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You received this email as a PERS employer reporting contact. This information contains small updates from the Work After Retirement article included in the December 2019 Employer Newsletter. PERS wants to make sure employer reporters have the full information they need. Please contact your PERS account representative if assistance is needed. Review your GovDelivery subscriptions here.
Senate Bill 1049 Reminder: Work After Retirement reporting requirements
Effective January 1, 2020, the Work After Retirement section of Senate Bill 1049 allows most retirees to work unlimited hours for a PERS-participating employer, in calendar years 2020-2024, while continuing to receive their retirement benefits.
Another new change from the bill requires employers to pay employer contributions on service retirees’ salary during that period. Adjustments to current processes, and changes to the PERS EDX reporting system, are necessary to be able to report and invoice for reported retiree wages after January 1, 2020.
Short-Term Plan
A new validation, effective Friday, December 20, 2019, has been added to the EDX system to suspend all service retirees with an 07 wage code, regardless of pay date. Suspending the 07 wage code will allow PERS staff and employers to track which retiree(s) are being reported. Please continue using the 07 wage code as you normally would through the EDX system. This plan will meet PERS’ short-term needs until long-term technology solutions can be implemented. Note: SB 1049 does not impact disability retirements; reported 07 wage codes for disability retirees will continue to post through the EDX system.
With employers’ approval, PERS staff will provide assistance to correct suspended reports as needed. PERS staff will also assist employers in updating suspended retiree records to a new wage code, once it is available. We will keep employers informed of progress through the Employer Newsletter and GovDelivery updates. Please contact your PERS account representative if assistance is needed.
Due to PERS’ timeline of making required technology changes for records to post for service retirees, invoicing employer contributions on retirees’ salary will be delayed. Employers can choose to push/credit money to PERS, creating a potential credit on their account, or set aside estimated employer contributions for retiree wages. We appreciate your flexibility with these extra steps while we work to align system functionality with the requirements of SB 1049. PERS is here to assist you through this process.
Long-Term Plan
PERS’ plan for employers to report hours worked for service retirees on or after January 1, 2020, will be to use two new wage codes. These codes will have set validations to only post with pay dates of January 1, 2020, and later. Employers will be able to continue to use the existing 07 wage code to report disability retirees, as well as any retroactive reporting of retiree hours and salary prior to January 1, 2020.
Reminder for your staff
If you have PERS retirees (or retiring members interested in returning to work) with questions about SB 1049 and Work After Retirement, please direct them to PERS’ SB 1049: Work After Retirement webpage for more information. It is important to note that PERS is not involved in the hiring decisions between retirees and employers. Whether a member is hired by a PERS-participating employer as a PERS retiree or not, and any other limitations the employer may have, is between the member and the employer. From a PERS perspective, the changes brought about by SB 1049 simply impact whether a PERS retiree can work unlimited (or limited) hours and still receive their pension benefit.
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