The next Employer Training Webinar will be for UNIVERSITY HR representatives only. If you are a University HR representative, keep an eye out for your email invite with the link to register. Topics will include CURP vs. MOSERS eligibility, transferring employees from CURP to MOSERS, employees working in multiple positions, termination and reemployment rules, and retirement eligible pay. MO Deferred Comp will be providing a brief overview of the plan, highlighting ongoing issues within EZ Link, and discussing upcoming plan changes. 

Employees approved for domestic or sexual violence leave will receive service and salary credit towards retirement for such leave up to the two-week maximum.

We have added a new leave category for domestic or sexual violence to MOSERS’ Leave of Absence/Back to Work form.

If an employee will not receive pay or is receiving partial or intermittent pay due to an approved domestic or sexual violence leave, please submit a Leave of Absence/Back to Work form via the Employer Login to ensure the employee receives the proper credit towards retirement.

Please share the following with your employees: It has recently come to our attention that some employees have received emails from financial planning companies implying they are partnered with MOSERS. The content of the emails suggests that members must pay for a meeting with a retirement counselor and that they can learn how to increase their retirement savings. This is inaccurate. MOSERS has not authorized any outside financial planners to advise our members on their MOSERS benefits. 

As a reminder, the services offered through MOSERS and MO Deferred Comp are provided to MOSERS members at no cost. In regard to increasing their retirement savings, MOSERS members have the ability to meet with MO Deferred Comp financial education professionals to help make savings decisions as they prepare for retirement.

We advise all MOSERS members to stay vigilant and double check the email address in messages before clicking on any links.

2022 Education Schedule – Coming Soon!

We are currently in the process of finalizing our 2022 education schedule and anticipate having registration for Ready to Retire sessions open by mid-December. The schedule includes both in-person seminars and online webinars.

Does your agency have a periodic internal newsletter? We are always looking for new ways to get benefit information to our members. If your agency has a newsletter we would be happy to provide information regarding MOSERS benefits. Please answer a few questions in our survey to participate.

If you haven’t had a chance yet to view the 2021 BU Recap, or to watch the recordings from each track, including downloading any session handouts, you still have time! These resources will be available on the Benefits U Conference page until the end of this year. 

The most convenient way to apply for retirement is online. Employees can complete both steps in the two-step retirement process all at once or leave and come back later to finish. Visit our Ready to Retire page for more information about the retirement process. These resources will help you make informed decisions during the retirement process:

• Retire Online Video – A handy video on the process of retiring online
• Retirement Guide – Why and how to complete various forms
• Smart Start Checklist – A list of information you should have readily available when you apply for retirement
• Destination Retirement Checklist – Checklist of other benefit providers to contact and tasks to complete
• Benefit Providers Chart – Verify which organization provides your retirement, employee assistance, and life, long-term disability, medical, dental and vision insurance.

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, we would like to sincerely thank all HR representatives for your hard work and dedication. As a liaison between MOSERS and our members, we sincerely appreciate your diligence and efforts to educate your staff on the benefits we offer. You make a difference in people’s lives every single day. Thank you and Happy Holidays!

Long-Term Disability Handbook – November 2021

Retirement Guide – November 2021

MOSERS Organization Chart – November 2021

Smart Start Checklist – November 2021

Judges’ Retirement Handbook – October 2021

Benefits Provider Table – September 2021

For more information please visit MOSERS' Online Library: https://www.mosers.org/library

Benefits U Conference Recap

Annual Term Life Insurance Review

CURP Transfers

Termination and Reemployment Rules

Transferring Sick Leave 

Thank you again for attending the 2021 Benefits U Conference! We certainly appreciate all of your feedback and invite you to enjoy the 2021 BU Recap! We have also reviewed and edited the recordings for each track and removed the introduction, breaks, and wrap-up sessions to allow direct access to the session content. All four tracks are on the BU Online page. This is a private channel accessible only via this link. If prompted, you may register to watch the recording by entering your name and email address. Each recording provides a timing breakdown and you may easily move through the recordings by using the progress bar at the bottom once you hit play. Recordings are also available on the BU Webpage.  

