Contacting PERA: Three Best Methods
 We love hearing from you! To ensure your questions and documents reach the right place, contact our employer experts using one of these three best methods.
1. Secure Message
Need to send us forms, documents, or messages that contain an employee’s personal information? Send us a secure message on our employer website.
To send a secure message,
- Visit mnpera.org/employers. No sign-in or password required.
- Click Contact from the right side of the top green banner.
- Choose a topic from the dropdown menu under “Send us a Message.”
- Fill in all required fields.
- Upload your form or document if applicable. Note: do not send Excel or Text file reports in a secure message; report files should only be submitted on ERIS.
- Click on the green Submit button beneath the message fields to send your message.
The Employer Services team securely receives your message and any included documents.
2. Email
Instead of emailing your favorite PERA contact directly, send messages to our shared inboxes. Shared inboxes are continuously monitored by our Employer Services team.
Send any new questions or requests to our Employer Services teams:
- Email Account Operations at Employer.Reps@mnpera.org for information about contribution and salary reporting, EFT, credit memos, and invoices.
- Email Eligibility at Eligibility@mnpera.org for information about eligibility, deductions in error and omitted deduction invoices, exclusion reports, and PERA/TRA transfers.
- Email Employer Support at ERISResponses@mnpera.org for information about ERIS, contact updates, demographic records, and enrollments.
If you have been emailing a PERA employee using their individual email address while you work together on a specific issue or case, continue to email them directly for that situation.
3. Call
Call Employer Services at 651-296-3636 (local) or 1-888-892-7372 (toll free).
Every phone option is directed to a specific team:
- Option 2: Account Operations
- Option 3: Eligibility
- Option 6: Employer Support
The Public Employees Defined Contribution Plan (DCP) has a new category for enrolling appointed or hired non-governing public officials: DCP Appointed Non-Gov.
All public officials were previously reported under one plan category: DCP Elected Officials.
The new reporting category does not impact Public Employees DCP participation or membership requirements for public officials. Contribution rates are the same for both plan categories.
The new reporting category ensures compliance with membership rules and requirements by separating two groups of participants in the Public Employees DCP for Public Officials, based on the individual’s position.
DCP Elected Officials
The DCP Elected Officials reporting category is for elected officials and individuals appointed to a board or commission. There are no salary restrictions. PERA does not monitor salary.
DCP Appointed Non-Gov
The DCP Appointed Non-Gov reporting category is for appointed, non-governing official positions. Employers must monitor earnings of individuals in this group. Members of the DCP Appointed Non-Gov group must participate in the Coordinated Plan if their monthly earnings exceed $425, and their DCP participation must end. PERA monitors earnings for this group to help identify individuals who have exceeded the threshold.
To be enrolled in the DCP Appointed Non-Gov reporting category, individuals must:
- Choose to participate in the Public Employees DCP.
- Be an appointed or hired public official.
- Have a non-governing position.
A public official is considered appointed or hired if:
- the position is not elected by the public at large,
- the individual is appointed within the governmental subdivision, and
- the appointment is not to fill a vacancy of an elected position.
Non-governing positions are not voting members of the governmental entity. Non-governing positions that may be appointed include:
- City or township clerks or treasurers
- County auditors, treasurers, or recorders
If an appointed, non-governing public official chose to participate in the Public Employees DCP, contact PERA to add this new plan category.
- In ERIS, the new plan name “DCP Appointed Non-Gov” will appear after PERA updates your account.
- For paper or ERIS manual SDR submissions, use plan ID DCPN.
- For uploaded SDR files, your system must include plan ID 27.
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Boards or other governmental entities who have separate Employer Identification Numbers (EINs) from their parent entity must set up their own employer number at PERA. Examples include a joint powers board or soil and water conservation district (SWCD).
If you are no longer separate entities and you wish to deactivate an EIN that isn’t used, contact the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). After the IRS has deactivated your EIN, contact PERA to close the employer number.
The full-time student exclusion for employees under the age of 23 requires proof of the employee’s full-time student status.
To use the full-time student exclusion,
- Employers must:
- Maintain proof of the employee’s full-time student status.
- Continue to monitor the employee’s student status.
- Enroll the employee if they do not provide proof of status and no other exclusions apply.
- Submit the employee’s proof of status to PERA when requested.
- Employees must provide proof of their full-time student status each semester by submitting one of the following documents to you:
No Proof
If an employee does not provide proof of full-time student status for any semester, the exclusion cannot be used during that time. If no other exclusions apply, the employee must be enrolled in PERA. If starting contributions was delayed while waiting for proof of status,
- Process an adjustment if the employee’s eligibility for PERA started within 60 days of the current payroll.
- Contact eligibility@mnpera.org to assist with the missing contributions if the employee’s eligibility for PERA started over 60 days from the current payroll.
Late Proof
If an employee provides proof of their full-time student status late,
- Process an adjustment if all ineligible contributions are within 60 days of the current payroll.
- Contact eligibility@mnpera.org to process the correction if ineligible contributions started over 60 days from the current payroll.
Student Status Changes
If an employee younger than 23 who currently contributes to PERA becomes a full-time student and provides proof of status, their contributions must be paused while they are a full-time student. Contact eligibility@mnpera.org to update the employee’s record to reflect the pause of contributions. When the employee turns 23 or is no longer a full-time student—whichever comes first—resume contributions on the first full payroll period the exclusion no longer applied.
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