Employer Reference Manual - PSERs

Public School
Employees’
Retirement System
Employer
Reference
Manual
2011

PSERS Employer’s Reference Manual
for Reporting
Public School Employees’ Retirement System
PO Box 125
Employer Service Center
Phone 1-866-353-1844
Fax 717.783.8760
E-mail: ContactESC@pa.gov
Web Address: www.psers.state.pa.us

Table of Contents
Accessing the Online System ....................................................................................................................... 1
Setting Up Your Online User Names and Passwords ............................................................................................................... 4
Create New User Name ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Edit an Existing User Name ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Set User Permissions .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Changing Your Security Administrator ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Entering Employer Contact Information .................................................................................................................................. 9
Membership: Mandatory, Optional, and Prohibited................................................................................. 13
Membership Eligibility ............................................................................................................................................................. 13
Membership Status’ .................................................................................................................................................................. 16
Part-time Hourly and Part-time Per Diem Minimum Service Requirements for Qualification ........................................................................................... 17
What Constitutes a Break in Membership? ................................................................................................................................................................................... 17
Determining an Employees’ PSERS Membership Status........................................................................................................................................................... 17
Enrolling, Reporting, and Withholding Member Contributions ............................................................................................................................................... 18
Quick Reference Table for Enrolling and Reporting Employees .......................................................................................... 18
Membership Eligibility Questionnaire .................................................................................................................................... 20
Determining if a Part-Time Employee may Waive Membership in PSERS ........................................................................................................................... 21
Informing PSERS of an Employees’ Request to Waiver Membership in PSERS ................................................................................................................. 22
PSERS and the Employees’ Action upon Receipt of the ACTIVW Contract Record ......................................................................................................... 22
PSERS Annual Waiver Evaluation ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 24
Events that Terminate a Membership Waiver .............................................................................................................................................................................. 24
Employer’s Action if Membership Waiver is Denied or Terminated ...................................................................................................................................... 24
Member Demographic Information .......................................................................................................... 25
What is Member Demographic Information? ......................................................................................................................... 25
How is Member Demographic Information Sent to PSERS? ................................................................................................................................................... 26
Member Demographic Info Sub-Menu ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Entering an Employee’s Member Demographic Information .................................................................................................................................................. 27
Member Demographic Information Window .............................................................................................................................................................................. 29
Saving the Member Demographic Information Record ............................................................................................................................................................. 31
Changing an Employee’s Member Demographic Information ................................................................................................................................................. 31
Member Demographic Information – Submit by Uploading a File ...................................................................................... 33
Format for Member Demographic Information Files ................................................................................................................................................................ 33
Header of the Member Demographic Information File ............................................................................................................................................................. 34
Record Lines in the Member Demographic Information File .................................................................................................................................................. 35
Uploading a Member Demographic Information File ................................................................................................................................................................ 36
Member Demographic Info Work Area – File Window ........................................................................................................ 36
Member Demographic Info Work Area – Record Detail Window ....................................................................................... 36
Access .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 37
Saving Your Changes ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 37
Submitting the Records to PSERS ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 37
Member Contract Records ......................................................................................................................... 38
What are Member Contract Records? .................................................................................................................................... 38
Employee Working Multiple Jobs for One Employer ............................................................................................................ 39
Employee Works a Full-Time Position Plus Other Positions ................................................................................................................................................... 39
Employee Works Multiple Part-Time Positions but NO Full-Time Position ........................................................................................................................ 39
How are Member Contract Records Transmitted to PSERS? .............................................................................................. 40
Member Contract Info Sub-Menu ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 41
Member Contract Records – Creating Individually ............................................................................................................... 41
Member Contract Information Window ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 42
Saving the Member Contract Record ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 45
Work Status Descriptions ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 45
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Work Status Quick Reference Table .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 50
Member Contract Records – Create by Uploading a File .......................................................................................................................................................... 51
Record Lines in the Member Contract Information File ........................................................................................................................................................... 53
Uploading a Member Contract Information File ................................................................................................................... 54
Member Contract Info Work Area – Record Detail Window ................................................................................................................................................... 55
Saving Your Changes ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 56
Submitting the Records to PSERS ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 56
