[DAS_Centralized_PERS_Services_Team] Service Credit for Workers Comp

[TOBIASSON Shauna M * DAS]

Good morning,

Those of you who attended the April forum will hopefully recall the LWOP presentation where we explained Retirement Service Credit, what it is and how it's earned. The nuts and bolts of this discussion was that each employee who works in a qualifying position receives one service credit per month (12 per year), unless they have leave without pay equal to or exceeding 88 hours in the month. No service credit is given for months that meet/exceed 88 hours of LWOP.

There is a very important exception to this rule that you as agencies need to be aware of. Tier 1 & Tier 2 PERS members that incurred LWOP due to an approved workers comp claim may be eligible to receive retirement service credit for their LWOP period, if they returned to work.  This is a manual process where the employee or employer must request the service credit by completing the PERS Workers Compensation Certification<http://www.oregon.gov/pers/Documents/Form/679-Workers%27-Compensation-Certification.pdf> form and sending it directly to PERS<http://www.oregon.gov/pers/Pages/Contact-Us.aspx>.

I strongly encourage you to review your agencies internal practices to ensure this is part of the workers compensation leave process. This is something the employer can choose to initiate on the employee's behalf, or notify the employee upon returning to work that they have the option of making this request to PERS.

If you have any questions about this process, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Respectfully,

Shauna Tobiasson
Senior Retirement Services Analyst
DAS Centralized PERS Services Team
Phone: (503) 378-6372
FAX: (503) 378-4596
Website: http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/Financial/payroll/Pages/index.aspx

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SL2

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