145.295 OPF/HP REDEPOSITS
OVERVIEW
Section 145.295 of the Ohio Revised Code allows members of OPERS with previously withdrawn service at Ohio Police and Fire or State Highway Patrol to restore this credit in OPERS. If the member restores the service, we will contact the other retirement system to transfer the matching employer contributions that were submitted to that system to our system. If a member has contributions on account at another retirement system the member must contact that system to direct them to transfer the member and employer contributions to us.
GENERAL NOTES
To repurchase refunded service the member must have 18 months of contributing service in one of the Ohio retirement systems.
Active members of OPERS with OPF/HPRS withdrawn service can contact OPERS for cost statement. OPERS will contact OPF/HPRS to verify withdrawn service. OPERS will send a cost statement. OPERS will determine the interest rate. Payment options are lump sum, partial payments, payroll deductions or rollover. If there is more than one refund they do not have to be paid in any particular order. Once the payment is made, OPERS must advise OPF/HPRS. That system will then transfer to OPERS interest and employer contributions due. Service credit is posted to the system as it accumulates.
Active members of OPF with OPERS withdrawn service MUST contact OPF for a cost statement and payment options. OPF will contact OPERS to verify withdrawn info, then send statement to member. OPF will contact OPERS when payment is received. OPERS will then transfer to OPF interest and employer contributions due. (HB 648 requires this).
If membership with OPF begins after 9/16/68 the member must also may the difference between the employee contributions and the amount the employee would have paid had the member been employed by the members current employer, plus interest to OPF; also the difference in the amount paid or transferred for employer contributions and the amount the employer would have paid to OPF for the member’s current employer.
IF OPF denies purchase of OPERS withdrawn service because the member is ineligible to buy at OPF due to part-time service, OPERS will provide the option to purchase the refund here, although the service credit cannot be transferred to OPF.
Inactive members of OPERS can still purchase withdrawn service at OPERS if their total contributing service (although inactive) is 18 months or more in any of the Ohio retirement systems. Example 1: Member has one month of inactive service credit at OPERS and 6 years of active service at OPF. They can purchase their withdrawn OPERS service through OPF or through direct payment to OPERS.
Example 2: Member is currently not active in any system, but has 2 years of non-refunded service at OPERS. They can still purchase withdrawn service through direct payment to OPERS.
PROCEDURE
1) Verify that the address on the print out matches that on the request. If the address does not match, cross out the old address and put a routing slip on the jacket to be sent to account maintenance after you have finished it.
2) Go to the last page of the printout (G screen) to find CTB - if not at least 18 months, send them M12 letter. If they do not show 18 months with us but indicate service with Police & Fire, send a request for information – Police & Fire will not release any information over the phone.
3) Look for the following things in the file:
a) A previous workup - if it exists you will update the old workup instead of creating a new one.
b) A page stamped LOGGED (indicates they are already buying service) - go to the section on updating pay offs.
c) Keywords "Rollover" and "Deferred Comp" on the request - you will need to include the appropriate rollover form in the file when you finish.
4) Assuming there is NOT a previous workup, send a BP10 certification request to the appropriate retirement system. Send the member a “delay” letter, and tag the case for the hold shelf.
5) When we receive certification back from the other retirement system, pull a BP1 form for each period of withdrawn service certified. Place a check mark at the top of the form by “145.295 PF/HP”
6) Copy the information from the OPF/HP certification to the BP1. List the name of the employer from the certification. Although the Name may be for a department that also contributes to OPERS, the employer code for this service will always be 9013 for OPF service and 9014 for HP service.
7) The other retirement systems certify number of months/fractions of months rather than years of service credit. Divide by 12 before entering on the BP1. If OPF certifies the refund was for 48.240 credit, that represents 4.020 years of service. You will need to review the attached ledgers/print outs to determine the actual number of months in which the individual had earnings. In this example, the individual may have been employed for 49 months, or may have earned a partial month of credit at the beginning and end of service (= 50).
8) Check the print out to determine their current department code.
9) "Interest to:" will be the end of the month we are currently working - typically 30+ days from the current date. Very rarely you will see a retiree asking to redeposit funds. If the case is a retirement (SR, DR, 1S, 2S) or if the member has filed for retirement, place a check mark on the line after “IMMED:” Check the Effective Benefit Date to determine the interest date. If the Effective Benefit Date is 9/1, use 8/31.
10) If the request mentions payroll deduction, go to the last line in the top section and put a red X after PAY DED. If the request mentions partial payment, go to the same line and fill in the partial payment amount as either cash or service time and underline it in red. If they ask for costs on multiple partial payments, you can list multiple numbers in the partial payment blank.
11) Sign and date the BP1 form. Go to step 6 and repeat the process for each refund in the file. On any refund other than the first, the "Service from:" date will be the first day of the month that we first received a contribution, regardless of what date they actually started.
12) On a recalculation recheck all of the previous data. Key things to watch for:
a) “Interest to:” date will definitely change
b) “Now in:” code may have changed
c) Credits for partial service may have changed due to rule changes. NOTE: If the rules have changed in a way that would take credit away from a member we will NOT penalize the member. Write “Previously Granted” next to the section in question.
d) Starting dates for secondary refunds may have changed due to rule changes.