Member Contract Records – Changing Information for an Employee ................................................................................................................................... 56
What You Do When an Employee…............................................................................................................................................................................................ 56
Changing Member Contract Records Online ............................................................................................................................................................................... 57
Changing Member Contract Records by Submitting a File ....................................................................................................................................................... 61
Examples ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 61
Reporting – An Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 63
What You Will Do Monthly, Quarterly, and Annually .......................................................................................................... 63
Monthly: .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 63
Quarterly, Annual, or As-Needed: .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 64
What Earnings Qualify for Contributions and Contribution Rates ..................................................................................... 64
Qualified Earnings ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 64
Part-Time Hourly and Per Diem Employees ............................................................................................................................................................................... 66
Maximum Earnings Subject to Contributions .............................................................................................................................................................................. 67
Unqualified Earnings (Non Retirement Covered Compensation) ............................................................................................................................................ 68
Determining Employee Contribution Rates ............................................................................................................................ 71
Membership Classes T-E and T-F ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 71
Exceptions .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 74
Reporting – Monthly Work Report ............................................................................................................ 76
How is Work Reports Transmitted to PSERS? ...................................................................................................................... 76
Work Reporting Sub-Menu ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 77
Method # 1: Manually Creating a Work Report Online ........................................................................................................ 77
Method # 2: Uploading a Work Report File (most common reporting method) .................................................................. 79
Format for Work Report Files ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 80
Header of the Work Report File ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 80
Record Lines in the Work Report File .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 82
Work Report Record Fields ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 86
Saving Your Changes ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 92
Submitting the Monthly Work Report to PSERS ................................................................................................................... 93
Reporting – Ensuring the Monthly Work Report Is Complete and Correct ............................................ 94
Reporting an Employee Who Works Multiple Positions for You ......................................................................................... 95
When an Employee’s Work Status Changes ........................................................................................................................... 97
If an Employee is Left off a Monthly Work Report ............................................................................................................... 99
Reporting – Leaves of Absence ................................................................................................................ 100
Reporting an Employee on Leave .......................................................................................................................................... 100
Contributing Leaves ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 100
Non-Contributing Leaves that Can Be Purchased Later .......................................................................................................................................................... 101
Non-Contributing Leaves that CANNOT Be Purchased Later ............................................................................................................................................. 102
Notes about Leaves ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 102
When the Employee Returns from Leave ............................................................................................................................. 104
If the Employee Does NOT Return from Paid Leave ............................................................................................................................................................. 104
Reporting – Service Time ......................................................................................................................... 106
How to Report Service Time .................................................................................................................................................. 106
How to Calculate Service Time .............................................................................................................................................. 107
Hourly Employees .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 107
Per Diem Employees ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 107
Full-Time Salaried Employees ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 108
Part-Time Salaried Employees ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 109
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Employees Working Multiple Positions ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 113
Employees on a Non-Contributing Leave .................................................................................................................................................................................. 113
Employee Terminates Service During the Year .................................................................................................................... 113
Hourly and Per Diem ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 113
Salaried .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 114
Member Contract Record .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 114
General Rules .......................................................................................................................................................................... 114
Verifying Your Reported Service Time is Correct ............................................................................................................... 115
How to Correct Reported Service Errors .............................................................................................................................. 115
Reporting – Work Report Adjustments .................................................................................................... 116
When to Submit a Work Report Adjustment Record .......................................................................................................... 116
Interest for Late Contributions .............................................................................................................................................. 117
Adjustments to Fiscal Years Prior to 2004-2005 ................................................................................................................... 117
How are Work Report Adjustments Transmitted to PSERS? ............................................................................................ 117
Adjustments Sub-Menu .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 118
Method # 1: Manually Creating Work Report Adjustment(s) Online ................................................................................ 118
Method # 2: Uploading a Work Report Adjustment File ..................................................................................................... 119
Format for Work Report Adjustment Files .......................................................................................................................... 120
Header of the Work Report Adjustment File ............................................................................................................................................................................. 120
Record Lines in the Work Report Adjustment File .................................................................................................................................................................. 122
