1. Your Retirement Roadmap Starts Here, and There’s More Than One
Think of retiring like planning a major trip: the checklist is your itinerary, and you really don’t want to skip a stop. The Berkeley Lab Benefits site brings all the key retirement steps together in one employee-friendly checklist, so you’re not piecing things together from a dozen different sources.
2. Turning 65 and Retiring? Medicare Has Its Own Set of Rules
Retiring is already a big milestone, and if you’re 65 or older, Medicare adds another layer to the process. The good news is that UC released a new checklist this year to help Medicare-eligible employees work through the extra steps involved in updating their eligibility and healthcare enrollment. The most important thing to know: you need to enroll in Medicare at least one month before your retirement date. Missing that window can result in real financial penalties that follow you into retirement. If you’d rather talk it through with a real person, our Health Care Facilitator is there for exactly that.
3. Is Your Case Complicated? Here’s What That Means
UC’s Retirement Administration Service Center (RASC) uses the term “complicated case” in a specific way, and it’s worth knowing whether it applies to you. If any of the following describe your situation — retirement service credit in more than one pension tier, a pending service credit inquiry or purchase, divorce, re-retirement, reciprocal or concurrent retirement with CalPERS or CalSTRS, or a disability crossover into retirement — your retirement will require additional processing time. Starting early isn’t just a suggestion in these situations; it’s the difference between retiring on your timeline and waiting on paperwork.
4. Don’t Skip This Step: Tell the Lab You’re Retiring
Here’s something that surprises a lot of employees: UC does not automatically notify the Lab when you initiate your retirement. That means once you’ve started the process on UCRAYS, you also need to loop in your manager and/or your HR Division Partner (HRDP) directly. This isn’t just a formality; it’s essential for timely succession planning and making sure your transition goes smoothly on the Lab’s end. To kick off your retirement with UC, log in to UCRAYS or call RASC at 1-800-888-8267 (international: 1-510-987-0200), Monday–Friday, 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. PT.
5. A Cost-of-Living Increase Is Coming – Here’s What It Means for You
UC has announced a 2% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) that could affect you in one of two ways, depending on your retirement timing. If you are already retired as of July 1, 2025, you’ll see a 2% increase to your monthly pension payment beginning July 1, 2026. If you’re planning to retire on July 1, 2026 and you’re part of the 1976 tier, there’s an added incentive to separate from the Lab on or before June 29, 2026: doing so means the 2% increase will be applied to your Highest Average Plan Compensation (HAPC), which is the highest-paid 36 months of your UC/Lab career and a key factor in your overall retirement calculation. It’s a small percentage with a meaningful long-term impact, so it’s worth factoring into your retirement date planning.
