In order to retire from AT&T and receive these specific retiree benefits, you must meet the criteria of what’s called the “modified rule of 75.” It was originally just the “rule of 75” but then changed along the way some years ago, hence the addition of “modified.”
AT&T Rule of 75
Rule of 75 stated that you were eligible for retirement benefits when your AGE plus your YEARS OF SERVICE equals 75. Please note that only net credited service counts, so if you worked for the company for a total of 30 years, but you took a 12-month leave of absence, then your years of service is actually 29 as most leaves of absence “stop the clock” on pension accumulation.
The current Modified rule of 75 reads:
Age and service must equal 75, and you must be a minimum of 50 years old with one exception — you qualify for retiree benefits when you have 30 years of net credited service at any age.
Here’s how it maps out: You qualify if you are:
- 50 years old with 25 years of service
- 55 years old with 20 years of service
- 65 years old with 10 years of service
- or any age with 30 years of service
Net credited service, as it relates to pensions, is calculated down to the DAY so be sure you know your exact NCS date.
Exception to modified rule of 75
The only exception that might exist is if there is a special retirement package offered that adds age and/or service to your existing age and service to make more employees eligible for the Modified Rule of 75. An example of this might be a 5/5 offer – adds 5 years to both your age and service. So if you are 45 with 20 years of service, a 5+5 offer would make you (in the eyes of the retiree benefits) 50 years old with 25 years of of service and therefore eligible for the retiree medical and dental insurance and possibly supplemental life insurance if you had it already. There’s a whole situation with supplemental life insurance for some folks – MetLife was the carrier for the group plan AT&T has/d…. MetLife is getting out of that business, so some folks got a nasty-gram shortly after being laid off to announce they were losing their life insurance immediately. So as many still need life insurance, they had to scramble, in the middle of everything else, to get a new policy.
