Membership in MercedCERA is effective upon appointment to an
eligible full time position with the County of Merced, Superior
Court of California (County of Merced) and the Merced Cemetery
District.
The Bylaws of the Board of Retirement exclude extra-help and
part-time employees from membership in MercedCERA.
Safety and General Members
There are two types of members in MercedCERA: Safety and General.
Safety members refer to employees involved in active law
enforcement. All other employees are considered general
members.
Legacy and PEPRA Members
Employees hired prior to January 1, 2013 are known as “Legacy”
members, and those hired on or after January 1, 2013 are known as
“PEPRA” members.
PEPRA refers to the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform
Act of 2013, which primarily affected “new members” hired on or
after January 1, 2013, not Legacy members. PEPRA’s areas of
greatest impact concerned benefit tiers, final average
compensation period, “pensionable compensation,” salary cap
and retirement contributions.
