Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: For a member who joined the Hawaii Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) Hybrid plan after June 30, 2012, state law sets normal retirement at age 65 with 10 years of credited service, or at age 60 with 30 years. Early retirement is open at age 55 with 20 years. A Contributory plan member who joined after that date can retire at age 60 with 10 years or at age 55 with 25 years. For members who joined after June 30, 2012, vesting takes 10 years of credited service, and the right becomes nonforfeitable on reaching normal retirement age (65) with those years.
Hybrid plan: normal retirement
Hawaii Revised Statutes section 88-331 lists the conditions: “(3) Becomes a member after June 30, 2012, has at least ten years of credited service, and has attained age sixty-five; or (4) Becomes a member after June 30, 2012, has at least thirty years of credited service, and has attained age sixty,”
Hybrid plan: early retirement and vesting
“A class H member who has twenty years of credited service and has attained age fifty-five shall be eligible to receive an early retirement allowance reduced for age after the member has terminated service.” For the allowance, the statute provides “an early retirement allowance equal to the maximum retirement allowance calculated as provided in paragraph (1), reduced by 0.4166 per cent for each month the member is less than age sixty-five at retirement.” On vesting, the statute defines the requisite years: “means five years for class H members who became members before July 1, 2012, and ten years for class H members who became members after June 30, 2012.”
Contributory plan: normal and early retirement
Section 88-73 lists, for members who join after June 30, 2012: “(4) Becomes a member after June 30, 2012, and has at least ten years of credited service and has attained age sixty; or (5) Becomes a member after June 30, 2012, and has at least twenty-five years of credited service and has attained age fifty-five,” If such a member is under 60 at retirement, “if a member, who becomes a member after June 30, 2012, has not attained age sixty at the date of retirement, the member’s retirement allowance shall be reduced, for each month the member’s age at the date of retirement is below age sixty, as follows:” “(1) 0.4166 per cent for each month below age sixty and above age fifty-four and eleven months; plus (2) 0.3333 per cent for each month below age fifty-five and above age forty-nine and eleven months;”
Contributory plan: vesting
The statute defines the requisite years of credited service for this plan: “means five years for class A and B members who became members before July 1, 2012, and ten years for class A and B members who became members after June 30, 2012.”
Noncontributory plan
“A member who has ten years of credited service and has attained age sixty-two, or a member with thirty years credited service who has attained the age of fifty-five, shall become eligible to receive a retirement allowance after the member has terminated service.” “A member who has twenty years of credited service and has attained age fifty-five shall be eligible to receive an early retirement allowance reduced for age after the member has terminated service.” The allowance is “an early retirement allowance equal to the maximum retirement allowance reduced by one-half per cent for each month the member is less than age sixty-two at retirement.”
What the pension is based on
Hybrid plan: “a maximum retirement allowance of one and three-fourths per cent of the average final compensation multiplied by the number of years of class H credited service”. The statute (HRS 88-332) then adds a retirement allowance of one and one-fourth per cent of average final compensation per year of class C (Noncontributory) credited service, for a member who met the conditions it names. Contributory plan, for a member who becomes a member after June 30, 2012 and has attained age sixty: “the member’s maximum retirement allowance shall be one and three-fourths per cent of the member’s average final compensation multiplied by the total number of years of the member’s credited service as a class A and class B member”. The statute excludes credited service as a judge, elective officer or legislative officer from that class A and class B rate and adds separate allowances for class C and class H service. Noncontributory plan: “a maximum retirement allowance of one and one-fourth per cent of the average final compensation multiplied by the number of years of credited service”.
A worked example with invented numbers
Take an invented Hybrid member who joined after June 30, 2012, with 25 years of Hybrid service. The statute writes the multiplier as one and three-fourths per cent, which is 1.75%. That is 25 years at 1.75%, or 43.75% (computed) of a final average salary of $60,000 (invented, for the computation), which comes to $26,250 a year (computed).
