Updated October 21, 2026. Quick answer: The LGERS Handbook lists several ways to add to creditable service: prior service, unused sick leave, military service, withdrawn service and other purchases. At retirement a member is allowed one month of credit for each 20 days of unused sick leave if four conditions are met, and a refunded member may be able to buy back lost service with a lump-sum payment.
What this covers
The handbook section headed “Adding to your Creditable Service” begins: “Creditable service includes your years and months of membership service in which you contributed to LGERS and may also include prior service credit, sick leave credit, military service credit and certain types of purchased service credit.” This page follows the sick leave and purchase parts. For the wider choices, see North Carolina LGERS retirement decisions.
Unused sick leave
Unused sick leave can become service credit at retirement only if all of four conditions are met. The handbook lists them: “Your sick leave was earned monthly under a duly adopted sick leave policy.” “You would receive full salary when using the sick leave if absent from work because of illness.” “You have not, and will not, receive any compensation for this sick leave.” “Your last day of service with your last participating LGERS employer is within 365 days before your LGERS effective date of retirement.”
On the amount: “When you retire, you are allowed one month of credit for each 20 days of unused sick leave.” “For any part of 20 days left over, one additional month is allowed provided the remaining portion is at least one hour.” It also limits the use: “Sick leave is used to increase your creditable service, but it cannot be used to meet the minimum qualifications for a disability retirement benefit, deferred benefit or the Survivor’s Alternate Benefit.”
Service you can buy
The handbook names several purchases. Three of them, in its own words:
| Purchase | What the handbook says |
|---|---|
| Military service, at a cost | “To be eligible to purchase military service credit, you must have contributed to LGERS for five years.” |
| Withdrawn service (after a refund) | “you may be eligible to purchase, with a lump-sum payment, in LGERS, the amount of creditable service you lost when you received your refund.” |
| Rollover money | “We will accept pre-tax money from an eligible retirement plan or an eligible IRA via rollover or in-service, plan-to-plan transfer to purchase creditable service.” |
On military service the handbook adds “Your cost will be equal to the full actuarial liabilities created from the additional credit purchased.” and “If your military service is creditable in another retirement system, generally you will not be eligible to purchase credit in LGERS.”
Withdrawn service and its cost
For a member who took a refund, the handbook says the member must first be “rehired and contribute to LGERS for five years or have a combination of five years of current membership service in CJRS, LRS, TSERS or LGERS”. Its cost sentence is dated: “For purchases made through the end of 2021, your cost, which must be paid in a lump sum, will be equal to the amount of contributions withdrawn plus interest at 6.5 percent compounded annually from the year of withdrawal to the year of repayment.” “In addition, you will pay a $25 administrative fee.” The handbook prints no cost rule for purchases after that date, so this page states none.
Other types the handbook lists
The handbook says “In addition to withdrawn service and military service purchases, you may be eligible to purchase credit for the following types of service:” the list includes “Out-of-State Service”, “Service with the Federal Government”, “Educational Leave”, “Omitted Service”, “Probationary or Waiting Period Service” and “Workers’ Compensation Leave”, among others. It also says “Any service that was forfeited due to a felony conviction cannot be repurchased.”
What the handbook does not say
The section prints no price for most purchases and sends the reader to the credit purchasing forms in its online member system. Whether a purchase is worth its cost is a separate question; see whether buying service credit is worth it and the pension buyback calculator.
Edition
The text on this page is written for members of the Local Governmental Employees’ Retirement System (LGERS). Teachers and state employees belong to a different system (TSERS) with its own provisions, and North Carolina law controls over this summary. The handbook page shows the note “This page was last modified on 12/03/2025”; this page was read as served on 2026-10-21.
Common mistakes
- Counting sick leave toward every benefit. The handbook says it “cannot be used to meet the minimum qualifications for a disability retirement benefit”.
- Missing the 365-day test. The last day of service must fall “within 365 days before your LGERS effective date of retirement”.
- Quoting the old purchase cost as current. The handbook’s interest-rate sentence is limited to purchases “made through the end of 2021”.
Related: North Carolina LGERS retirement decisions, whether buying service credit is worth it, and pension buyback calculator.
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- LGERS Handbook, Adding to your Creditable Service (North Carolina Retirement Systems): www.myncretirement.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS, Rollovers of retirement plan and IRA distributions: 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.