Using the Edit Window .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 126
Work Report Adjustment Record Fields..................................................................................................................................................................................... 127
Saving Your Changes ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 133
Submitting the Work Report Adjustment(s) to PSERS ....................................................................................................... 133
Work Report Adjustments – Examples ................................................................................................................................. 134
Reporting Information that was OMITTED ............................................................................................................................................................................. 134
Adjusting Information that was Reported INCORRECTLY ................................................................................................................................................. 136
Arbitration and Court Decision Payments ................................................................................................................................................................................. 137
Non-Arbitration/Court-Awarded Lump Sum Payments ......................................................................................................................................................... 139
Sub-Menus ............................................................................................................................................... 141
Member Demographics and Contract Records ......................................................................................................................................................................... 141
Work Reports and Work Report Adjustments........................................................................................................................................................................... 142
Submitting Records by Uploading Files .................................................................................................. 144
Standard File Format .............................................................................................................................. 145
Uploading a File....................................................................................................................................... 147
Work Area Window .................................................................................................................................. 149
Created by File Upload ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 149
Manual Files Created Online ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 150
Work Area – Record Detail Window ....................................................................................................... 152
Eligible Service ........................................................................................................................................................................ 157
Return of Withdrawn Contributions ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 157
Former Uncredited Full-Time Service ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 157
Former Uncredited Part-Time Service ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 157
Former Uncredited Non-Qualifying Part-Time Service ........................................................................................................................................................... 158
Approved Leave of Absence ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 158
Maternity Leave of Absence .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 159
Service with a County Board of School Directors ..................................................................................................................................................................... 160
Military Service ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 160
Out-of-State School Service .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 162
United States Government Service .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 162
Pennsylvania County Nurse Service ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 163
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How PSERS Responds to Work Reports and Payments ......................................................................... 165
Employer Statement of Accounts ........................................................................................................................................... 165
Employer Web ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 165
Employer Notification of Change in Member Class / Rate or Obtaining Qualification (CROQ) ..................................... 169
Employer SOA Estimated Addendum Letter ....................................................................................................................... 172
Employer’s Member Service Report ..................................................................................................................................... 172
Payments – Remitting to PSERS ............................................................................................................. 174
Due Dates ................................................................................................................................................................................. 174
Member (Employee) Contributions ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 175
Member (Employee) Purchase of Service Installments ............................................................................................................................................................ 176
Employer Contributions ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 176
Delinquency Interest Calculations ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 179
Avoiding Interest Charges ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 180
When Your Employer Statement of Accounts Shows a Different Due Amount Than You Remitted .................................................................................... 181
Methods of Remittance .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 182
If Payments Are Not Received by PSERS ............................................................................................................................. 186
School Districts ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 186
Charter Schools ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 186
Refund of Contributions / Credit for Salary Reported............................................................................ 187
Credit for Contributions for Part-Time Employees ............................................................................................................. 188
Credit for Salaries & Contributions During a Leave of Absence ........................................................................................ 189
Contacting PSERS ................................................................................................................................... 192
Contacting PSERS through the Online System .................................................................................................................... 192
Contacting PSERS by Telephone or Fax ............................................................................................................................... 193
Contacting PSERS by Mail .................................................................................................................................................... 193
Contacting PSERS by Email .................................................................................................................................................. 193
Obtaining PSERS Forms ........................................................................................................................................................ 193
Introduction of Act 120 Changes to Pension .......................................................................................... 195
Benefit Changes General Information ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 195
What is a member? .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 195
Impacts on All Members................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 195
Qualification in a fiscal year is met in one of two ways ............................................................................................................................................................ 196
Benefit Cuts for New Members After July 1, 2011 ................................................................................................................................................................... 197
How to Determine Membership Class ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 198
Class T-F Election Process ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 198
Shared Risk ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 200
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING
iv

