Most states have some kind of “pension forfeiture” laws on the books. If a police officer commits a crime in the course of performing their duties, for example, they may be at risk of losing their pension.
These laws usually are related to public employees that are either convicted of, or plead no contest to, a felony or unlawful killing.[1]
What States Allow for Police Pension Forfeiture?
Only 26 of the state laws cover law enforcement employees, such as police officers.[2] There are two states with limited forfeiture laws that might cover police, depending on how they’re interpreted, and 22 states without laws covering police.
What Crimes May Lead to Police Pension Forfeiture?
The details about what kind of crimes will lead to a pension being stripped from a police officer vary from state to state. Usually, the forfeiture law is limited to on-duty offenses; other times it is not. A few states allow for pension benefit reductions rather than taking the whole pension away.[3]
The process for determining whether a pension is forfeited isn’t always the same. Some states automatically strip pensions from individuals under these circumstances, while other states have judges order the pension taken away or require pension boards to hold proceedings to consider taking the right to a pension away.
For complete details, please review the relevant statutes in your state.
If you are interested in learning more about the benefits offered to public safety officers in your state, check out the Retirement Security Report.
Disclaimer: The data in this article and infographic were compiled based on Equable’s review of state retirement system provisions, academic literature, and data from National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA), with assistance from artificial intelligence tools. They are not intended as legal advice or formal legal analysis.
Notes
- Eleven states have pension forfeiture laws that do not apply to police officers, including: Delaware and Minnesota (laws only apply to surviving beneficiaries who commit an unlawful killing, not active members); Iowa (the criminal taking of property may result in transfer of contributions or benefits for employer reimbursement); Idaho (a felony conviction related to public employment results in forfeiture of 50% of benefits); Indiana (a service-related felony conviction results in denial of benefits, and contributions may be refunded); Maryland (forfeiture reaches only Legislative Pension Plan members and the six constitutional officers, not rank-and-file police); New Hampshire (a job-related felony conviction results in forfeiture of benefits earned after the offense date, and contributions are returned unless needed for restitution); New Mexico (a felony conviction related to official duties results in forfeiture of benefits accrued after the offense, and contributions are returned without interest); New York (a job-related felony conviction may result in court-ordered reduction or revocation of pensions); Oregon (a criminal conviction may result in garnishment of member accounts for court-ordered restitution); and Texas (a job-related felony conviction results in forfeiture of benefits, and contributions are refunded), though there is a separate plan within Texas ERS called LECOS, the law enforcement plan, which has its own funding policy and benefit design. Texas Government Code § 810.003 strictly applies to “Members of the Elected Class of the Employees Retirement System of Texas,” which while complicated because LECOS is managed by ERS is technically not LECOS. A police officer who becomes an elected official could have their ERS pension forfeited, but that’s not the research question being addressed here, as we are looking at instances where police, in their capacity as police, commit felonies.
- There are two states with laws that could be interpreted as covering police officers in addition to the 26 listed on the map above, including: Arkansas (the conviction of murdering a system member results in forfeiture of all benefit rights) and Montana (a criminal conviction may result in garnishment of benefits for court-ordered restitution).
- Select states (including Colorado, Indiana, South Carolina, and Wisconsin) have explicit legal language that pension benefits can be used for restitution, but that is not forfeiture. In these cases, we won’t consider a proactive statement that pension funds can be used for restitution to be a limited forfeiture law.
