[DAS_Centralized_PERS_Services_Team] UPDATE: Change to Calculating the Contribution Start Date for OPSRP Employees

[KROPF Jannel M * DAS]

We have added some clarification to this announcement.  Please see the yellow highlighted sentences below.



Change to Calculating the Contribution Start Date for OPSRP Employees

This change goes into effect immediately!

On August 28, 2003, the Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan (OPSRP) became part of Oregon State law and was effective for employees hired into a PERS covered position on or after 8/29/2003.    Since August 2003, the State of Oregon has set the retirement start date for new employees (first time OPSRP members) consistent with PERS Tier 1/Tier 2 employee's retirement start dates in the payroll system.  A recent review of the statute on when contributions are due after establishing membership revealed the difference between PERS Tier 1/Tier 2 and OPSRP members. PERS' interpretation will affect how the state sets up retirement start dates for OPSRP employees in the payroll system.


*         OPSRP members (ORS 238A.100(1))
...becomes a member of the pension program on the first day of the month after the employee completes six full calendar months of employment.

Previous Practice:
The state did not pay contributions on any wages earned during an employee's waiting period.  If an employee started working on 01/01/2014, their contribution start date would be 7/1/2014 (6 full months).  However, because any wages earned through 6/30/2014 would be in their waiting period, contributions would not start until 8/1/2014 (pay period end 7/31/2014).

The Change:
For new OPSRP members looking at the same scenario as above, contributions will actually start on 7/1/2014 (pay period end 6/30/2014), a month earlier than our past practice.  The guidance from PERS states that employee contributions are based on a member's salary and are due when the salary is paid.

In a month like May 2014, the pay period end date was 5/31/2014, but the pay date was 5/30/2014, not 6/1/2014 (because the 1st fell on the weekend).  No contributions would be paid on this pay date.  May 30, 2014 is before the contribution start date of 6/1/2014.  Because we have a monthly payroll cycle with run 2 being a corrective run, no contributions are due on run 2 wages paid in June 2014.  Each month needs to be taken into consideration when determining the contribution start date, what wages will be subject and will always be determined by run 1 pay date.

New Guide:
Please stop using the "PERS Contribution Start Date Worksheet" for OPSRP members immediately.  We have created a new guide available on our web site called the "PERS Contribution Start Date Guide for OPSRP Employees".   This guide will be updated annually due to the inconsistency of pay dates.  Here is the direct link to the guides:  http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/EGS/FBS/CPERS/Pages/dates.aspx

How to use the "PERS Contribution Start Date Guide for OPSRP Employees":
This guide walks you through the process of selecting the correct date to use to start contributions.  Start with the "Hire Date" column and go across the row.

*         Hire Date:
Take the new employee's hire date and find where it falls within the date range under this column

*         Contribution Start Date (CSD):
This column gives you the contribution start date for this hire date

*         Pay Date Closest to CSD:
This is the pay date that falls closest to the CSD.

*         OSPS Effective PPE to start contributions:
This is the date you will enter on the P010 retirement start date field in the payroll system to start retirement contributions.

In addition to new employee setups, please correct any employees who have not reached their contribution start date yet.  These would be new employees with a hire date of January 3, 2014 to present.  Please do not make corrections to any other OPSRP employees until you have heard from us.  Expect a future communication with guidance from us next week.

If you have questions concerning this change or how to use the PERS Contributions Start Date Guide for OPSRP Employees, please contact your DAS Centralized PERS Services Team analyst.  http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/EGS/FBS/CPERS/Pages/index.aspx


Thank you,
Centralized PERS Services Team



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