Chapter
1
Accessing the Online
System
The PSERS online system will be used to submit most reports and information. Before
attempting any procedure described in this manual, ensure that you know how to
access the system and that your contact information is correct. These procedures are
described in this section.
To access PSERS’ online system, search in Web browser (Internet Explorer version
5.5 or later) to:
http://www.psers.state.pa.us
You will see the following screen:
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 1

This screen will tell you if the Employer Web Applications are currently available.
Place your mouse over the “Employers” button Web on the right-hand side of the
screen until more options appear underneath.
Click on “Employer Web” to reach the “PSERS Employer Web Applications” screen.
This will take you to the Terms and Conditions page.
You must first scroll down and accept the terms and conditions in order to reach the
log on screen.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 2

You will see the following screen:
Enter the User Name and Password set up for you by PSERS or by your Security
Administrator. If you do not have a User Name set up yet, see Setting up Your Online
User Names and Passwords on page 4.
After entering your User Name and Password, click “Submit.” The system’s Employer
Services main page appears. This is your main screen for the online system. All of
the online functions described in this Employer’s Reference Manual for Reporting are
accessed from the left-hand menu on this screen.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 3

Setting Up Your Online User Names and Passwords
Before you can begin using the online system, you (the employer) must designate
someone to be a Security Administrator for the online system. This Security
Administrator will set up users at your location and will maintain these users’
accounts.
Follow the procedures found on page 9, Changing Your Security Administrator, if your
Security Administrator leaves or changes.
Your Security Administrator must be set up with a User Name and Password to begin
using the online system. To request this, you must complete a PSERS Employer
Security Administrator Authorization (PSRS-1270) form and submit this to PSERS.
PSERS Employer Security Administrator Authorization (PSRS-1270)
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 4

You may access the PSERS Employer Security Administrator Authorization (PSRS-1270)
form on the PSERS website or by calling the Employer Service Center toll-free at
1-866-353-1844.
You must fill out the PSERS Employer Security Administrator Authorization (PSRS-1270)
form and return it to PSERS within one month of accepting the role of Security
Administrator so that you can begin submitting your reports. PSERS will process your
request and will send your Security Administrator a letter with an Initial User Name and a
separate e-mail with an initial Password.
Up to four Security Administrators can be set up per employer. Not all of the
employees who use the online system need to be administrators. Your Security
Administrator has full access to the online system and can set up additional User
Names and Passwords for each employee who will be using the online system on a
regular basis. This setup process is described next.
Create New User Name
To set up a new User Name and Password, the Security Administrator must first log in
with their User Name, because the Security Administrator is the only one able to set
up new users. The Security Administrators initial User Name that PSERS creates for
you has this permission.
After logging in, click “Admin Functions” in the left-hand menu on the screen. The
Admin Functions sub-menu opens. In this sub-menu, click “Create User.” The
following screen appears:
Enter the user’s last name, first name, email address, and phone number in the
indicated fields.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 5

In the User ID field, enter the User Name that this person will use to log into the
online system. The standard for the User Name is to enter the first letter of the user’s
first name, the user’s full last name, an underscore (_), and your 6-digit PSERS
Employer ID number. If your PSERS Employer ID is shorter than 6 digits, add one or
two zeroes to the beginning to make it a 6-digit number.
Example: John Doe works for PSERS Employer 5125. John’s User ID would be
JDOE_005125.
If another user already exists in the online system with this same User ID,
create the additional User ID by adding the consecutive letters of the user’s first name
after the first letter of the User ID.
Example: Jane Doe also works for Employer 5125 and also needs access to the online
system. Enter her User ID as: JADOE_005125.
After entering information in all fields, click “Submit.”
If the User Name you entered is valid, you will see the message, “Msg – User created
successfully” followed by the User Name. You must communicate the User Name to
the user so that this person can access the system. The system will generate a
Password and email it to the user.
If the User Name you entered is already in use by someone else, you will see the
message, “Error – The User Name already exists. Please choose a different ID.” In
this case, enter a different User Name as described above, reenter the password, and
click “Submit” again.
Edit an Existing User Name
If you have created any User Names, you may edit these. Click “Admin Functions”
in the left-hand menu on the screen. The Admin Functions sub-menu opens. In this
sub-menu, click “Edit User.” The following window appears on the screen:
To view information about any User Name listed, click “Info” next to the appropriate
User Name. This will take you to the screen shown under Create New User Name.
You may edit any field, including the password for this User Name.
To receive a new Password, click “Reset” next to the appropriate User Name. You
will see the message, “Msg – User password has been reset.”
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 6

