DEFINITIONS


ACTIVE MEMBER
Currently employed; not retired or terminated

BENEFICIARY
Person(s) named to receive lump sum and/or monthly payments (if eligible) upon a member's death. A vested member's surviving spouse or minor children have superior rights over any other named beneficiary. If no beneficiary is named or the beneficiary is no longer living, the beneficiary will be:

- Member's surviving legal spouse 

- If there is no surviving spouse, member's unmarried minor children 

- If there are no surviving spouse or qualifying children, member's estate

Beneficiary designations are subject to modification by court order.

BENEFIT AMOUNT
The amount of the monthly retirement benefit is determined by a formula based on a member's age, total years of service credit and final compensation. The StanCERA Member Handbook provides a summary of the plan and information on benefit calculations.

CONTRIBUTIONS

EMPLOYEE - Money deducted from member's biweekly pay and credited to his/her retirement account.

EMPLOYER  - Contributions made by your employer on behalf of StanCERA members, in total, to finance StanCERA benefits.

DEFERRED MEMBER
A member, who leaves employment with five or more years of StanCERA/reciprocal retirement service credit, leaves employee contributions (if any) on deposit with StanCERA and defers retirement to the date first eligible to retire or a later date.

DEFINED BENEFIT PLAN
The StanCERA retirement plan is an IRC 401(a) Internal Revenue code (IRC) defined benefit pension plan and is not subject to the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

FINAL COMPENSATION
A monthly amount based on the average compensation earnable during any one year elected by a member

JOINDER
The process of including StanCERA as a party to the dissolution action. A joinder authorizes StanCERA to implement a court order dividing StanCERA retirement benefits and must comply with the applicable procedures of the California Family Code and California Rules of the Court.

MEMBER
An active, deferred, inactive non-vested or retired StanCERA participant.

NONMEMBER
A member's spouse, former spouse, child or other dependent (as ordered by the court) that petitioned the court for the division of community property and was awarded an interest in the member's retirement benefit.

RETIRED MEMBER
A member who has met the eligibility requirements for a service or disability retirement and is receiving a monthly retirement benefit.

SUBPOENA DUCES TECUM
A legal document that commands a witness to produce documents.

VESTED
Completion of sufficient (usually five) years of StanCERA/reciprocal retirement service credit to be eligible to receive a monthly retirement allowance at some legal minimum age with a minimum length of participation as a member of StanCERA.


For additional definitions, refer to the StanCERA Member Handbook.