13) Attach a tag to the cost statement: “If payment is made for this service, route to Jerry Bachus, Back Payments for PF/HP/CRS INTEREST LETTER.”
Overlapping Service from Another Retirement System
Background – the law does not permit a person to earn more than one month of service credit for one month of service. If a person works for two different departments in one month and earns the minimum required for full time service credit ($150/$250) from EACH department they still only get one month of service credit. If this occurs with two departments covered by OPERS there is no confusion. All of the data shows on our print out or ledger cards. If one of the departments was covered by STRS, SERS or OPF we have to watch for overlapping service time and advise the member accordingly. We will not adjust the credit for STRS or SERS, but we should notify the member that adjustments will be made for overlapping service at the time of retirement.
OPF – They calculate service time differently than we do. They count days of service, divide it by 30 (no matter the actual length of the month)
EXAMPLE CASE: MBR file shows a letter from Police & Firemen’s Pension Fund transferring service to OPERS. Dates of service being transferred are 7/24/97 through 10/18/98 for a total service credit of 14.833. For July (7/24-7/31) OPF would give them 31-24 = 7, then divide by 30 to yield a fraction of a month (.233). Add this to the remaining 5 months of 1997 to get a total of 5.233 months of service for 1997. 5.233/12 = .436 which shows the total credit that we would give in terms of years, rather than months.
Our records show that this MBR was in our system from 1996 through 7/23/97, with fulltime service in each month. Although the MBR earned enough in our system to meet the minimum for fulltime service in July, we only show 1.000 - .436 = .564 credit for 1997. Using the “normal” calculation for service time, Jan – July = .583. .583 + .436 = 1.019 service for one year.
NOTE ALSO: Our rules for minimum credit do not apply to service from another agency. If OP&F grants 48.156 credit for 49 months by their standards, that would equate to 4.013 in our system, giving the member only .013 credit for the final month (48.156/12). Although WE would grant minimum credit of .016 (or .033 if prior to 1985) if this were for service in our system, we can only give the member the .013 credit that OP&F grants according to their equations.
WORKING UP A TRANSFER TO ANOTHER ORS
A. The ORS Response
1. The ORS returns the transfer sheet
2. If they indicate they are not accepting a transfer, do the deny letter to the member and
return the file to Records
3. If contributions are going to be accepted, the transfer process can continue
B. Comparing Contributions
1. Compare the contributions on the last print out with the contributions on mbrb to make
sure more have not been posted
2. If there are more
a. Fax a copy of the ledger to the other system so they can either approve or deny
the additional money
b. We cannot proceed with the transfer until we get a response
C. Preparing the Transfer Information Sheets
1. Based on the dates the other system provides and the amount of money to transfer,
work up the Transfer Information Sheet
2. Now In Code
a. Our code for the other system’s employer
b. SHWP will always be 145100
3. The Buyback Code
a. Our code being transferred
b. A separate sheet needs to be done for each type (state, local, sle, lle, sps, lps)
c. Like codes can be lumped together
4. Splitting Contributions
a. Some contributions need to be split
b. Fox program is set up for this
c. Can either refer to notes, or the Fox system will call for the split
5. The date of the transfer is the end of the month we are working with, between cutoff
dates
6. Listing Contributions
a. List the year and the contributions for that year
b. Even though the contributions are reported on the Trans Hist List, you should still
go through the printout and add up contributions.
c. If there are any adjustments in the contributions the THL does not make the same
adjustments
d. If contributions were posted to the 00 code and the next year were backed off and
put into 08, we still list the contributions in the year received
e. (key) The only exception is the final contributions for a year – they will always
appear the following year, but we include them in the year earned
7. Refunded
a. If the member is refunded from us and purchased the service at the other system
(1) Employer contributions
(2) Employer interest
(3) Interest on the member’s contributions for the time we had them
b. Enter the refund date and the contributions
c. This will calculate without showing any contributions being transferred, so it is all
interest
8. Purchased service
a. If there is any purchased service, enter the amount paid in YEE in the year it was paid
b. Do this as a separate sheet for December only
c. It confuses Lynne at PF to have it on one sheet
d. This will calculate interest for the time we had the money to the month of transfer
e. (key) 483’s must be paid by the employer before we can transfer it
D. Starting in March it can all be entered on the same page as there will be only one check
printed, it will list contributions and interest
E. After entering all the info, print the calculation sheets
F. Handling Calculation Sheets
1. The white copy stays in the file
2. The yellow is sent to the other system
3. For December transfers, hold the yellow copies until the checks are returned to BP
4. Starting in March, the checks will be printed and mailed automatically the day after
entering the info in the Refunds program, so mail the yellow copy immediately
G. TRANSFER OF PERS CONTRIBUTIONS TO SYSTEM sheet (through Feb?)
1. List each code separately, including 00 and 08.
2. Use payroll dates of the funds being transferred and the contributions for that code
3. Put the total transfer amount in TOTAL TRANSFER
4. Subtract and the difference is Employer Contribution and total Interest.
5. If all one code type, the same figure is entered beside the Account but if there are
different code types, each interest is listed separately with the total of all in the
EC&TI section
6. List all funds remaining on account.
H. Handling Files
1. Any files with contributions go to Holly in Refunds by the end of the day the 17th
2. Request that Holly tell you when she is sending the files to accounting so you can
take the interest only files the same day