Contribution Amount

If you are covered under the ORPHE Plan 1, your employer contributes 10.4% each pay period to your plan account. If you are covered under the ORPHE Plan 2, your employer contributes 8.5% and you contribute 5% on a tax-deferred basis each pay period to your account.

Investment Options

The plan offers a variety of investment options - from pre-mixed target date portfolios to a menu of options across asset classes - to construct your investment portfolio. Additionally, the plan offers a Self-Directed Brokerage Account (SDBA) for an additional fee. Publicly traded mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and individual securities are offered through the SDBA. You must have $2,500 in the core investments before investing in the SDBA.

Find more information about the plan's investment options here or call the Plan Information Line toll-free at VRS-DC-PLAN1 (877-327-5261). If you have any questions about your brokerage account, please contact Charles Schwab at 1-888-393-7272, Monday through Friday, 8 am to 7:30 pm, excluding market holidays. Please consider the investment objectives, risks, fees and expenses carefully before investing.

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. and MissionSquare Retirement are not affiliated and are not responsible for the products and services provided by the other. Schwab Personal Choice Retirement Account® (PCRA) is offered through Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (Member SIPC), the registered broker/dealer, which also provides other brokerage and custody services to its customers.

Investment Option Changes

You can make changes to your account online or by calling toll-free 877-327-5261 to:

• Move all or a portion of your existing balances between investment options (subject to Plan rules)
• Change how your future contributions are invested

Account Withdrawal

Withdrawals from the ORPHE may only occur after you fulfill a bona fide break in service and are no longer employed in a position covered for retirement benefits though a plan administered or authorized by VRS. 

As required by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), VRS defines a bona fide break in service as a break of at least one full calendar month from the end of the month from your last day of employment. This break must occur over a period you normally would work. If you are on a nine-, 10- or 11-month contract, summer breaks do not count toward this break. Other periods of leave with or without pay, including sabbaticals and educational leave, as well as intersession periods also do not count toward satisfying the break in service. Withdrawals may not occur without a break in service between full time and adjunct positions.

When you leave employment, your account balance may be left in the plan, where you continue to manage your investments; rolled over or taken as a distribution.