Delaware
Overview
- State Employees' Pension Plan
- Special Pension Plan
- New State Police Pension Plan
- Judiciary Pension Plans (closed and revised)
- County & Municipal Police/Fireman's Pension Plan
- County & Municipal Employees' Pension Plan
- Volunteer Fireman's Pension Plan
- Diamond State Port Corporation Pension Plan
- Closed State Police Pension Plan
Plan Design
Defined benefit plans serve as the primary retirement benefit for substantially all public employees in Delaware.
According to the US Government Accountability Office, 92 percent of employees of state and local government in Delaware participate in Social Security.
Authorizing Statutes and Board Structure
29 DE Code § 5541 creates the State Employees' Pension Plan. 29 DE Code § 8308 establishes the Board of Pension Trustees, which is comprised of 7 members.
Details regarding the composition of these and other retirement boards is accessible via the Retirement and Investment Board Characteristics search tool located at the bottom of this page.
Fiduciary Duty/Prudence Standard
29 DE Code § 8308 describes the fiduciary responsibilities of the board:
The Board is subject to a standard of care in which the Board, its committees, and each of the committees’ members shall discharge their duties with respect to each plan listed under subsection (b) of this section solely in the interest of the participants and beneficiaries of such plans and for the exclusive purpose of providing plan benefits to participants and their beneficiaries, including defraying reasonable expenses of administering each plan, with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent person acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use to attain the purposes of such plan.
Legal Protections of Retirement Benefits
Courts recognize contractual rights for vested employees who have fulfilled retirement eligibility requirements. See In re State Employees' Pension Plan, Del. Supr., 364 A.2d 1228 (1976); State ex rei. State Bd. of Pension Trs. v. Dineen, 409 A.2d 1256, 1259 (Dei.Ch.1979)(holding contract rights vest upon completion of statutorily prescribed ten-year service requirement even though employee must wait until retirement age to collect). Article 15, §4 of the DE Const. also provides limited constitutional protection for elected/appointed public officers: No law shall extend the term of any public officer or diminish the salary or emoluments after his or her election or appointment." Source: Robert Klausner, Esq., State Constitutional Protections for Public Sector Retirement Benefits
See also the following search tools:
Retirement System Account Interest Policies | Economic Actuarial Assumptions | Retirement and Investment Board Characteristics |
Information about interest rates applied to account balances of inactive plan participants | Assumed rates of investment return and inflation | Composition and characteristics of public retirement and investment oversight boards |
Mortality Assumptions | Plan Design Features | Post-retirement Employment Policies |
Public retirement system actuarial assumptions for mortality | Numerous elements of retirement plan design | Policies governing return-to-work for retirement system annuitants |
More Data
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Population (2024) 1,051,917 |
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Delaware public pension statistics, |
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Assets |
$14.7 billion |
Active Members |
48,760 |
Annuitants |
38,755 |
Benefits Paid |
$962.5 million |
Employee Contributions |
$125.4 million |
Employer Contributions |
$433.0 million |
Systems |
One state system that accounts for 92 percent of assets and 94.5 percent of public pension plan participants in the state. The Census Bureau also reports 17 local systems. |
More Data
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Roll Call (members-only)