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In this issue

Reporting Wages After Last Day of Service • Closing for the Summer? Let Us Know •
2023 Member Annual Statements • Final Earnings Crediting Rates •
Top 5 Reasons to Take the PERS Employer Satisfaction Survey 

For employer reporters

Reporting wages after last day of service

When you report an employee’s last day of service on a Detail 1 termination record, that tells the PERS system that the employee will no longer be working hours past that date. If you report wages and hours for days past that date, PERS staff will contact you to see if you’ve made a mistake.

However, there are situations that may require you to report wages past an employee’s last day of service. For example:

• A General Service employee terminates employment. He then receives retroactive wages after his last day of service because of a clerical error.
• A School Employee teacher who normally works 10 months per academic year and is paid equally over 12 months terminates employment before the end of her contract. She then receives payout of her remaining contract wages.  
• A General Service employee resigns while on unpaid leave of absence. His employer pays his lump sum vacation payout after his termination date.

To understand how to report wages after an employee’s last day of service, read the new section “Reporting Wages/Hours After Last Day of Service” in employer reporting guide 15, Reporting a Termination or Death.

Tips for reporting wages with and without hours

For schools

Email ESC at the EDX support inbox.

For your employees

2023 member annual statements

Member annual statements will be hitting PERS member mailboxes in late May to mid-June.

About member annual statements

Every spring, PERS members receive a printed statement showing how much money they have in their PERS accounts. This includes their Individual Account Program (IAP) account plus other accounts if they are a Tier One, Tier Two, and/or Police and Fire member.

Because their pension is calculated at retirement, as explained in the April Employer News, there is no dollar amount for their pension. Instead, the statement shows some of the data that will be used to calculate their pension benefits. To estimate their future pension, members can use Online Member Services (unless they are divorced, which introduces unknown variables). Instructions are available in employer reporting guide 16, Reporting a Retirement, section “Creating an Estimate” on page 18.

The member annual statement also shows the member’s vested status. Learn about vesting in employer reporting guide 1, Overview of PERS, page 7.

Sample statements

To better understand each section of the statement, check out one of the interactive example statements on the PERS website.

Questions or concerns

If your employee does not receive a statement, make sure their address is correct in EDX. They can request copy of their annual statement by contacting Member Services in mid-June.

The information provided on each statement is based on the data reported to PERS by employers. If employees notice incorrect demographic information on their statement, like their name, address, or birthdate, they should point this out to their Human Resources or benefits department (whichever reports information to PERS).

If your employees have questions about their PERS accounts or retirement benefits, have them call or submit a question to PERS Member Services.

If your employees have questions about their statement, direct them to one of these frequently asked questions webpages:

For finance and payroll professionals

Final earnings crediting rates

The PERS Board approved the final earnings crediting rates at its April 1, 2024, meeting. As a reminder, earnings crediting is an annual process of adding the amount of interest earned (or deducting the amount lost) to the various reserves within the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund based on the accounts’ totals on December 31.

2023 earnings crediting rates

*There were not enough earnings to cover these payments, so the difference will be funded from the Tier One Rate Guarantee Reserve account.

For all employers

Top 5 reasons to take the PERS Employer Satisfaction Survey

Need a reason to take the annual employer satisfaction survey? How about five?

And the number 1 reason to take the survey —

If you've already taken the survey, thank you!

Need help?

Contact the Employer Service Center to ask questions and get one-on-one reporting help.