Phoenix

If you attended BU, you received a sneak peek of Phoenix! Phoenix is the new pension administration system, which you will be using to interact with MOSERS starting in the next 12 to 18 months. 

For those of you who attended BU, if you felt overwhelmed with all the information regarding Phoenix, don’t worry! If you did NOT attend Benefits U, don’t worry!

Thorough training and ongoing support are in the future and will be provided closer to our go-live date. Attendees saw how efficient and automated Phoenix will be as it interacts behind the scenes with SAM II and non-SAM II payroll files. This level of automation will improve the accuracy of our member data, which ultimately increases customer service.

If you would like more information regarding Phoenix, you can read past HR Update articles about Phoenix here. 

We cannot do what we do without YOU! Thank you for all of the work you put in to help us serve our members.

Please share with your employees!

Before receiving a benefit payment from MOSERS, IRS rules require a “bona fide termination” of a member’s employment. For purposes of MOSERS Board Rules, a "bona fide termination" occurs when:

• They have completely severed employment;
• They have not entered into a prearranged agreement (written or oral), prior to retirement, with the State of Missouri or any MOSERS-covered employer for subsequent employment on any basis (full-time, part-time, or other); and
• They are not subsequently employed with the State of Missouri or any MOSERS-covered employer on any basis (full-time, part-time, or other) within 30 days after their employment with their prior employer has ended.

For more information please see our  FAQs on Termination and Reemployment Rules and our Termination and Reemployment Rules flyer

Please note that if they do not have a bona fide separation of service, their retirement will be null and void, meaning they will not receive their pension payments.

Sick leave hours accrued by an employee at a MOSERS covered college or university may be transferred to a state agency or vice versa.

To verify a member’s transferred sick leave from a state agency to a MOSERS covered college or university position, you will need to do the following:

• The HR representative from the college or university will need to contact the SAM II HR representative from the employee’s previous state agency employer.
• For agencies that do not report sick leave in SAM II, unused sick leave should be reported in hours only (not days). If the employee has no sick leave, please enter “0.” Do not leave blank.

For retirement purposes, employees may receive service credit for unused sick leave as reported by the last employer only.

Termination and Reemployment Rules flyer – September 2021

Benefits Provider Table – September 2021

Leave of Absence Impact on Your MOSERS Benefits flyer – September 2021

MOSERS Organization Chart – September 2021

Division of Benefits Order – Request for Estimate Form – August 2021

Life Services Toolkit Flyer – August 2021

Total Compensation Calculator – July 2021

For more information please visit MOSERS' Online Library: https://www.mosers.org/library

30-Day Separation of Service Reminder 

Annual Term Life Insurance Review

Benefits U Conference

Phoenix Update

HR Update: New Tags Feature

Before receiving a benefit payment from MOSERS, IRS rules require a “bona fide termination” of a member’s employment. For purposes of MOSERS Board Rules, a "bona fide termination" occurs when:

• They have completely severed employment;
• They have not entered into a prearranged agreement (written or oral), prior to retirement, with the State of Missouri or any MOSERS-covered employer for subsequent employment on any basis (full-time, part-time, or other); and
• They are not subsequently employed with the State of Missouri or any MOSERS-covered employer on any basis (full-time, part-time, or other) within 30 days after their employment with their prior employer has ended.

For more information please see our FAQs on Separation of Service.

Please note that if they do not have a bona fide separation of service, their retirement will be null and void, meaning they will not receive their pension payments.

It’s that time of year again! The month of October is your employees’ window of opportunity to increase their optional life insurance coverage without proving insurability. Eligible employees can increase their coverage (in increments of $10,000) by up to $20,000 without proving insurability provided the coverage amount does not exceed 6 times their annual salary or $800,000.  Please note this review period does not apply to spouse and child(ren) coverage (see FAQs). If your employees wish to maintain their current level of coverage, no action is required.

