Nassau County Police Contract: Pay, Pension, and 2026 Expiry

The Nassau County police contract — the collective bargaining agreement between the county and the Police Benevolent Association covering officers at the rank of police officer — runs from January 1, 2018 through June 30, 2026. It sets the salary ladder, annual raises, shift differentials, health insurance contributions, pension participation, and disciplinary protections for thousands of officers.¹ The deal was not ratified until 2023, and retroactive pay adjustments were limited to service from January 1, 2021 forward. Officers received no back pay for 2018 through 2020, even though the contract technically covers those years.

Base Salary and the Nine-Step Ladder

Officers move through a nine-step pay schedule based on seniority, spending a full year at each step before advancing. Under the schedule effective July 1, 2025, the final one in the contract, base pay lands as follows:¹

Step 1 (academy/entry): $39,436
Step 2: $52,195
Step 3: $88,751
Step 4: $95,973
Step 5: $103,200
Step 6: $110,554
Step 7: $116,687
Step 8: $119,917
Step 9 (top pay): $141,108

The largest jump on the ladder is between Step 2 and Step 3, roughly $36,500, reflecting the move out of the probationary window. The Nassau County Police Department lists average compensation of $141,108 after 11 years of service, so when academy time and related factors are counted, reaching top pay takes about 11 years total rather than exactly nine.²

Annual Raises Across the Contract

The percentage raises applied on top of the step schedule were backloaded, with small early bumps and larger increases later:

2018 through 2021: 1% per year, effective each July 1
2022 and 2023: 2.5% per year
2024 and 2025: 3% per year

Every step of the salary ladder moves by the same percentage, so new officers and veterans get the same proportional adjustment.¹

Shift Differentials, Longevity, and Specialty Pay

Base salary is only part of the paycheck. Officers working evening and overnight tours receive shift differentials of up to 12%.² For a top-step officer, that adds meaningful income over a year. Department-wide, Nassau paid more than $29 million in shift differential pay in 2023.³

Longevity payments increase with tenure and are distributed as a separate category from base salary and step increases. The specific dollar amounts tied to each service milestone sit within the full collective bargaining agreement rather than the publicly available memorandum of understanding. Detectives and officers assigned to units such as K-9, tactical operations, and technical roles receive stipends the county’s open payroll system tracks under “Other Pay.”

How Overtime Works

Federal law treats police overtime differently from most jobs. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a law enforcement agency can use a work period of up to 28 consecutive days instead of the 40-hour workweek, with overtime kicking in only after an officer exceeds 171 hours in that 28-day cycle.⁴ Time-and-a-half applies above that threshold. Rotating schedules, court appearances, special details, and mandatory holdovers can push officers well over it. The contract sets the base hourly rate; federal law sets when the multiplier kicks in, and an officer cannot waive FLSA protections by agreement with the department.

Health Insurance During Employment and After

PBA members pay a mandatory employee contribution toward health insurance premiums, with the specific rate set in the collective bargaining agreement. Officers choose between individual and family coverage, and family plans carry substantially higher total premiums.

When an officer leaves the department — through resignation, termination, or a retirement that does not qualify for retiree health benefits — COBRA provides a temporary bridge. Former employees can continue their group coverage, but they pay up to 102% of the total premium, covering both the employee and employer shares.⁵ A family plan under COBRA can run above $2,000 per month.

Pension: Contributions and 20-Year Retirement

Nassau County police participate in New York’s Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS). Officers who joined between January 9, 2010 and March 31, 2012 are Tier 5. Those who joined on or after April 1, 2012 are Tier 6, which covers the vast majority of recent hires.⁶

Tier 6 Contribution Rates

Tier 6 members contribute a percentage of gross salary throughout their public service career. The rate scales with earnings:

$45,000 or less: 3%
$45,001 to $55,000: 3.5%
$55,001 to $75,000: 4.5%
$75,001 to $100,000: 5.75%
More than $100,000: 6%

For the first three years of membership, the rate uses the officer’s starting wage. After that it adjusts based on actual earnings from two years prior.⁷ A top-step officer earning $141,108 contributes 6%, or roughly $8,467 per year.

Retirement Eligibility

Officers enrolled in the Section 384-d retirement plan can retire after 20 years of creditable service regardless of age, receiving one-half of their final average salary.⁸ For an officer whose final average salary is around $141,000, that produces a pension of roughly $70,500 per year for life, typically with cost-of-living adjustments.

An officer who reaches age 62 without completing 20 years gets a reduced benefit: one-fortieth of final average salary per year of service, capped at the same 50% ceiling. Fifteen years of service at age 62 produces 37.5% of final average salary.

The Federal Tax Exclusion for Retired Officers

A retired public safety officer who separated due to disability or after reaching normal retirement age can exclude up to $3,000 per year from gross income when that amount goes directly from the pension to pay health insurance, accident insurance, or long-term care insurance premiums.⁹ The payment has to move directly from the retirement plan to the insurer; paying premiums out of pocket and then claiming the exclusion is not allowed. Where both spouses are retired public safety officers, the combined exclusion is $6,000. The exclusion is not automatic. The retiree has to make the election with the plan administrator.

Discipline and Protections During Investigations

The contract sets out a formal grievance process that runs through internal steps and can reach binding outside arbitration when the department and the union cannot resolve a dispute over how the contract is applied. Discipline ranges from written reprimands for minor infractions to loss of accrued leave or termination for serious misconduct.

Officers facing internal investigations have protections in the contract and under constitutional law. When an officer is compelled to answer questions during an internal affairs investigation under threat of termination, those statements cannot be used against the officer in a criminal prosecution. That rule comes from Garrity v. New Jersey, which held that forcing someone to choose between the job and the Fifth Amendment makes any resulting statement involuntary.¹⁰ Criminal charges are still possible, but only where the prosecution’s evidence is independent of the compelled statement. Garrity does not shield false statements. Lying during an internal investigation can be used in both administrative and criminal proceedings.

What Happens When the Contract Expires on June 30, 2026

Officers do not lose their pay rates or benefits on July 1, 2026. New York’s Taylor Law includes the Triborough Amendment, which requires the employer to continue every term of an expired agreement until a successor is negotiated.¹¹ Salaries, health benefits, shift differentials, and every other contractual term stay frozen at the expired contract’s levels. The protection has one exception, an illegal strike by the union during negotiations, but the Taylor Law prohibits public employee strikes entirely, so that scenario rarely arises.

The freeze cuts both ways. Officers get no new raises and no improved benefits until a successor agreement is ratified. The current contract took five years to finalize after its retroactive start date, so the gap between expiration and a new deal can be long.

1
SeeThroughNY. Nassau County Police Benevolent Association Memorandum of Understanding 2018-2026
2
Nassau County Police Department. Recruitment
3
Nassau County Comptroller. Office of the Nassau County Comptroller Open Payroll
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 29 Section 207 – Maximum Hours
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Continuation of Health Coverage (COBRA)
6
Office of the New York State Comptroller. What Tier Are You In
7
New York State and Local Retirement System. Retirement Benefit Summary Tier 6 PFRS
8
New York State Senate. New York Retirement and Social Security Law Section 384-D – Optional Twenty Year Retirement Plan
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 26 Section 402 – Taxability of Beneficiary of Employees Trust
10
Justia U.S. Supreme Court. Garrity v New Jersey, 385 US 493 (1967)
11
New York State Senate. New York Civil Service Law Section 209-A – Improper Employer Practices