|
 A pale swallowtail butterfly on a large leaf aster in the Tillamook State Forest.
|
|
What’s going on
30-second summary
If you need to change employee information that affects a prior year, you might need to provide documentation with your request. Learn about the policy and new instructional guide. ❖ Here are nine tips to help you avoid the pitfalls of reporting for a working PERS retiree. ❖ Do you know that PERS has an additional savings plan that is free for any state or local-government employer to offer their employees? Learn more about the Oregon Savings Growth Plan. ❖ This month’s training webinar will simplify the complex topic of unused sick leave. Join ESC on March 18 at 9:00 Pacific.
|
|
Changing employee information for a
prior year
Certain changes now require supporting documentation
Sometimes, PERS employer reporters discover that information reported in the past was inaccurate, incomplete, or never submitted. If the change is for the current year, employers can make simple changes themselves* and request Employer Service Center help with more complicated changes.
Once a year has closed,** however, employer reporters can no longer make any changes. You must request all changes from ESC with a Demographic Correction Request (DCR).
If the change you are requesting has the potential to affect the employee’s future benefits (aka a high-impact change), you must supplement your request with documentation that shows the correct information and necessity of making the change.
This policy is explained in employer announcement #106, Requesting Retroactive Changes to Employment Data (2025).
New guide Changing Information for a Prior Year provides the following guidance:
- How to determine if your change request requires supporting documentation or not.
- Which requests require documentation be sent at the same time as the DCR and which require you to have it ready to provide later upon request.
- Types of documentation PERS will accept.
- Example scenarios.
- Questions and answers about potential issues.
|
Reporting help
PERS reporting can be challenging. Remember that the Employer Service Center is here to help you report the correct employee data in the right way and at the right time, the first time. Reach out whenever you need support — from training to self-learning resources to making changes to employee accounts.
|
|
|
Nine tips for employing working retirees
Quick-reference list
|
|
Employing a retired PERS member is mostly the same as employing an active PERS member. You report when you hire them, when you pay them, and when you terminate them. You report paid time off1 — like holiday pay, sick leave, vacation, or other types of paid leave — the same way you report regular hours and wages.
For those doing the PERS reporting for these employees, there are nine important differences. Remember that you must use a retiree status code and retiree wage code or your working retiree records will suspend.
|
When to hire back?
|
After final wage record and termination record have posted for the preretirement employment.
Working retirees who have been terminated from their previous job as part of their retirement may then be hired into the retiree job. Make sure to submit records chronologically.2
|
Correct status code?
|
Status code 11 - Retiree New Hire with Hour Limit.
It does not matter if your retired employee has an annual hour limit; this is usually the correct status code. Status codes 12 and 13 are for special circumstances explained in employer guide 8, Hiring a PERS Retiree.
|
Correct wage code?
|
Wage code 17 - Retiree Wage - ER Rate.
It does not matter if your retired employee is working part-time, full-time, or temporarily; 17 is correct.
|
Subject or non-subject salary field?
|
Subject salary.
Report wages as subject salary even though they are not earning benefits. The retiree status and wage codes tell EDX to charge employer contributions on the employee’s wages.3
|
IAP contributions?
|
No, do not report Individual Account Program (IAP) contributions.
Leave the EPPT (employer paid pre-tax), MPPT (member-paid pre-tax), and MPAT (member-paid after-tax) fields blank. Working retirees do not make IAP contributions.
|
Annual-hour limit?
|
It depends on whether retirement was bona fide4 or not.
A bona fide retirement = no annual-hour limit.
A non-bona fide retirement = strict annual-hour limit of 1,039.99 hours/ year for Tier One/Tier Two; 599.99 hours/year for OPSRP.
|
Report unpaid leaves?
|
No, do not report a working retiree as on a leave without pay status.
If a working retiree takes an unpaid leave from work and plans to return in fewer than three months, just inform ESC via a Demographic Correction Request (DCR).
|
Considerations for new retirees?
|
Records will suspend until retiree’s retirement processes and they achieve “retiree” status.
A new working retiree’s new-hire record and wage records will suspend and remain suspended until the retirement processes, which can take up to about three months. After that time, save the records again and they will post.
|
Report termination?
|
Yes, submit a termination record when the retiree is finished working.