Set User Permissions
You may set the permissions for any User Name to allow this user access to only the
portions of the online system needed for that person’s job.
Click “Admin Functions” in the left-hand menu on the screen. The Admin Functions
sub-menu opens. In this sub-menu, click “User Permissions.” The following screen
appears:
Locate the person whose permissions you want to edit and click “Edit” next to that
User Name. The following screen appears:
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 7

The permission options allow or block access to each part of the online system. Each
permission option refers to a screen that can be accessed from the left-hand menu or
from a sub-menu. You can allow the user to view a screen but not enter information
into it by selecting “Read” and deselecting “Update.” To block all access to a screen,
deselect BOTH the “Read” and “Update” options for that screen. To allow the user full
access to a screen, select BOTH options.
Example: To allow the user to view the “Contact Info” screen (by clicking “Contact
Info” in the left-hand menu), select the “Read” option next to “Contact Info.” To allow
the user to enter, edit, or delete information within the Contact Info screen, also
select the “Update” option.
Select all permissions this user is allowed to perform. Deselect all functions
this user should be blocked from performing.
Most of the permission options are self-explanatory as you read through this
Employer’s Reference Manual for Reporting. A few functions are described briefly
below:
Account Details: These permission options control whether or not the selected
user is allowed to click “Account Details” in the left-hand menu and go to the
Account Details screen. The Account Details screen shows basic information
about your account with PSERS and also allows you to view your monthly
Employer Statement of Accounts online. See How PSERS Responds to Work
Reports and Payments on page 165 Drop down box.
Adjustments/Create Adjustments: These permission options control whether
or not the user can view and create Work Report Adjustments, as describing in
Reporting – Work Report Adjustments on page 116.
Forms: These permission options control whether or not the user can view and
use PSERS forms within the online system. See Obtaining PSERS Forms on page
193.
Contact PSERS: These permission options control whether or not the selected
user is allowed to click “Contact PSERS” in the left-hand menu and go to the
Contact PSERS screen. The Contact PSERS screen shows how to reach PSERS
and allows the user to email PSERS directly by filling out an online form. See
Contacting PSERS on page 192.
When done setting permissions for this user, click “Submit.” You will see the
message, “Msg – User screen permission has been changed successfully.” If you
receive an error message, contact the Employer Service Center for assistance.
If you need to reset the permissions to the way they were before you entered this
screen, click “Reset” rather than “Submit.”
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 8

Changing Your Security Administrator
Your Security Administrator has full access to the online system. If the individual who
has been serving as your Security Administrator leaves your employ or changes to
another position, you should remove this person’s access to the system. You must
also establish a new Security Administrator in this case.
To remove the old Security Administrator, fill out the PSERS Employer Security
Administrator Authorization (PSRS-1270) form and check the box marked “Delete
Employer Security Administrator.” In the rest of the form, enter information about
the old Security Administrator who should be removed.
To establish the new Security Administrator, fill out the PSERS Employer Security
Administrator Authorization (PSRS-1270) form and check the box marked “Create
Employer Security Administrator.” In the rest of the form, enter information about
the new individual who will be serving as Security Administrator.
Submit BOTH forms to:
Employer Service Center
Public School Employees’ Retirement System
PO Box 125
Harrisburg, PA 17108-0125
Or
Fax them to: (717) 783-8760
If the Security Administrator replacement is urgent, contact PSERS’ Employer Service
Center by telephone at:
1-866-353-1844
Or
Fax to 1-717-783-8760
Entering Employer Contact Information
There are many occasions when PSERS needs to contact an employer. To ensure that
PSERS communicates with the correct person about each issue, keep all of your
contact information current.
To update the contact information, click “Contact Info” in the left-hand menu on the
screen. The “Employer Contact Info” window appears.
Use this window to enter information about who handles the various types of work at
your place of business. Start by clicking the drop-down menu button beside “Monthly
Reports” in the Contact Type field, as shown in the following screen sample:
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A list of contact types appears in a scroll box, as pictured above. These contact types
are described next:
NOTE: If contract address is the same as the schools address check then you can
check the “Same as School Address” box.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 10