What the documents do not say
The October 2026 ERS handbooks print the eligibility rules only in tables, so every quote here is from the statutes (HRS sections 88-331, 88-73 and 88-281 to 88-282); the handbooks were archived and agree with the statutes on the ages. The Contributory reduction schedule continues below age 55 and only its first two steps are quoted. The post-2012 average final compensation of the five highest years of base pay appears only in a handbook table, so this page states no averaging period. The sources read do not say whether the Noncontributory plan is closed to new members. Pre-July 1, 2012 Hybrid and Contributory rules, special occupation categories, judges, elective and legislative officers, and disability retirement are not covered. The handbook PDF linked from the live decisions page is an earlier edition than the one archived.
Common mistakes
- Using the Hybrid rules for a Contributory member. Hybrid normal retirement is age 65 with 10 years or age 60 with 30, and Contributory is age 60 with 10 or age 55 with 25.
- Applying the post-2012 rules to a member who joined before July 1, 2012. The statutes use five years of vesting for those members.
- Assuming one reduction for every early retirement. The Hybrid, Contributory and Noncontributory statutes each set their own.
Related: Hawaii ERS retirement decisions, the Hawaii ERS COLA for 2027, how public pension decisions work, and whether Hawaii taxes pensions.
Find the right next step for your situation
About how much do you have invested? Pick the range that fits; your next step appears immediately below.
Talk to an advisor about retirement income
For U.S. investors with $250,000 or more in investable assets. WiserAdvisor is an independent service matching you with 2 to 3 vetted advisers. Its form asks for your ZIP code and answers to a few questions; a match is not guaranteed.
Free to request, with no obligation to hire. By submitting, you consent to calls, texts and emails from WiserAdvisor and up to three advisers. Advisers pay for introductions.
Clear Money Guide may earn a referral payment for a qualifying completed form. An introduction is not a Clear Money Guide recommendation.
Opens on WiserAdvisor’s site in a new tab.
Explore advisor help with retirement income
Considering financial advice? Request an adviser introduction with no obligation to hire.
The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. Requesting an introduction is free. Submitting the form shares your contact details with advisers, so expect calls and texts. Advisers pay for introductions. Clear Money Guide may earn a referral payment for a qualifying submitted form, whether or not you hire anyone. A match is not guaranteed.
The Kapitalwise form opens here; you stay on this page.
What happens when you press the button
It asks about nine questions: age, investable assets, location; then your name, email and phone number, and verifies the phone by text. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
Prefer flat-fee or hourly pricing instead? Compare ranges here.
Answer againSources
- State of Hawaii (Hawaii Revised Statutes, Legislative Reference Bureau), HRS 88-331 Service retirement (class H, Hybrid plan): data.capitol.hawaii.gov
- State of Hawaii (Hawaii Revised Statutes, Legislative Reference Bureau), HRS 88-332 Service retirement allowance (class H): data.capitol.hawaii.gov
- State of Hawaii (Hawaii Revised Statutes, Legislative Reference Bureau), HRS 88-73 Service retirement (class A and B, Contributory plan): data.capitol.hawaii.gov
- State of Hawaii (Hawaii Revised Statutes, Legislative Reference Bureau), HRS 88-74 Allowance on service retirement (class A and B): data.capitol.hawaii.gov
- State of Hawaii (Hawaii Revised Statutes, Legislative Reference Bureau), HRS 88-281 Service retirement (class C, Noncontributory plan): data.capitol.hawaii.gov
- State of Hawaii (Hawaii Revised Statutes, Legislative Reference Bureau), HRS 88-282 Service retirement allowance (class C): data.capitol.hawaii.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 410, Pensions and annuities: www.irs.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 411, Pensions: the General Rule and the Simplified Method: www.irs.gov
Read from the primary documents linked above on October 30, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer or the IRS itself is the right place to confirm anything consequential.