Meet the Employer Services Team

Phoenix is Fast Approaching

Attend our Education Seminars

Join us for BU 2023 

Stay Up to Date with Monthly Errors Reports 

Trica Kliethermes, Shelley Lehmann, Megan Schulte, Jamie Mullen, Megan Hendrickson, Stacey Singer

Are you familiar with our employer services team?

They are a great resource for all your MOSERS-related questions!

You can contact Employer Services by emailing employers@mosers.org or calling (800) 827-1063 option 2. Members of MOSERS with questions about their own benefits should use option 1 to reach a benefit counselor.

We know you have been hearing a lot about the transition to our upcoming new Pension Administration System, Phoenix. We are scheduled to deploy Phoenix in September 2023!

As a reminder, MOSERS has built the new system to:

• Improve accuracy and controls
• Become more nimble through a single integrated solution
• Improve security
• Become more efficient and increase automation
• Sustain and improve customer service

If we progress as anticipated, Employer Training will be held in August. Be sure to read the monthly HR Updates and check your emails from MOSERS in the coming months, as we will be in touch with more Phoenix information. We are excited to finally share this new system with you, our valued employer partners! 

Did you know that employer reps are encouraged to attend MOSERS educational seminars?

All employer reps have a standing invitation to attend any of our webinars or seminars to learn more about member benefits and the retirement process. If you are not near retirement and eligible to attend yet, no worries! Just contact MOSERS and we will get you registered. 

Mark your calendars for November 14, 2023! Benefits University (BU) is back and in person this year.

BU will be hosted by MOSERS at the Stoney Creek Inn, in Columbia, MO. We will be covering various important topics during the conference including the new Pension Administration System, Phoenix. 

As we prepare for the transition to Phoenix later in 2023, it will be vital that you stay current on monthly error reports and submit any outstanding leave of absence, transfer, or termination forms to MOSERS.

Having as up-to-date and accurate service and salary data as possible for your employees before we switch to Phoenix will help to ensure a smooth transition and avoid a potential backlog of work. 

Maintaining the accuracy of member records is a joint effort between our staff and covered employers. Please don't hesitate to contact the Employer Services team with your MOSERS-related questions by emailing employers@mosers org or calling (800) 827-1063 option 2.

For more information about error reports, please view our Aged Accounts Receivable and Termination Error Reports Video and Employer Error Report Webinar.

CURP Overview – February 2023

CURP Transfers to MOSERS flyer – February 2023

Employer Contribution Rate infographic – February 2023

Retirement Guide – February 2023

Smart Start Checklist – February 2023

Your Guide to the Colleges & Universities Retirement Plan – February 2023

Pay is a key component in calculating an employee's future pension benefit. Part of the pension benefit formula uses an employee's "final average pay," which is the average of an employee's highest consecutive 36 months of pay. Accurate reporting of retirement-eligible pay to MOSERS ensures that member retirement benefit estimates and retirement benefits are calculated correctly.

Retirement-eligible pay includes all salary and wages payable to an employee for work performed. The following are among those payments excluded from retirement-eligible pay and must not be reported as salary and wages:

• Allowances and reimbursements for items such as phones, meals, uniforms, mileage or commuting, education or tuition, and housing or moving.
• Nonrecurring single-sum payments (such as a one-time bonus).
• Payments for unused annual leave or sick leave.
• Payments made after termination, unless it is for a final installment of salary or wages (such as a comp time payout or contract payout).
• Pay in excess of IRS compensation limits ($330,000 for 2023).
• Payments for which employer contributions have not been made.

For SAM II employers, non-retirement-eligible pay codes are automatically excluded from reporting to MOSERS. 

Non-SAM II employers must ensure that payroll files submitted to MOSERS exclude all non-retirement-eligible sources of pay. 

Before making benefit payments, MOSERS must verify the accuracy of service and salary data reported by employers. 

Please don't hesitate to contact the Employer Services team with your MOSERS-related questions by emailing employers@mosers.org or calling (800) 827-1063 option 2.

We Need Your Help to Correct Member Data Errors 

Spread the Word! MOSERS Education Events Available for 2023 

Benefit Tip – Annual Benefit Statements Coming Soon

We collect contributions from you, our employer partners, to help fund retirement, life insurance, and long-term disability benefits for benefit-eligible state employees. 

Each month, we receive a record of the previous month's pay and contributions for all covered employees. Unfortunately, a small percentage of those records contain an error, or discrepancy, between the pay and contributions MOSERS expected to receive for an employee and what was actually received. 

There are two “Error Reports” within the Employer Login that must be worked each month to address pay and contribution discrepancies and ensure the accuracy of your employees’ benefits through MOSERS:

• The Aged Accounts Receivable Report (for active employees)
• The Terminated Report (for separated employees)

Employer representatives responsible for working the reports receive an email notification when a report is released and ready to work.  

As you may be aware, we are preparing to transition to a new pension administration system called Phoenix later in 2023. Due to closer integration with your payroll system, Phoenix will significantly reduce the number of payroll discrepancies that require your attention. Phoenix will even eliminate the need for you to submit a manual form to MOSERS when one of your employees has a change in status. We are confident that you will find the new system easy to use and more efficient. 