Monthly Reports
Employer Newsletter
Refunds
Retirements
Business Manager
Information Technology
Healthcare
Superintendents
Member Newsletter
Purchase of Service
Receivables
Member
Demographics/Contracts
Employer Statement of
Accounts
The person who will submit monthly Work Reports to PSERS
The person who should receive a PSERS newsletter with
information pertaining to business operations
The person who should be contacted regarding any refunds of
contributions being processed for a former employee
The person who handles retirement application processing within
your district or entity
The Business Manager or person in charge of Accounting
The person in charge of your Information Technology
(computer) needs
The person who handles the health care program/insurance for
your employees
For a school district, this is the District Superintendent. For a
charter school, this is the Director, Principal, Board Chairperson,
or other relevant position. For a non-school entity, this is the
CEO, President, or other individual who oversees the activities of
the entire entity.
The person who should receive a copy of all newsletters that
PSERS sends to its members (your employees)
The person who coordinates the payments of Purchase of
Service for the members (employees) and employer
The person who enters Member Demographic Records and
Member Contract Records for employees.
The person(s) who receives Employer Statement of Accounts
(billings) from PSERS. This Employer Statement of Accounts
shows the following activity:
• Member Savings
• Employer Share
• Member Purchase of Service Payments
It may be necessary to scroll up or down to see some of the contact types. As part of
the setup process, select each contact type in turn and enter detailed contact
information about the person who handles this type of work.
Example: The NPAS School District enters information about their Business Manager
as follows:
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You can click “Delete Contact Info” to clear all the information on the screen or
“Cancel” to exit the screen without saving any information.
When done entering information for a particular Contact Type, click “Update Contact
Info” at the bottom of the window.
• The information you entered will be checked for validity. If any errors or
exceptions occur, you will see an error message in red near the top of the
window. Errors must be corrected. Exceptions are shown for your information;
you may save and exit with the exception still in place. After correcting any
errors, click “Update Contact Info” again.
• When all information passes the validity check, you will see the message, “Msg
- Contact updated successfully.”
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 12

Chapter
2
Membership: Mandatory,
Optional, and Prohibited
This chapter contains information regarding the eligibility requirements for PSERS
membership and the requirements and procedures for waiving PSERS membership. It
also describes the various membership statuses that PSERS maintains and explains
how membership status impacts eligibility requirements.
Membership Eligibility
Employment type (full-time or part-time) is a key element in determining PSERS
membership eligibility. For PSERS’ purposes, full-time employment is defined as
working at least 5 hours or more a day, 5 days a week or its equivalent (25 or more
hours a week). Part-time employment is defined as anything less than:
5 hours a day,
5 days a week, or
Its equivalent (25 or more hours a week).
Employees must be reported to PSERS according to PSERS definition of full-time
and part-time, which may not match the employer’s definition, and the additional
rules defined below.
• Mandatory (eligible) Membership – Membership in PSERS is mandatory for all
full-time school employees unless one of the criteria listed below under Optional or
Prohibited Membership is met.
Membership is mandatory for any full-time officer or employee of the Department of
Education, State-owned educational institutions, community colleges, area vocationaltechnical
schools, technical institutes, or the Pennsylvania State University who is not
a member of the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) or of an alternate
retirement plan approved by the employer (e.g. TIAA CREF, etc.) unless one of the
criteria listed below under Optional or Prohibited Membership is met.
Membership is mandatory for all full-time Charter School Employees, whose charter
school does not have a retirement program which covers the employees or the
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 13

