[DAS_Centralized_PERS_Services_Team] OPSRP & Workers Comp Claims- Change in Statute

[TOBIASSON Shauna M * DAS]

Good afternoon,

The purpose of this email is to notify you of a change in statute for OPSRP members.

You may recall recent discussions around reporting leave without pay to PERS. Those of you who attended the April Payroll Forum recall the presentation where we explained Retirement Service Credit and how it can be impacted by LWOP, as well as introduced a new procedure for reporting LWOP to PERS.

Part of this discussion proved to be a very hot topic! I'm talking about Workers Comp. If you recall, Tier 1 & Tier 2 PERS members who've had LWOP due to an approved workers comp claim  may be eligible to receive retirement service credit for their LWOP period.  At the time of the presentation, this rule only applied to Tier 1 & Tier 2 PERS members, not OPSRP.

In the last legislative session, statute was amended to include OPSRP members. OPSRP members are now eligible to receive service credit for eligible workers comp periods ending on or after August 2, 2017.

The process for receiving service credit remains the same. 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 anything contained in this message, please don't hesitate to contact the Centralized PERS Services Team at  Central.PERSServicesTeam at oregon.gov<mailto:Central.PERSServicesTeam at oregon.gov>.

Thank you for all the great work you do!

Sincerely,
Shauna Tobiasson
Senior Retirement Services Analyst
Centralized PERS Services Team
DAS Enterprise Goods and Services
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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