However, as we prepare for the transition, it will be vital that you stay current on monthly error reports in our current environment and submit any outstanding leave of absence, transfer, or termination forms to MOSERS. Having as up-to-date and accurate data as possible on that initial changeover to Phoenix will help to ensure a smooth transition and avoid a potential backlog of work if we don’t have the most current data for your employees. 

Maintaining the accuracy of member records is a joint effort between our staff and covered employers. Please don't hesitate to contact the Employer Services team with your MOSERS-related questions by emailing employers@mosers.org or calling (800) 827-1063 option 2.

For more information about error reports, please view our Aged Accounts Receivable and Termination Error Reports Video and Employer Error Report Webinar.

Annual Benefit Statements will be distributed to members by the end of March.

This is a valuable planning tool because a significant part of your employee’s total compensation is through the value of the benefits they receive as a state employee (pension, healthcare, life, and long-term disability insurance, employer contributions to Social Security, etc.) plus the value of time off (annual leave, sick leave, and holidays).

Their Annual Benefit Statement contains all this information in one convenient document. They will also be able to access their Annual Benefit Statement from their Document Express online mailbox by logging in to myMOSERS. It is available for them to print or save for later reference. They will receive an email from MOSERS once their statement is posted. If they have opted to receive their correspondence from MOSERS through the mail, their statement will be sent to their home address and it is also available as described above. 

CURP Overview – February 2023

CURP Transfers to MOSERS flyer – February 2023

Employer Contribution Rate infographic – February 2023

Retirement Guide – February 2023

Smart Start Checklist – February 2023

Your Guide to the Colleges & Universities Retirement Plan – February 2023

New Employee Orientation brochure – January 2023

Total Compensation Calculator – January 2023

Highlights of Your Total Compensation Package brochure – January 2023

Destination Retirement Checklist (University Employees) – January 2023

Destination Retirement Checklist – January 2023 

SEBES Benefits Enrollment Guide – January 2023 

Phoenix Update 

From the Education Desk...

Proper LTD Submissions

Welcome, Tricia Kliethermes!

MOSERS Month is Coming in April

Recently Updated Resources

You may recall receiving periodic updates regarding the new pension administration system we’re developing called Phoenix. Phoenix is a modernized system that will be more intuitive and help us – MOSERS and its covered employers – to be even better at administering timely and accurate benefits to state employees. Staff and other key stakeholders are fine-tuning the project timeline, and we anticipate launching Phoenix later in 2023. We look forward to sharing details in the coming months and will provide training opportunities before we deploy this new system. Stay tuned! 

The 2023 education schedule is here!

MOSERS educational programs are designed to help state employees learn information about their benefits as they progress through their careers and experience different life events along the way. Please encourage your employees to register for a session! The schedule includes both in-person seminars and online webinars.

Newer Employees & MOSERS Webinars – Employees can start learning about the state benefits administered by MOSERS, including pension plan features, life insurance, long-term disability, and their personal retirement savings plan options with MO Deferred Comp.

Mid-Career Webinar – Employees can learn how different career and life events may affect their pension benefit.

Ready to Retire Sessions – Employees can learn about the retirement process and how different decisions may impact their pension benefit.

Please send your employees our way and remind them to visit the Education page for more information!

We need your help with LTD submissions!

Please remember to submit the simplified and updated Long Term Disability Employer Statement to ltdmosers@standard.com when you know your employee is applying for long-term disability (LTD) benefits.

Please advise your employee to call The Standard at (844) 505-6026 to initiate their LTD claim. Among other personal questions, The Standard will ask for the name, address, phone and fax number of their physician, as well as their HR representative’s name and e-mail address.

For more information on the LTD application process, please watch the LTD webinar put together by The Standard to illustrate the most effective way to file for LTD benefits.

We are happy to introduce Tricia Kliethermes as our newest employer services analyst. Tricia joins a team of analysts dedicated to assisting you, our valued employer representatives, in administering the retirement, life insurance, and long-term disability benefits important to your employees. Tricia has over 26 years of experience working for the State of Missouri, including almost nine years with MOSERS. Tricia brings a diverse range of experience to the position, serving as a senior benefit specialist, executive assistant, and education and legal specialist. Please don't hesitate to contact the Employer Services team with your MOSERS-related questions by emailing employers@mosers.org or calling (800) 827-1063 option 2.

This year is our third annual MOSERS Month. We are excited to introduce the theme for this year in the coming months. If you would like to be included in the sneak peek and receive a fun MOSERS Month package from us, please email nicolea@mosers.org.  

New Employee Orientation brochure – January 2023

Total Compensation Calculator – January 2023

BackDROP for General State Employees (MSEP & MSEP 2000) flyer – December 2022

Destination Retirement Checklist (University Employees) – December 2022

Destination Retirement Checklist – December 2022

2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report – November 2022

SEBES Brochure and 2023 Publications

The 2023 Education Schedule is Here!

Transfers Quick-Reference Guide

Farewell Juanita