PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT BOARD

2.43.2101 MEMBERSHIP An eligible employee becomes a member of a retirement system on his or her first day of covered employment under that system. If a member changes his or her name, the member must submit a name change form to MPERA. A member of PERS, GWPORS, or SRS who elects …

2.43.2102 OPTIONAL MEMBERSHIP Employees for whom membership in PERS is optional may become members by completing an application provided by the board.The application must be filed within the time set in applicable statute.Membership becomes effective upon filing and is not retroa…

2.43.2104 NEW MEMBERS New members must complete a membership/designation of beneficiary form upon employment and return the form to their employer. The form must be immediately forwarded by the employer to MPERA. The designation of beneficiary is only effective upon receipt by MP…

2.43.2105 BASIC PERIOD OF SERVICE The month is the basic period for the awarding of service credit and membership service for all retirement systems. Except as otherwise specified by rule or statute, 160 hours of service or 240 hours of service in a three-paycheck month for membe…

2.43.2106 NO DUPLICATION OF SERVICE CREDIT A member employed in multiple jobs covered by the same retirement system during any given month may not earn more than one month service credit in that retirement system. A member employed in multiple jobs covered by different retirement…

2.43.2109 RECEIPT OF SERVICE CREDIT ON OR AFTER TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT A member terminating employment shall receive service credit for lump sum payments for which required contributions have been made of severance pay or paid leave, including banked holiday time, vacation, pe…

2.43.2110 CALCULATION OF HIGHEST AVERAGE COMPENSATION WITH LUMP-SUM PAYMENTS For applicable systems, lump-sum payments made upon termination of employment and for which required contributions have been made for paid leave, including banked holiday time, vacation, personal, sick, …

2.43.2114 REQUIRED EMPLOYER REPORTS All reporting agencies shall file the following employer reports, for member and nonmember employees no later than five working days after each regularly occurring payday: a contributing employee report; a noncontributing employee report; and a…

2.43.2115 CORRECTION OF DEFINED BENEFIT RETIREMENT SYSTEM REPORTING ERRORS Employers may correct reporting errors affecting defined benefit retirement system members on subsequent pay period reports via a letter of explanation. The explanation must include all salary and service …

2.43.2116 CORRECTION OF DEFINED CONTRIBUTION RETIREMENT PLAN REPORTING ERRORS Reporting errors affecting PERS members who elect the PERS defined contribution retirement plan (DCRP) will be corrected as follows: Corrections increasing a contribution will be credited to the partici…

2.43.2120 REINSTATEMENT -- CREDIT FOR LOST TIME An inactive member whose service was involuntarily terminated and who is later returned to employment as the result of a suit, court order, arbitration, or out-of-court settlement may petition the board for membership service and se…

2.43.2201 TREATING SALARY DEFERRALS UNDER A CAFETERIA PLAN AS COMPENSATION - POLICY AND OBJECTIVES Pursuant to 19-2-1010 , MCA, the public employees' retirement board (board) must administer the retirement systems under its purview "in a manner required to satisfy the applicable …

2.43.2202 TREATING SALARY DEFERRALS UNDER A CAFETERIA PLAN AS COMPENSATION - APPLICABILITY This subchapter applies when considering whether a salary deferral permitted under an employer's cafeteria plan should be considered compensation for any of the board-administered retiremen…

2.43.2205 TREATING SALARY DEFERRALS UNDER A CAFETERIA PLAN AS COMPENSATION – BACKGROUND Pretax deductions allowed by state and federal law are included in compensation as that term is defined in the following statutes: 19-3-108, MCA (PERS); 19-5-101, MCA (JRS); 19-6-101, MCA (HPO…

2.43.2209 PROCEDURES - COMPENSATION MUST BE TREATED CONSISTENTLY If an employer increases a member's compensation to account for health, dental, vision, life or disability costs, the amount of the increase can be included in compensation for retirement system purposes only if the…

2.43.2210 PROCEDURES - PLANS THAT OFFER A CHOICE AMONG NONTAXABLE BENEFITS ONLY If an employer has a plan or program under which it contributes on behalf of its employees a certain dollar amount, which can be used by the employee to purchase optional nontaxable benefits, but ther…

2.43.2211 PROCEDURES - BONA FIDE CAFETERIA PLANS Elective employee contributions must be made to a bonafide cafeteria plan for that contribution to be eligible for treatment as compensation for purposes of PERS, JRS, HPORS, SRS, GWPORS, MPORS, and FURS. To be a bona fide cafeteri…

