The 2020 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for eligible retirees, beneficiaries and other payees with a retirement date of April 1, 2020 or earlier will be reflected in retirement benefit payments on April 30, 2020:

• Safety retirees and General Tier 1 retirees: 3.0%
• General Tier 2 and Tier 8 retirees (SEIU service): 2.0%

COLA increases under Board of Retirement Regulation are automatic under the terms of the Regulation and applicable labor agreement, and require no additional Board approval. 

The COLA awarded to Safety retirees and General Tier 1 retirees is based on the year-over-year change (as of December) in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim region. If the CPI change, after being rounded to the nearest half percent, is more than the 3.0% COLA maximum, the excess will be “banked” and applied to a COLA in a future year when the annual CPI change is less than 3.0%. The regional CPI change from December 2018 to December 2019 was 2.96%.

The COLA awarded to General Tier 2 and Tier 8 retirees previously represented by SEIU is a fixed 2.0%. This percentage is not subject to CPI changes and only applies to “SEIU service” rendered on or after March 16, 2003 (for retirements on or after March 13, 2005).

If you would like to learn more about VCERA’s annual COLAs, click here or contact VCERA.