Updated October 21, 2026. Quick answer: A Nevada PERS member with 5 years or more of service credit who is totally unable to perform the member’s current job or a comparable one, because of a permanent injury or illness, may apply for disability retirement while still employed by a participating public employer, if that employment will end because of the disability. The Board requires a medical examination, and an approved member must retire and begin drawing benefits within 60 days of approval. The rules sit in NRS 286.620 to 286.655.
What this covers
NRS 286.620 is headed “Disability retirement allowance: Eligibility; calculation of amount; beneficiaries; effective date of termination or adjustment of allowance.” Sections 286.630 to 286.655 add the approval process, the effective date, annual reporting and the effect of going back to work. This page follows those sections and quotes them.
For the wider set of Nevada PERS choices, see Nevada PERS retirement decisions; for what other disability income does at 65, see what happens when long-term disability ends at 65.
Who it applies to
It applies to a member of the System who “becomes totally unable to perform” the member’s current job or any comparable job for which the member is qualified by training and experience. The member must also prove that the disability keeps the member from the duties of the present position and of any other position held “within the past year”.
The rules, one by one
Each right-hand cell is language from NRS 286.620 to 286.634.
| Question | What the statute says |
|---|---|
| Service needed | “A member of the System who has 5 years or more of service credit” |
| The condition | “because of injury or mental or physical illness of a permanent nature is eligible to apply for disability retirement” |
| The job will end | “the member’s employment will be terminated because of the disability” |
| Still employed | “The member is in the employ of a participating public employer at the time of application for disability retirement” |
| The application | “The member files a notarized application for disability retirement with the System which indicates a selection of option” |
| The employer’s statement | “The public employer files an official statement certifying” |
| The supervisor’s statement | “The immediate supervisor of the member files an official statement regarding the effect upon the work of the member after the disability” |
| Eligible for service retirement too | “A member may apply for disability retirement even if the member is eligible for service retirement.” |
| Medical examination | “The Board shall require a medical examination of each applicant for disability retirement.” |
| After a denial | “A member may apply to the Board for one reconsideration within 45 days after the denial by the Board” |
| Starting the benefit | “begin drawing benefits within 60 days after the date of the approval” |
How the allowance is figured
The statute does not print a dollar amount. It says the allowance “must be calculated in the same manner as provided for service retirement calculations in NRS 286.551”, with no reduction for the member’s age. It is also reduced by other disability benefits: “the allowance must be reduced by the amount of any other benefit received from any source on account of the same disability” if the benefit “is provided or was purchased by the expenditure of money by a Nevada public employer”, to the extent the two together would exceed the member’s average compensation. Ask PERS for an estimate rather than working the formula alone.
The examination and the decision
The medical examination “must at least consist of:” an examination by the applicant’s personal physician at the applicant’s expense, and a review of that physician’s written statement by the Board’s medical advisers. The statute adds that the Board “shall consider the complete application for disability retirement and the recommendations of its staff and the medical advisers, and approve or deny the application.”
Reporting and re-checks
A recipient has a yearly filing duty: each recipient must give the System a copy of the recipient’s “federal income tax return and withholding statements for all income for the preceding calendar year by May 1 of each year” The statute also says the System will “report to the Internal Revenue Service of the United States Department of the Treasury a disability retirement allowance that is paid to a member of the System as a disability benefit instead of as retirement income”. The tax treatment of the benefit is a separate question; the IRS page linked under Sources is the place to start.
Going back to work
NRS 286.650 sets the default: “whenever a recipient of a disability retirement allowance returns to employment with a participating public employer, the allowance must be discontinued, the member shall again become a contributing member of the System”. It allows one exception: a recipient may be employed and keep the allowance only “if the member applies to the Board for approval of the employment before the member begins to work and the Board approves the application.” The statute also gives the Board a rehabilitation option: “The Board may make direct payments to a public employer for the rehabilitation of a member eligible to receive a disability retirement allowance.”
Edition
This page reads chapter 286 of the Nevada Revised Statutes as the Nevada Legislature served it on 2026-10-21. Regulations, PERS forms and the rules for a specific membership class sit outside this page; the statute text controls over this summary. The state tax treatment of the pension itself is on whether Nevada taxes pensions.
Common mistakes
- Applying after leaving the job. The statute requires that the member “is in the employ of a participating public employer at the time of application for disability retirement”
- Waiting too long after approval. The statute says the member “must reapply and be reapproved before the member may draw benefits” if benefits do not begin within 60 days, unless the member stays on sick leave.
- Assuming other disability income is ignored. The allowance “must be reduced by the amount of any other benefit received from any source on account of the same disability” in the circumstances the statute lists.
Related: Nevada PERS retirement decisions, what happens when long-term disability ends at 65, and whether Nevada taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- Nevada Revised Statutes chapter 286, Public Employees Retirement (Nevada Legislature): www.leg.state.nv.us
- Related official page (not quoted): Nevada Revised Statutes, index of chapters: www.leg.state.nv.us
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS, Retirement topics: Disability: www.irs.gov
Read from the pension system handbooks linked above on October 21, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a pension system or a qualified professional is the right place to confirm anything consequential.