When a retiree employee is finished working for you, either temporarily or permanently, submit their final wages and then a Detail 1 02 - Termination record. Report unused sick leave of 0 (it is a required field). For guidance on completing a termination record, see Detail 1 Fields guide, section “Reporting an Employee Termination or Death.”
|
| |
Footnotes
- If your employment agreement or contract grants the employee paid time off.
- You must submit records separately and in order:
a) Submit final wages.
b) Submit termination record.
c) Submit Detail 1 retiree new-hire record. Status date is their first day on the job. If retiree retired within the last three months, the record will suspend; so, there is no hurry to submit. Remember to call the ESC Call Center for a status check before hiring if you are not familiar with the employee’s work history.
- These contributions are applied to your employer pool liabilities. Employer pool is either State and Local Government Rate Pool (SLGRP) or School District Pool. If you are an independent employer, contributions are applied directly to your unfunded actuarial liability. Learn more about submitting wages in Correct Usage of Subject and Non-Subject Salary Fields.
-
Bona fide retirement: Retiring at or after normal retirement age or retiring early and taking a six-month break from working for any PERS-participating employers.
Non-bona fide retirement: Retiring early and returning to work for a PERS-participating employer before taking a six-month break from PERS-participating employers. See section “Current Rules and Restrictions for Working Retirees (2020–2034)” in guide 8, Hiring a PERS Retiree.
|
|
|
|
Do you know about the PERS 457(b) plan?
The Oregon Savings Growth Plan makes it easy to provide another retirement benefit at no cost to you
As an employer, you aim to offer valuable benefits that employees appreciate at an affordable cost to your organization. One great option is a 457(b) deferred-compensation savings plan.
PERS offers a 457(b) plan called the Oregon Savings Growth Plan (OSGP). It is a deferred-compensation savings plan that any state or local-government employer can join.
There is no cost to your organization to offer OSGP to your employees. The cost for your participants is lower than that of a private investment plan because costs are shared.
Currently, more than 1,000 state-agency and local-government employers throughout Oregon offer OSGP to their employees.
|
Benefits for employers
|
Benefits for employees
|
|
The OSGP employer outreach coordinator works directly with you and your staff to help you understand the plan and carry out your fiduciary role. OSGP:
-
Holds assets in trust for participants and their beneficiaries.
- Provides ongoing investment education for your employees.
- Works with the Oregon Investment Council (OIC) to select the best investment options.
- Undergoes quarterly reviews by the Deferred Compensation Advisory Committee.
- Provides guidance on compliance with IRS regulations.
|
After following an easy enrollment process, your employees benefit from:
- The convenience of saving for retirement through payroll deductions.
-
Control over their contributions: start, change, or stop at any time; choose between saving a percentage of salary or a dollar amount.
- Ability to roll over previous retirement accounts into OSGP to have all retirement accounts in one place, with one statement.
- A low-cost plan with a range of investment options to suit every investor.
- Opportunity to save pre-tax or Roth after-tax.
|
How employers can participate
Contact the OSGP employer outreach coordinator at jack.schafroth@pers.oregon.gov.
Latest news
OSGP January 2026 newsletter Grow What You Know. What’s new for 2026?
What is a 457(b) plan?
457(b) plans are only available to state and local public employers and non-profits. These plans are similar to 401(k) plans in that they are an extra, invested retirement account. They differ from a 401(k) in that they tend to be member funded (it is rare for employers to contribute), they have no early-withdrawal penalties, and they allow larger preretirement catch-up payments.
|
|
March webinar: Reporting Unused Sick Leave
Mark your calendar for the March 18 Employer Service Center (ESC) webinar at 9:00 a.m. Pacific.
This month’s webinar will simplify the complex process of calculating unused sick leave at termination. The presentation will cover:
- What the Unused Sick Leave Program is.
- Who unused sick leave affects.
- When to report it.
- Where to report it.
- How to calculate it.
- How to correct an error.
Then you will have an opportunity to ask questions. Watch your email for a News Bite announcement with a calendar invite.
Upcoming webinars
April 22
|
Office Hour
After a brief presentation with general reminders, the rest of the hour is dedicated to questions and answers.
|
May 20
|
Hiring a Retiree
Avoiding the pitfalls of reporting for a working PERS retiree. Learn how to report their hiring, wages, termination, paid leaves, and more.
|
|
|
Need help?
Contact the Employer Service Center to ask questions and get one-on-one reporting help.
|
|
|
|
|
