If you attended Benefits U last fall, you may have heard about MOSERS' upcoming transition to a new pension administration system called Phoenix. The new system will store your employees' demographic, service, salary, and contribution records so we can administer benefits for your employees.

As an employer representative who works closely with MOSERS, you will interact with Phoenix each pay period to ensure the accurate exchange of information from your agency to MOSERS. We have been working closely with our vendor to test the system and remain on track for deployment in the second half of 2024.

Once we have identified a deployment date, we will begin sharing important information with you to help us complete the transition, including how you will receive access to the new system and attend a training session.

In the meantime, please continue to send timely termination, transfer, and leave of absence forms to MOSERS for your employees and work monthly Aged Accounts Receivable (AAR) reports. Carrying past-due AAR errors can lead to inaccurate records for your employees and cause a potential backlog of work when we transition to Phoenix.

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. 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 MOSERS actually received.

There are two error reports within the secure Employer Login that employers must work each month to address pay and contribution discrepancies:

• 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. 

Staying current on monthly error reports and submitting outstanding leave of absence, transfer, and termination forms to MOSERS is vital in administering timely and accurate benefits for your employees.

Maintaining the integrity of member records is a joint effort between MOSERS staff and covered employers. Feel free to contact the Employer Services team with your questions by emailing employers@mosers.org or calling (800) 827-1063 and selecting option 2.

For SAM II employers, MOSERS receives final unused sick leave balances from SAM II to calculate pension benefits for retirees. Once MOSERS has captured this information, the retiree appears on the Current Retiree Sick Leave and then the Previous Retiree Sick Leave reports within the secure Employer Login.

When a retiree appears on these reports, you can safely remove their unused sick leave balance from SAM II. Removing unused sick leave from SAM II will not remove retirees from the reports - they will drop from the Current Retiree Sick Leave Report to the Previous Retiree Sick Leave report as the next month’s retirees' cycle through the process.

Working these reports is important because a retiree reemployed in a benefit-eligible position cannot receive additional retirement credit for pre-retirement unused sick leave, including any remaining hours that did not convert to whole months of service credit at retirement.

Each August, MOSERS asks our employers to help verify employee salaries to ensure that basic life insurance coverage amounts are accurate.

MOSERS will release the Annual Salary Verification Report in mid-August. A notice (including instructions) will be sent as soon as the report is ready for your review. Employers must complete all salary verifications by September 6th.

The report is essential to ensuring that covered employees receive the correct amount of basic life insurance coverage each year.

Eligible employees receive one times their annual salary in basic life insurance coverage. The amount of coverage adjusts each January according to the employee’s annual earnings in effect on July 31 of the previous year (or the employee’s first day of coverage if not covered on July 31).

• Annual earnings include normal earnings from a benefit-eligible position, including shift differential, security differential, and retention pay.
• Overtime pay and other irregular payments are excluded from annual earnings. 

Additionally, if an employee is working in both a benefit-eligible and non-benefit-eligible position simultaneously, only pay from the benefit-eligible position is included in annual earnings. 

Please email employers@mosers.org if you have questions about the annual salary verification process. You can also watch a brief video tutorial on how to work the report if needed.

Occasionally, employers misclassify a benefit-eligible employee as non-benefit-eligible at the time of hire or neglect to enroll a benefit-eligible employee through SEBES. Fortunately, there is an easy way to correct those mistakes when they occur.

Benefit-eligible employees are entitled to service and salary credit towards the calculation of their future pension. 

Your agency must pay employer contributions for pension, life insurance, and long-term disability benefits (as applicable) for all benefit-eligible employees. Additionally, your agency remits employee contributions to MOSERS on behalf of MSEP 2011 and Judicial Plan 2011 employees.

Once you discover the mistake, ensure the employee is entered into SEBES. Then, log in to the Employer Login, enter the employee's SSN, and select the Forms tab to complete the Application to Correct Service. 

Once MOSERS receives the application, we will work with your agency to collect the necessary contributions, including contacting the Office of Administration to approve any corrections for agencies that use the SAM II payroll system.

Please stay current on your monthly AAR reports!  

To ensure a smooth transition to Phoenix this fall, all past-due AAR errors must be resolved no later than September 1. 

It will be imperative to have up-to-date and accurate service and salary data for your employees before we switch to Phoenix. Up-to-date records will help to ensure a smooth transition and avoid a potential backlog of work.  

If you have questions about monthly AAR reports, please contact the Employer Services team by emailing employers@mosers.org or calling (800) 827-1063 option 2. 

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.

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.

The Salary Verification Report is ready to work. If you are responsible for working on this report, please sign in to the Employer Login, hover over the Error Reports heading, and click the Salary Verification Report.

Names of individuals responsible for working on the report will appear. You may view any or all portions of the report by clicking on the appropriate name or department. You will then be able to submit your responses to MOSERS electronically.

The report is essential in ensuring that covered employees receive the correct amount of life insurance coverage each year. The report must be completed by September 7th.

Eligible employees receive one times their annual salary in basic life insurance coverage. The amount of coverage adjusts each January according to the employee's annual earnings in effect on July 31 of the previous year or the employee's first day of coverage, if not covered on July 31.

• Annual earnings include normal earnings from a benefit-eligible position, including shift differential, security differential, and retention pay.
• Overtime pay and other irregular payments are excluded from annual earnings.
• If an employee is working in both a benefit-eligible and non-benefit eligible position at the same time, only pay from the benefit-eligible position is included in annual earnings.

For the report, MOSERS used the SAM II base salary plus shift differential, security differential, and retention pay from the July 2022 payroll file to update basic and optional life insurance coverage amounts for most state employees. Manual salary verification is still needed for hourly and intermittent employees, employees on leave, employees working in multiple positions, and anyone not in SAM II.