employee is not currently enrolled in another retirement program unless one of the
criteria listed below under Optional or Prohibited Membership is met.
Membership is mandatory for annuitants who return to school service in a nonemergency
or extracurricular and do not meet the conditions of Act 2004-63. Refer to
the PSERS publication Return to Service Guidelines and Clarifications (PSRS-9682) for
more information.
Employees in the mandatory membership category must be enrolled and reported to
PSERS and contributions must be withheld from the first day of paid service. Further
details on how to enroll, report, and withhold contributions can be found in later
chapters of this manual. Note that to enroll annuitants returning to active school
service, who do not meet the conditions of Act 2004-63; the employer must complete
a PSERS Retirees Returning to Service form (PSRS-1299).
• Optional (eligible) Membership – Membership in PSERS is optional for the
school employees categorized below:
Part-time Employees who are not already a PSERS member and are either:
‣ Salaried and work less than 5 hours a day, 5 days a week or its equivalent
(less than 25 hours a week).
‣ Hourly (hired and paid on an hour-to-hour basis) and work less than 5 hours
a day or its equivalent of 25 hours a week, but work at least 500 hours in the
school year.
‣ Per Diem (hired and paid on a day-to-day basis) and work less than 5 days a
week, but work at least 80 days in the school year. A workday must include
a minimum of 5 hours to be considered a full day.
Technically, until and unless a part-time hourly or per diem employee works at
least 500 hours, 80 days, or an equivalent combination, the employee is prohibited
from PSERS membership. Throughout the school year, however, as long as the
employee is otherwise eligible, PSERS views part-time hourly and part-time per
diem employees as “potentially eligible” members. This is true unless the
employee requests to waive PSERS membership, in which case the employer
should refer to Determining if a Part-Time Employee may Waive Membership in
PSERS in page 21. Employers are required to enroll and report all part-time
employees. Withholding contributions for these part-time hourly and per-diem
employees, however, is optional until and unless the employee meets the
minimum service requirement (500 hours, 80 days, or an equivalent combination)
and becomes a member of PSERS.
Throughout the school year, PSERS will monitor the service reported for these
employees and determine if and when the service requirements have been
met. Once the employee qualifies for PSERS membership, PSERS will notify
each employer on the Change in Member Class / Rate or Obtaining Qualification
(CROQ) report. (See Chapter 19 How PSERS Responds to Work Reports and
Payments for more information about the CROQ report). At that point
employers are required to withhold contributions.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 14

If the employee qualifies for membership and the employer did not withhold
contributions from the first day of employment, PSERS will automatically send
a Statement of Amount Due to both the employee and the employer. The cost
of this purchase will be the member contributions and the employer
contributions due, respectively, plus 2 percent statutory interest for the fiscal
year the money was due PSERS.
If contributions are withheld from the first day of employment, but the
employee does not qualify for membership during that fiscal (school) year,
PSERS will credit the employer contributions to your account automatically
after the fiscal year reporting cycle is complete for all reporting units. The
employee will receive a refund directly from PSERS for the member
contributions withheld and reported during this non-qualifying fiscal year.
Prohibited (Ineligible) Membership –Membership in PSERS is prohibited for the
employees categorized below:
• Any officer or employee of the Department of Education, State-owned
educational institutions, community colleges, area vocational-technical schools,
technical institutes, or the Pennsylvania State University and who is a member
of the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) or of an alternate
retirement plan approved by the employer (e.g. TIAA CREF, etc.)
Any annuitant who returns to school service under the emergency situation that
causes an impairment of services to the public, shortage of subject certified teachers
or other personnel, or in an extracurricular position under separate written contact.
Refer to the PSERS publication Return to Service Guidelines and Clarifications (PSRS-
9682) for more information.
• A Student who is hired to render service that is part of the student’s
curriculum, if
The position is part of a financial aid package.
The student receives a tuition waiver for the employment
The service is part of the student’s curriculum
The student receives academic credit for the employment
The employment is only available to students, and no one from the
outside workforce could fill the position in the absence of student
applicants for the position(s)
The position is that of a Graduate Assistant or a Resident Assistant
• A person performing services as an independent contractor. If the employer is
unable to determine membership eligibility, then the employer must submit a
Questionnaire to Determine PSERS Eligibility (PSRS-349) form so that PSERS
may make the determination.
• A person compensated on a fee basis
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 15

