MOSERS sometimes discovers or is notified of an employee who is working in a benefit-eligible position but not enrolled in MOSERS benefits and needs to have service added. This is typically the result of the employee not being enrolled into the Statewide Employee Benefit Enrollment System (SEBES) at the time of hire or being misclassified as non-benefit eligible when they were entered into SEBES.

As a reminder, all newly-hired benefit-eligible employees (or former employees who have missed at least 30 calendar days of payroll) must be keyed into SEBES on their date of hire, or as soon as possible thereafter. 

To add the service, the human resource personnel of the department or agency that employed the member for the dates in question should complete and submit the Application to Correct Service form to MOSERS. This form can be accessed and submitted online through the MOSERS secure Employer Login. Before the service can be added, the department or agency must agree to pay MOSERS any necessary contributions for the period of service. Likewise, members of MSEP 2011 must contribute employee retirement contributions for the period of service. When this occurs, it is the responsibility of the employing agency or department to notify the employee and collect the necessary employee contributions. 

True or False: Members in the MSEP 2011 can purchase prior military service

FALSE

Members of the MSEP 2011 may get automatic credit if they were employed by the state immediately prior to entering active duty military service and return to state employment within the timeframe specified by USERRA. However, purchase of prior active-duty military service credit is NOT available to members of MSEP 2011. You can view our  Purchasing and Transferring Service Guide for MSEP 2011 Members for more information.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have received questions from members about the possibility of state employee layoffs and furloughs and how it could affect their benefits. 

We encourage you to remind your employees that the impact of a salary reduction or furlough/layoff without pay on retirement benefits depends on the employee’s individual pay history and their service credit relative to retirement eligibility.

FAP refers to final average pay and it is one part of the 3-part formula used in calculating retirement benefits:

FAP x Multiplier x Credited Service = Monthly pension benefit payment. 

FAP is calculated from the employee’s highest 36-consecutive months of pay, not necessarily their last 36 months of pay. See some FAP calculation examples that illustrate the impact of a salary reduction or a furlough/layoff without pay on FAP and monthly pension benefits. A furlough/layoff without pay may also delay eligibility for retirement since the employee would not be earning service credit.

Departments and benefit providers may use different terms. However, for MOSERS' purposes, a "layoff" occurs when a department lays off an employee by reason of a shortage of work or funds, the abolition of the position, or other material change in the duties or the organization, or for other related reasons, which are outside the employee's control.

• This definition is intended to include any instance where the employer eliminates a position due to the above reasons, regardless of the term (i.e. layoff, furlough, reduction in workforce, etc., which are all considered a leave of absence).
• Employers should submit a leave of absence form to MOSERS indicating layoff status.
• An employee does not earn service or salary credit during a layoff period. However, an employee in their BackDROP period can continue to work toward BackDROP eligibility while on an approved leave of absence.
• After twelve months on layoff status, the employee is automatically terminated and MOSERS group life and long-term disability insurance coverage ends.

 As always, please encourage employees to contact a MOSERS benefit counselor to discuss their individual situation and options and to see our PDF on the Impact of a Layoff on Your MOSERS Benefit for more information.