MOSERS is making final preparations for our Annual Life Insurance Review, which will occur during the month of October. MOSERS does not send mail to members who have an invalid address on file in our system. It is important that we have correct mailing addresses on file for all benefit-eligible employees. Please sign in to the Employer Login and select the MOSERS Invalid Address report. Submit any necessary changes as soon as possible so eligible employees will receive their review forms at the proper mailing address.

We will release the Annual Salary Verification Report in mid-August and send a follow-up notice when the report is ready for you to view and work it.

The report is an essential step in ensuring that covered employees receive the correct basic life insurance coverage each year.

Eligible employees receive one times their annual salary in basic life insurance coverage. The amount of coverage adjusts each January according to the employee’s annual earnings in effect on July 31 of the previous year (or the employee’s first day of coverage if not covered on July 31).

• Annual earnings include normal earnings from a benefit-eligible position, including shift differential, security differential, and retention pay.
• Overtime pay and other irregular payments are excluded from annual earnings.

Additionally, if an employee is working in both a benefit-eligible and non-benefit eligible position at the same time, only pay from the benefit-eligible position is included in annual earnings.

Please email employers@mosers.org if you have questions about the annual salary verification process. You can also watch a brief video tutorial on how to work the report, if needed.

Please encourage your employees to provide us with their current email addresses.

• In order to receive their benefits, it’s important that we have their current address on file!
• Members must have a current email address on file to set up or to change their myMOSERS Online ID and password.
• This will also be important for the upcoming MOSERS Board election in August.

They can update their email and mailing address by logging in to myMOSERS, selecting Personal Information, then clicking Update Personal Information. Please note that updates to email or mailing addresses become effective by the next working day. If they are unable to do so online, please have them contact a MOSERS benefit counselor, who will be happy to assist.

Or, as a pay rep, you can update employee email addresses directly through the Missing Email Report. Log in to the MOSERS Employer Login. Once logged in, navigate to the Error Reports dropdown and select Missing Email Report. Select an employee from the report and click Update Email. Enter a valid email address for the employee and click Update. The Missing Email Report refreshes daily. Updates submitted through the report become effective the next working day. View the Error Reports Tab video for a step-by-step demonstration of the Missing Email Report beginning at minute 1:36.

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 provide their HR representative's contact information to The Standard when they call (844) 505-6026, to initiate their LTD claim.

On occasion, the employee neglects to provide the employer contact information to The Standard. This causes a delay in the review of the claim. To assist with this process, MOSERS is collecting the contact information for the individual(s) responsible for completing the Employer Statement at each covered employer. As such, please email the name, phone number, and email address of the person best suited to complete the Employer Statement at your agency to employers@mosers.org. Please also include the contact person's department, agency, and organization number.

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.

Preparing for MOSERS Annual Life Insurance Review

MOSERS is making final preparations for our Annual Optional Term Life Insurance Review which will occur during the month of October. MOSERS does not send mail to members who have an invalid address on file in our system. It is important that we have correct mailing addresses on file for all benefit-eligible employees. Please sign in to the Employer Login and select the MOSERS Invalid Address report. Submit any necessary changes as soon as possible so that eligible employees will receive their review forms at the proper mailing address.

The Salary Verification Report is ready to work. If you are responsible for working this report, please sign in to the Employer Login, hover over the Error Reports heading, and click the Salary Verification Report.

Names of individuals responsible for working the report will appear. You may view any or all portions of the report by clicking on the appropriate name or department. You will then be able to submit your responses to MOSERS electronically.

The report is essential in ensuring that covered employees receive the correct amount of life insurance coverage each year. The report must be completed by September 7th.

Eligible employees receive one times their annual salary in basic life insurance coverage. The amount of coverage adjusts each January according to the employee's annual earnings in effect on July 31 of the previous year or the employee's first day of coverage, if not covered on July 31.

• Annual earnings include normal earnings from a benefit-eligible position, including shift differential pay.
• Overtime pay and other irregular payments are excluded from annual earnings.
• If an employee is working in both a benefit-eligible and non-benefit eligible position at the same time, only pay from the benefit-eligible position is included in annual earnings.

For the report, MOSERS used the SAM II base salary plus shift differential pay from the July 2021 payroll file to update basic and optional life insurance coverage amounts for most state employees. Manual salary verification is still needed for hourly and intermittent employees, employees on leave, employees working in multiple positions, and anyone not in SAM II.

Last year we received a few inquiries regarding the pay types of "retention pay," a "security differential," and "COVID-19 pay." Please note:

• Retention pay and a security differential (just as a shift differential noted above) are included in annual earnings.
• COVID-19 pay, on the other hand, is excluded from annual earnings.

We will release the Annual Salary Verification Report in mid-August and send a follow-up notice when the report is ready for you to view and work it.

The report is an essential step in ensuring that covered employees receive the correct basic life insurance coverage each year.

Eligible employees receive one times their annual salary in basic life insurance coverage. The amount of coverage adjusts each January according to the employee’s annual earnings in effect on July 31 of the previous year (or the employee’s first day of coverage if not covered on July 31).

• Annual earnings include normal earnings from a benefit-eligible position, including shift differential pay.
• Overtime pay and other irregular payments are excluded from annual earnings.

Last year we received a few inquiries regarding the pay types of “retention pay,” a “security differential,” and “COVID-19 pay.”  Please note:

• Retention pay and a security differential (just as a shift differential noted above) are included in annual earnings.
• COVID-19 pay, on the other hand, is excluded from annual earnings.

Additionally, if an employee is working in both a benefit-eligible and non-benefit eligible position at the same time, only pay from the benefit-eligible position is included in annual earnings.

Please email employers@mosers.org if you have questions about the annual salary verification process. You can also watch a brief video tutorial on how to work the report, if needed.