2.43.2214 IMPLEMENTATION AND COMPLIANCE A participating employer must demonstrate compliance with this subchapter as follows: The employer must submit to the board a copy of the employer's IRC section 125 plan document and the salary reduction or election form that must be comple…

2.43.2301 PROCESS FOR PURCHASING SERVICE Members of MPERA-administered retirement systems interested in purchasing any service credit permitted in PERS, JRS, HPORS, SRS, GWPORS, MPORS, or FURS must submit a written request to MPERA providing the following member information: full…

2.43.2302 DOCUMENTATION OF SERVICE MPERA shall use employer certified records of employment to correct employer reports and to calculate the cost of service credit granted to members. If employer records are missing or alleged to be inaccurate, it shall be the member's responsibi…

2.43.2303 DOCUMENTATION OF AMOUNT OF SERVICE ELIGIBLE TO BE PURCHASED When military, U.S. government, federal volunteer, Montana public employment, or other public employment related service is eligible to be purchased into a retirement system, the member is responsible for ensur…

2.43.2304 PURCHASE OF SERVICE AT ACTUARIAL COST Members of an MPERA-administered retirement system who are eligible to and wish to purchase military, federal volunteer, one-for-five, out-of-state, Montana public service, or other public service from a previous retirement system t…

2.43.2308 MOST RECENT SERVICE PURCHASED FIRST (REPEALED) (REPEALED) Authorizing statute(s): 19-2-403, MCA Implementing statute(s): 19-2-704, 19-2-715, 19-3-503, 19-3-505, 19-3-512, 19-3-515, 19-6-801, 19-6-803, 19-7-803, 19-8-901, 19-9-403, 19-13-403, MCA History: NEW, 1986 MAR p…

2.43.2309 SERVICE PURCHASES BY INACTIVE VESTED MEMBERS An inactive vested member may purchase any service for which the member is eligible any time prior to retirement. The actuarial cost of the service credit must be based on the system's most recent actuarial valuation and dete…

2.43.2310 PURCHASE OF FULL-TIME SERVICE OR ONE-FOR-FIVE SERVICE BY PART-TIME MEMBERS When a member employed on a part-time basis is eligible to purchase periods of full-time service or one-for-five service, the compensation used to calculate the cost to purchase the full-time or …

2.43.2311 LIMITATIONS ON PURCHASES OF SERVICE A PERS member may not purchase service unless and until the member elects to participate in the PERS Defined Benefit Retirement Plan. A retirement system member may not purchase the same period of military, federal volunteer service, …

2.43.2312 PURCHASE OF SERVICE THROUGH DIRECT TRUSTEE-TO-TRUSTEE TRANSFER OF FUNDS Subject to (2), any time prior to retirement, a member who is statutorily eligible to do so may purchase service in the member's current retirement system through a rollover of funds from an eligibl…

2.43.2314 ELIGIBLE FEDERAL VOLUNTEER SERVICE Federal volunteer service eligible to be purchased into a member's PERS account is limited to: any documented period of service in the peace corps; and any documented, successfully completed required term of service in the following Na…

2.43.2315 CREDIT FOR SERVICE IN THE UNIFORMED SERVICES If an actively employed member of PERS, JRS, HPORS, SRS, GWPORS, MPORS, or FURS is called to duty for a period or periods of service in the uniformed services, the member receives membership service for that time and may rece…

2.43.2316 RESERVE MILITARY SERVICE The following requirements pertain to the purchase of membership service and service credit for the member's reserve military service in the armed forces, including the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard: The member may not purchase …

2.43.2317 PURCHASE OF REFUNDED SERVICE OR SERVICE FROM ANOTHER MPERA-ADMINISTERED RETIREMENT SYSTEM At any time prior to retirement, a member who is statutorily eligible to do so may: elect to purchase into their current retirement system all or any portion of their previously re…

2.43.2318 "ONE-FOR-FIVE" ADDITIONAL SERVICE Subject to the requirements of each retirement system, a vested member may purchase additional service credit. Members may purchase one full year of additional service for each five full years of membership service in the retirement sys…

2.43.2319 PURCHASE OF "ONE-FOR-FIVE" SERVICE BY EMPLOYERS FOR REDUCTION IN FORCE EMPLOYEES Members who are subject to a reduction in force and wish to apply for additional service under 19-2-706, MCA, must do so on forms provided by MPERA prior to involuntary termination from cov…

2.43.2323 SERVICE CREDIT FOR PERIOD(S) OF ABSENCE DUE TO ILLNESS OR INJURY A member of PERS, HPORS, or GWPORS whose absence from service is compensated by workers' compensation, and who elects to leave their accumulated contributions on deposit with the retirement system during t…