Change Status
It is important to keep your information up to date with Seattle City Employees' Retirement System. Please note that active members should change their primary work phone number, home address, and personal email through Employee Self-Service (ESS). Other changes such as to their name, marital status, gender, or work email must be made through their department. Home phone number changes can be made on the Change Form or through the Member Self-Service (MSS) Portal.
Personal information entered on forms is subject to the Washington Public Records Act, and may be subject to disclosure to a third-party requestor. At the City of Seattle, we are committed to protecting your privacy and will ensure that any disclosures are done according to law. To learn more about how this information is managed, please see our Privacy Statement.
Forms may be submitted as follows:
| Document Name | Fax | Secure Message via MSS Portal | ||
| Beneficiary Designation Form | X | X | ||
| Change Form | X | X | X | |
| Disability Retirement Application Form | X | X | X | |
| Withdrawal of Contributions - Beneficiary Application | X | |||
| Withdrawal of Contributions - Member Application | X |
- Fax Change Forms to (206) 386-1506. Disability Retirement Application Forms should be faxed to (206) 470-6767.
- Mail to SCERS, 720 3rd Avenue, Suite 900, Seattle WA 98104 or come by our offices to drop them off. Our customer service window is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Please call the building security guard at (206) 276-5782 to be let in the building if the front doors are locked.
- Send the document via secure message on your Member Self-Service account
Please feel free to contact us at (206) 386-1293 if you have questions.
If you have a spouse or registered domestic partner, this person is automatically designated as your beneficiary in accordance with the Seattle Municipal Code. If you are not married, even if you are in a domestic partnership, you can designate and change your beneficiary at will. If you are married, your spouse will have to give signed consent, called "spousal waiver," for you to designate someone other than your spouse as your beneficiary.
If you wish to change your beneficiary, we need to receive your request in writing using the Change of Beneficiary form. You must name at least one primary beneficiary. Your form must be notarized.
Your annual statement and other Retirement System information will be mailed to the address SCERS's has on file. Current City of Seattle employees should make any address changes through Employee Self-Service. If you are a vested member, please use the Change form.
If you are a vested member, please file a Change form with Seattle City Employees' Retirement System to change your name or contact information. This will change the name or contact information (mailing address, phone number, and email address) where SCERS sends all retirement account information.
Active members (members who are currently employed with the City of Seattle) should initiate name changes through their department.
Your retirement benefits are considered marital property that must be taken into account when property is divided in a marital dissolution. Our document Questions and Answers About Qualified Domestic Relations Orders explains the rules and offers sample language for these orders. Feel free to contact a Seattle City Employees' Retirement System retirement specialist for additional help.
If you are a member who is no longer employable in any City position due to a totally disabling medical condition, you may be eligible for permanent disability retirement if you meet one of the following conditions:
- You are permanently and totally disabled due to an on-the-job injury, regardless of your length of service with the City, or
- You are permanently and totally disabled due to an illness or injury, and you have at least 10 years of service with the City over a period of no more than 15 years immediately preceding retirement
More information is available at Rules and Procedures for Disability Retirement and on the Application for Disability Retirement.
If you are leaving the City, but not retiring, please review Leaving Your Job With The City?. The publication provides useful information on whether or not you should withdraw your funds, time limits, common scenarios, service credit purchases, and other common questions.
If you are leaving City Employment and have at least five years of service credit, your contributions will automatically be left in the Retirement System unless you complete the Member Application for Withdrawal of Contributions.
Contribution accounts of members with less than five years of service credit stop receiving interest two years after the member has terminated employment with the City.
If you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness, you may have the option to withdraw your Retirement System contributions. Please contact us to review your options.
Withdrawing contributions has income tax implications. For more information, see the "IRS Special Tax Notice Regarding Plan Payments (IRS Safe Harbor Notice)".
Before your application for withdrawal can be processed, you must first be separated in the payroll system (i.e., received your last paycheck from your home department and any payouts) and submitted all required documents to SCERS.
To report the death of an active member, please contact us. We are here to help ensure that beneficiaries receive their benefits. We will need a copy of a death certificate in order to process any benefits.
If an active member dies before retirement, there are different ways that contributions to the retirement fund may be handled:
- A lump sum payment or installment payments of all employee contributions and interest made to either the member's beneficiary or estate.
- If at the time of death the member has ten years of retirement service credit, the member's spouse or domestic partner may elect to receive the lump sum or installment payment referenced above, or one of the following:
- A benefit equal to what the member would have received under the provisions of Retirement Option E, had the member retired on the day of death; or
- A cash payment, not to exceed 50 percent of total employee contributions and interest, along with the monthly retirement benefit described above that is proportionately reduced by the amount of the cash payment.
A retirement specialist can walk you through these options.