We offer a range of classes for County and Schools employees, for every stage of an employee's career - from new hire into retirement. Descriptions of the classes available are provided below, followed by a schedule of upcoming classes and instructions for signing up to attend them.
This class, part of the New Employee Orientation session that all new County employees attend, is scheduled by and coordinated with the County's Human Resources Department. It provides an overview of employees' retirement benefits.
For new County employees who wish to learn more about their retirement benefits than is covered in New Employee Orientation, this class digs deeper into benefit formulas, contributions, beneficiary options, and other topics relevant to employees at the start of their career with Fairfax County. This class is also for those at any point in their career who want a refresher about their defined benefit plan. New employees will receive an email after the NEO class, and anyone can email retirementcommunications@fairfaxcounty.gov.
This class is offered on Wednesday or Friday, opposite weeks of NEO.
This class allows for a deeper dive into the County's Defined Benefit Plan along with general information about retirement.
This class is open to all members of the Employees' Retirement System, including School employee members as well as members of the Uniformed and Police Officers Retirement Systems.
These classes are offered on the 1st Tuesday of every OTHER month from 10:00am - 11:30am. (February, April, June, August, October, and December).
Retiring with Security (RwS) is a class that provides an overview of your Defined Benefit pension plan AND an overview of the County's Deferred Compensation plan.
These RwS classes are offered on the 3rd Tuesday of every OTHER month from 9:00am - 11:30am (January, March, May, July, September, and November) and are 2.5 hours long.
The first half of the class is presented by a representative from the Retirement Systems and covers basic information about your pension with a very brief overview of the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP). This presentation explains how your pension works and discusses contribution amounts, benefit calculations, the Pre-Social Security benefit, survivor benefits, how to use the online benefit estimator, and more.
The second half of the class is presented by a representative from T. Rowe Price to give you information about the County's Deferred Compensation Plan (457) and help you understand how your Pension and Deferred Compensation can work together to provide you with financial security after you retire.
Planning for Retirement (PfR) provides information to help you understand how your County pension is calculated and how decisions you make with regard to years of service can affect your annual pension income. Once you understand how your retirement benefit is calculated, you will be able to calculate your own estimated benefit amount using variable salary information and years of service and make adjustments with regard to current or projected accumulated sick leave balances. Information will be provided to help employees understand the differences between Normal Retirement and DROP participation and things to consider when making your decision.
These sessions also provide information about County benefits that you may be able to keep when entering retirement (i.e., health, dental, and life insurance) and how length of service can increase your health benefit subsidy. These information sessions are not open to employees who are currently participating in DROP.
This class is generally offered on the last Thursday of each month.
Planning for Retirement (PfR) for Public Safety employees (PORS and URS) provides information to help you understand how your County pension is calculated and how decisions you make with regard to years of service can affect your annual pension income. Once you understand how your retirement benefit is calculated, you will be able to generate your own estimated benefits using variable salary information and years of service and make adjustments with regard to current or projected accumulated sick leave balances. Information will be provided to help Public Safety employees understand the differences between Normal Retirement and DROP participation and things to consider when making your decision.
This session will also provide information about the County benefits you may be able to keep when entering retirement (i.e., health, dental, and life insurance) and how length of service can increase your health benefit subsidy. A representative from T. Rowe Price will also be on hand to cover information related to Deferred Compensation and options related to DROP. This presentation is recommended for Public Safety employees who are within 5 years of Normal Service Retirement eligibility.
This class is offered quarterly on the second Thursday of March, June, September, and December.
This fast-paced workshop includes brief presentations by Retirement Systems staff, the County's Deferred Compensation representative, and a member of the County's HR Benefits staff. All DROP participants must exit DROP no more than three years after DROP entry. There are important decisions to be made about your DROP account balance, deferred compensation, and other County benefits after retirement. Attendees receive highlights of the most important details about exiting DROP and transitioning into Retirement.
Workshops are offered the 3rd Tuesday of every OTHER month, from 11:45am - 1:15pm, including half an hour after the presentation for questions. (January, March, May, July, September, and November.) Content will be most helpful for employees who plan to Exit DROP within the following 6 months and still provide the mandatory 60-days notice to exit the program. This workshop is not currently offered for School employees in DROP.
Learn how to use the benefit estimator tool which is accessible in your online retirement account. Follow step-by-step instructions to calculate your own estimated retirement benefit and review the results.
The enrollment for this class is limited to allow class participation and questions. The workshop is offered the 2nd Tuesday of every OTHER month from 10:00am - 11:30am. (February, April, June, August, October, and December).
This class allows for a deeper dive into the County's Defined Benefit Plan along with general information about retirement.
This class is open to ALL members of the Employees' Retirement System, including School employee members.
These classes are offered on the 1st Tuesday of every OTHER month from 10:00am - 11:30am. (February, April, June, August, October, and December).
To register, send an email to RetirementCommunications@fairfaxcounty.gov with your requested class date. Make sure to provide your full name and the last 4 digits of your Social Security Number. Do not provide your employee number.
This class is for School Employee members of FCERS:
This 2.5-hour class provides a comprehensive 80-minute Defined Benefit Retirement Plan overview followed by a 1-hour Benefits presentation with time for questions after. This class is offered approximately three times each year on Teacher Workdays in January/February, April, and June.
Register through MyPDE using your FCPS username and password. Search "Course Offerings" by using the key words "FCERS Retirement".
We offer special on-site classes for any County agency (or Schools department) that requests one. This class provides a 45-50-minute Defined Benefit Plan overview with time for questions after.
To arrange a class for your Department or Agency, please contact Amy Bain by email.
All classes must be approved by the department head of the requesting agency. We ask that you request a class at least 2 months prior to the requested class date.
Generally speaking, we rely on the requesting agency to provide all logistics for the class.
Find the class schedules and enroll in Employee U.
If you are a Schools employee, enroll according to the instructions listed under the specific class.