Updating Their Beneficiaries

Included on your employees’ Annual Benefit Statement is their primary life insurance beneficiary designation. If their beneficiaries have had a life change that may affect this information, such as a marriage, divorce, or death, please encourage them to update their beneficiary designations as soon as possible. For your employees’ convenience, they may quickly and easily update their beneficiary designations online by following these steps:

• Log in to myMOSERS
• Click on Forms then Life Insurance Beneficiaries in the top menu.
• Follow the instructions for completing and submitting the online form.

The new designation form will become effective upon receipt at MOSERS.

Remind Employees to Check Their Email

In late September, MOSERS sends instructions via email to eligible members explaining how to increase coverage. They may view their notification in their Document Express folder. Please encourage them to read it carefully. If there is no valid email address on file for them, MOSERS will send a letter to them in the mail.

Note: All MOSERS members have access to Document Express. They may use ESS and go to MOSERS. Or log in to myMOSERS and follow the prompts. To create their MOSERS Online ID & password they must have a valid email address on file with MOSERS. If they cannot enroll online, please have them contact a benefit counselor at (800) 827-1063 for assistance.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the Annual Term Life Insurance Review, your employees must:

• Be actively employed in a MOSERS benefit-eligible position.
• Be currently insured with less than the maximum amount of optional life insurance coverage (the lesser of six times their annual salary or $800,000).

Online Election Method

If your employee wishes to increase their optional life insurance coverage amount, have them go to their MOSERS Member Homepage through ESS or log in to myMOSERS between October 1 and October 31, 2021 (midnight). On their MOSERS Member Homepage, they will need to simply click on the Learn More button and follow the steps to increase their coverage.

Confirmation of Their Election

If they increase their coverage, their confirmation letter will be posted to their Document Express, which they can access by logging in to myMOSERS. They will receive an email notification alerting them when it is posted and ready to be viewed; they may then save it to their computer, or print it. If they opted out of electronic delivery, they will receive a confirmation letter in the mail reflecting any changes to their coverage.

Important Details

• To aid in their decision, they will be provided with their current 2021 coverage amount and monthly premiums, as well as what their new 2022 premiums will be if they opt for the increase.
• Any new elections in October will go into effect on January 1, 2022, as long as they meet the “Actively-at-Work” requirement. More information is available in the Life Insurance Handbook.
• Term life insurance proceeds are paid to their beneficiary(ies) when they die. It has no cash or loan value.
• They can use the Optional Life Insurance Calculator to determine the premiums for themselves.

MOSERS’ life insurance is not available to employees of the Department of Conservation or state regional universities (except State Technical College of Missouri & Lincoln University), because those employers provide their own life insurance benefits.

Optional Term Life Insurance FAQs

Q: Can they decrease or terminate their optional life insurance coverage?

A: Yes. They must complete an Enrollment/Change - Optional Life Insurance form and submit it to MOSERS. The form can be completed and submitted electronically by logging in to myMOSERS. This can be done at any time throughout the year. Remember, to be eligible for future annual review periods, they must maintain at least $10,000 of optional life insurance coverage.

Q: Can they continue their optional life insurance into retirement?

A: Yes. If they retire within 60 days of leaving state employment, the state will continue to provide $5,000 in basic life insurance coverage at no cost to them. They may retain up to $60,000 in optional life insurance, provided they had at least that amount while actively employed. They may retain all their coverage until age 62 if they retire under the “Rule of 80" in MSEP 2000 or under the “Rule of 90” in MSEP 2011. At age 62, the coverage amount will automatically reduce to $60,000. They may reduce or terminate their optional life coverage amount after they retire, but they may not increase it.

Q: Can they purchase (or increase) coverage for their spouse or dependent child during the annual review?

A: They may increase coverage on a spouse at any time, but will need to prove insurability. To do so, they must complete and submit the following forms by logging in to  myMOSERS:

• Standard Medical History Statement
• Enrollment/Change - Optional Life Insurance

Dependent changes for eligible children can be requested at any time without proof of insurability, not just during October. The coverage amount will remain $10,000 per child with a premium of $2 per month, regardless of the number of insured children. For coverage purposes only, a child is defined as the member's child from live birth to age 26. This includes dependent stepchildren and grandchildren, adopted children, and children for whom the member is the court-appointed legal guardian provided they are living with the member. Full-time members of the armed forces of any country, regardless of age, are not included in the definition of an eligible child.

