Pension Sense blog | January 12, 2021 | Thomas Lawrence

Happy New Year! We are excited to see you as we gradually and cautiously reopen our CalSTRS in-person offices. In-person visits are just one of the many ways we can help you plan for retirement.

CalSTRS—in-person, online and over the phone—has a variety of resources for educators that cover financial planning, beneficiaries, tax-withholding preferences and much more.

Here’s a roundup of our top member resources:

Contact Center

Our Contact Center team is ready to help you over the phone. Call 800-228-5453 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday (excluding holidays), with your client ID or Social Security number, mailing address and your date of birth, to verify your identity. You’ll be able to speak to an agent directly, get help regarding your retirement account data, learn about benefit planning services and get contact information for other resources.

Member service centers

Member service centers are open for select in-person assistance from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday (excluding holidays), at seven locations: Fresno, Glendale, Irvine, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Clara and our headquarters in West Sacramento. You can drop off forms, have forms reviewed for accuracy and completeness, and receive answers to questions that can be addressed within a few minutes. Subscribe to this blog for updates on more services as they become available.

Ombuds office

The CalSTRS Office of the Ombuds was established by the California Legislature to act as an advocate for our members by handling inquiries that can’t be addressed via our other customer-service channels.

The ombuds can:

• Provide information, answer questions and identify resources to address various issues.
• Research CalSTRS policies and laws that may assist you in resolving a problem.
• Address your concerns in a prompt and professional manner.

Send a message to the CalSTRS Ombuds online to get started.

Compliance and Ethics Hotline

The CalSTRS Compliance and Ethics Hotline is a safe, secure and confidential way to report unethical acts or pension abuse and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Any member of the public may make an anonymous report online or by phone.

When filing an online report or calling 844-896-9120 toll free, your inquiry will be reviewed within 12 hours. After five to six days, you can check on your report’s status online or by phone.

Social media

We’re on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube. Learn more about what we offer on each social media platform.