Membership Eligibility Requirements
Employees qualify for membership in a firefighter retirement system if their employment normally requires an average of 2,080 hours of regularly scheduled employment per year in a regularly constituted fire department, meaning they report to a full-time fire chief or emergency services coordinator.Employees must be trained in firefighter techniques and be assigned to a position of hazardous duty, or, effective July 1, 2023, they must be full-time certified or licensed emergency medical services personnel*
*The employer must make an irrevocable election to cover their emergency medical services personnel in the firefighter systems prior to beginning coverage. Additionally, the employer must provide URS with a resolution adopted by the governing body of the employer, job descriptions of the new positions to be covered with sufficient details to determine qualifications (e.g., job title, full-time or part-time employment status, license requirements, daily job duties), and an updated Declaration of Reqularly-Scheduled Work Period (EMWP-1) document establishing the base hours for the new positions to be covered in the firefighter systems. URS will review the documents and will provide an approval to proceed with coverage, or will provide outstanding requirements needed before coverage may be provided.
Employers must complete the online certification and select their participating firefighter retirement system.
If employees have not been trained in firefighter techniques or they are not assigned to a position of hazardous duty, based on employer participation, or they are not qualified emergency medical services personnel, they must instead be certified eligible in either the Tier 1 or Tier 2 Public Employees Retirement System, as long as eligibility requirements are met.
Volunteer firefighters don’t contribute to the System and are not eligible for service retirement benefits. However, they or their beneficiaries are eligible for benefits provided for firefighters in Division A (members with on-the-job social security coverage) if they are disabled or killed in the line of duty and they meet the following requirements:
» They have been trained in firefighter techniques and skills; and
» They received continuing regular firefighter training; and
» They are on the rolls of a legally organized volunteer fire department that provides ongoing training and serves a political subdivision of the state.
Volunteer firefighter benefits are based upon the lowest monthly salary of firefighters in a first-class city in this state.
Note: Each volunteer fire department must maintain a current roll of all volunteer firefighters who meet the above-listed requirements.
Employers already participating with URS may add a firefighters retirement system at a later date. Contact our office at 801-366-7302 to request an abbreviated application. A copy of the governing body’s resolution is required as part of the application, which is then presented to our board of directors for final approval.
Additionally, employees hired within firefighter organizations who do not meet the requirements for eligibility in a firefighter retirement system, must be certified in the Public Employees Retirement System, assuming minimum requirements are met for that system.