Disabled children older than age 26, who are continuously incapable of self-sustaining employment because of developmental, intellectual, or physical handicap and are dependent on the member for support, are also eligible for dependent coverage. However, the member must provide proof that their child is handicapped and be approved by Standard Insurance Company for continued coverage. (They may request a Continued Dependent Life Insurance for a Disabled Child form from a MOSERS benefit counselor.)

Q: Can they enroll in the Optional Life Insurance Plan if they are currently not enrolled?

A: If they have a family status change (includes marriage, divorce or legal separation; birth of a child; adoption of a child; or death of a spouse or child), they may be eligible to apply for up to $30,000 of optional life insurance coverage, in $10,000 increments, for themselves without proving insurability. Those previously denied coverage or already carrying the maximum coverage are not eligible. They must complete an Enrollment/Change - Optional Life Insurance form within 31 days of the event and submit proof of family status change. Otherwise, to enroll in the Optional Life Insurance Plan, they will need to submit the online Medical History Statement along with the Enrollment/Change - Optional Life Insurance form and be approved by Standard Insurance Company.

Q: Can they increase their optional life insurance coverage by MORE than $20,000 if they don’t have a family status change as described above

A: As a MOSERS member, they may increase coverage on themselves at any time, but they must prove insurability. To do so, they must complete and submit the following forms by logging in to myMOSERS:

• Standard Medical History Statement
• Enrollment/Change - Optional Life Insurance

Thank you for attending the 2021 Benefits U Conference! We enjoyed the sessions and hope you did too. We will be reviewing and preparing the recordings to post to the website and will let you know when they are live. We will be sharing a recap of the conference including your feedback in the October HR Update.   

If you attended Benefits U, then you received a sneak peek of Phoenix! Phoenix is the new pension administration system, which you will be using to interact with MOSERS starting in the next 12 to 18 months. Those who were able to join us at Benefits U saw how efficient and automated Phoenix will be as it interacts behind the scenes with SAM II and non-SAM II payroll files. This level of automation will improve the accuracy of our member data which ultimately increases customer service. Although there was a lot to take in with all the Phoenix demos, those that attended noticed the ease of use and how intuitive it is. There are errors and warnings built in to call your attention to invalid pieces of data that do not pass the controls programmed into the system. Phoenix will give you direction on what needs to be addressed and how. Think of it as having a personal assistant coaching you through the process.

If those of you who attended were overwhelmed with all the information, don’t worry! Within the next few weeks, we will upload the recorded video session demonstrations to the Benefits U page. Keep in mind that this was only a sneak peek. Thorough training and ongoing support are in the future and will be provided closer to our go-live date. We cannot do what we do without YOU! Thank you for all of the work you put in to help serve our members.

If you were unable to attend BU this year, stay tuned because we will be posting the recorded sessions in the coming weeks. Check the BU page for updates!

We extended an invitation to attendees of Benefits U to ask for what they would like to see in Phoenix. Carson Lepper, Phoenix Project Manager, asked payroll reps to email PMO@mosers.org with their requests using the following format “As a_______________I want________________so that _______________. To give you an idea of what a completed statement like this might look like here are some examples.

As a payrep/human resource manager

I want to access any member's service history

so that if an employee has breaks in service, I can accurately calculate their Leave Progression Date for SAMII purposes.

As a personnel officer at DPS

I want the Eligible to Retire Report to allow me to select multiple organizations in one run

so that I can run the organizations I am responsible for and see them all at one time.

As a payrep/human resource manager

I want a report of changes made to the submitted payroll file

So that I can accurately request 1DEDs/NDED in SAMII.

As a payrep/human resource manager

I want the Phoenix/PMO support staff to be easily accessible during implementation, either via phone, virtual meeting, or email

so that if I have difficulty uploading payroll, I have the extra support to walk me through the screens.

If you submit an idea to PMO@mosers.org we will reach out to you so we can fully understand your request. Providing your idea in the given format, allows us to begin thinking about the scope, complexity, and value of your idea. We look forward to hearing from you!