amount the Board determines. The statute also says: “Service credit received pursuant to this section shall be used in determining the member’s retirement benefit but shall not be used in determining years of service for retirement or vesting purposes.” (2-307.4(D)). That credit raises the pension but does not move the 20 year or 10 year tests.
Cost-of-living increases
The valuation says “Occasional ad hoc increases for retirees are provided” and “The most recent COLA was 4% for Members retired as of June 30, 2007, effective July 1, 2008”. The Handbook shows a later one. Under a 2020 section, a person receiving benefits as of June 30, 2019 who continues to receive benefits on or after July 1, 2020 gets an increase that depends on years retired: zero percent if retired for less than two years as of July 1, 2020, “Two percent (2%) if the person has been retired for at least two (2) years but less than five (5) years as of July 1, 2020”, or “Four percent (4%) if the person has been retired for five (5) years or more as of July 1, 2020”. The valuation also says that, effective July 1, 2002, retirement benefits will be recalculated to increase in conjunction with increases to the top base pay for active members, and that certain members hired on or after November 1, 2012 are not eligible for this adjustment. The statute draws two cutoffs, by first participating service rather than hire date: November 1, 2012 for the group in subsection C of 2-305 (quoted above) and, for the group in subsection D, “The provisions of paragraph 1 of this subsection shall not be applicable to any member whose first participating service with the System occurs on or after May 24, 2013, except for those members who died in the performance of their duties pursuant to Section 2-306 of this title.” The earlier increases are in the statute too: 3% on July 1, 1988 (2-305.1), 2 1/2% on July 1, 1994 (2-305.3), 3% in 2000 (2-305.7), 5% in 2002 (2-305.8) and 4% in each of 2004, 2006 and 2008 (2-305.9, 2-305.10, 2-305.11), after a 1998 adjustment to restore the loss of the initial cost-of-living benefit to price inflation (2-305.6). Apart from those, the pages read describe only ad hoc increases.
What the IRS adds on tax
A refund or lump sum from a public pension is a distribution, so the IRS rules apply on top of OLERS’s own. On withholding, the IRS says that a taxable eligible rollover distribution paid to you “is subject to mandatory income tax withholding (generally at a rate of 20%), even if you intend to roll it over later”, and that if you roll it over yourself “you’ll have to add funds from other sources equal to the amount withheld”. The rules let a DROP distribution be paid as a direct rollover, which avoids the mandatory withholding on the rolled-over part. OLERS members are law enforcement officers, so the IRS exception for public safety employees may matter, but whether it fits a particular payment is a question for a tax preparer. The rollover clock, if the money is paid to you: “you have 60 days from the date you receive it to roll it over to another eligible retirement plan”.
On early distributions the IRS says “the law imposes a 10% additional tax on certain early distributions from certain retirement plans”. Its list of exceptions includes “Distributions made to you after you separated from service with your employer after attainment of age 55” and “Distributions made to a qualified public safety employee from a governmental plan”, provided the employee separated from service during or after the year of attaining age 50 or 25 years of service under the plan, whichever is earlier. Whether an exception fits a particular refund depends on your own plan and facts, so confirm it with a tax preparer before you take one.
What a refund looks like after withholding
A computed example from the assumed refund of $69,120 paid to the member, not an OLERS figure: 20% withheld for federal tax is $13,824, leaving $55,296 in cash before any further tax or penalty. State treatment is at Oklahoma retirement taxes and does Oklahoma tax pensions; another Oklahoma system is at Oklahoma OPERS retirement decisions.
Where the sources disagree
Where the Handbook and the valuation differ, the Handbook’s statutes and rules are the System’s law and the valuation is an actuary’s summary for the Board, so confirm any difference with OLERS before relying on it.
Survivor form. The Handbook states a survivor pension and no election, while the valuation lists “Normal Form of Benefit: 100% joint and survivor”. The documents do not say whether a member can decline the survivor feature.
Vested benefit start. The statute starts it on the normal retirement date as if employment had continued, which can be age 62 with 10 years, while the valuation says “the benefit is payable at the date the Member would have had 20 years of service”.
Back DROP date. The statute stops the back drop date at 20 years of participating service. The valuation says “a back-drop-date which is no earlier than the member’s normal retirement date or five years before his termination date”.
Cost-of-living history. The valuation’s latest increase is effective July 1, 2008, while the Handbook shows one in 2020.
What this page could not settle
- The pages read do not describe an election among single-life, joint-and-survivor or other payment options, and no survivor reduction factor is printed.
- The statute pays the survivor pension to the people it names, in the order it gives, and the words waive, waiver, decline, reject, renounce and disclaim do not appear in sections 2-306, 2-306.2, 2-306.3, 2-308 or 2-308.1; the one election it gives a survivor is the spouse of more than one member quoted above. The pages read still do not say whether the spousal consent sentence applies to anything other than a beneficiary designation.
- The pages read do not state the System’s actual investment return, so no DROP interest figure is given, or how the 5% deferral increase builds over more than one year.
- The statute and the valuation differ on the vested benefit start and the back drop date, and this page does not resolve either difference.
- Special salary rules for some positions, disability retirement, the retiree health supplement, military and prior service purchases and Section 415 limits were not examined in depth.
Common mistakes
- Looking for a single-life versus joint-and-survivor election that the documents read do not describe, and missing the statutory survivor rules and the 30 month marriage test.
- Treating the DROP as reversible: the statute and rules call the election irrevocable.
- Choosing the Back DROP without weighing that the pension is figured at the earlier service and final average salary.
- Taking a refund without weighing that it excludes interest and the state’s share, and that a vested benefit may be available at 10 years of credited service.
- Taking a taxable payout instead of a direct rollover and receiving 20% less in cash up front.
Related on this site: Oklahoma retirement taxes, does Oklahoma tax pensions, Oklahoma OPERS retirement decisions, single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension, pension refund versus leaving it, 20% withholding on a pension lump sum and public pension retirement decisions by system.
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Answer againSources
- Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement System, OLERS Member Handbook 2025 (statutes and rules compilation, posted 2026): https://olers.ok.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/OLERS-Member-Handbook-2025-1.pdf
- Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement System, Actuarial Valuation Report as of July 1, 2025 (2025 OK LERS Valuation): https://olers.ok.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2025-OK-LERS-Valuation.pdf
- IRS, Topic no. 413, Rollovers from retirement plans (irs.gov): https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc413
- IRS, Topic no. 558, Additional tax on early distributions from retirement plans other than IRAs (irs.gov): https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc558
Sources: the primary documents linked above, read on October 16, 2026. General information from each system’s own published materials, not legal, tax or financial advice. Your own member statement and the system’s current rules decide your benefit, and a pension counsellor at the system or a fee-only adviser is the right place to confirm anything consequential.