• School Crossing Guards, as per an amendment made in 2000 to the
(Pennsylvania) Township and Borough Codes, which expressly excludes school
crossing guards as school employees and prohibits them from membership in
PSERS.
Employers should not enroll, report, or withhold contributions for employees who are
prohibited from PSERS membership.
Membership Status’
PSERS’ membership status is critical in determining whether otherwise eligible parttime
hourly and part-time per diem employees must meet the minimum service
requirement of 80 days, 500 hours or an equivalent combination of hours and days
for the service to be considered “qualifying” and the employee to be considered
eligible for membership.
There are four primary PSERS’ membership statuses: Active, Inactive, Vestee, and
Annuitant. An employee in any of these statuses is considered a PSERS member.
Specific definitions for each member status are as follows:
Active member - A school employee who has met the eligibility (qualification)
requirements for membership and for whom pickup contributions are being made to
PSERS or for whom such contributions otherwise required for current school service
are not being made due to limitations under section 401(a)(17) or 415(b) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
Inactive member - A member for whom no pickup contributions are being made,
except in the case of an active member for whom such contributions otherwise
required for current school service are not being made due to the limitations under
section 401(a)(17) or 415(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Public Law 99-
514, 26 U.S.C. § 401(a)(17) or 415(b)), who has accumulated deductions standing to
his credit in the fund and for whom contributions have been made within the last two
school years or a multiple service member who is active in the State Employees'
Retirement System.
Vestee - A Class T-C or Class T-D member with five or more eligibility points who has
terminated school service on or after July 1, 2001, has left his accumulated
deductions in the fund and is deferring filing of an application for receipt of an
annuity. For Class T-E and Class T-F members, a member with ten or more eligibility
points who has terminated school service, has left his accumulated deductions in the
fund and is deferring filing of an application for receipt of an annuity.
Annuitant - Any member on or after the effective date of retirement until his
annuity 1 is terminated.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 16

Part-time Hourly and Part-time Per Diem Minimum Service
Requirements for Qualification
With the passage of Act 2010 – 120, once an employee qualifies for membership in
PSERS, each day worked is considered “qualified” until there is a break in
membership. What that means is that once qualified, part-time hourly and parttime
per-diem members are no longer required to meet the minimum service
requirement of 80 days, 500 hours or an equivalent combination of hours and days
each year, as long as PSERS’ membership is maintained. This also means that
Inactive members, Vestees, and non-disability Annuitants who return to active service
qualify from the first day of paid service upon their return as well. If the employee is
a PSERS member and they are employed by you, the service is considered qualified
and contributions should be withheld from the first day of paid service. If PSERS
membership has been broken, you must re-evaluate the employee based on the
criteria listed above, under Membership Eligibility.
What Constitutes a Break in Membership?
PSERS Membership is broken (terminated) when:
• A member terminates and refunds his contributions and interest
• A non-vested member is not reported as being employed by a public school
employer for a period of two full fiscal years from June 30 of the last fiscal year
of the member’s last day of paid service, irrelevant of refunding his
contributions and interest.
• A non-vested disability annuitant whose annuity is terminated.
Determining an Employees’ PSERS Membership Status
Once you have approved the member’s Contract Record, PSERS will display the
member’s “Current Class” and “Current Rate”. The “Current Class” field will inform
you of the employees’s PSERS Membership Class. This will be important if and
when the new “Shared Risk” component of Act 2010-120 goes into effext. The
“Current Rate” will communicate the percentage to be deducted from the member’s
paycheck for retirement contributions. This information is explained in greated
detail in Chapter 4 – Member Contract Records and Chapter 5 – Reporting An
Introduction. As stated earlier in this chapter, PSERS has developed a new report,
Change in Member Class/ Rate or Optainig Qualification (CROQ), to inform you
when a part-time hourly or per-diem employee qualifies for PSERS membership.
Once an employee qualifies for membership, it is your reponsibility to withhold
retirement contributions.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 17

Enrolling, Reporting, and Withholding Member Contributions
Employers enroll employees by submitting a Member Demographic record and a
Contract record to PSERS. Details on submitting a Member Demographic record can
be found in Chapter 3: Member Demographic Information and details on submitting a
Contract Record can be found in Chapter 4: Member Contract Records. Employers
report employees (including contributions withheld) through Work Reports and in
some circumstances Work History Adjustments. Details on reporting can be found in
Chapters 5 through 10.
We have provided a “Quick Reference Table for Enrolling and Reporting Employees”
below for your convenience.
Quick Reference Table for Enrolling and Reporting
Employees
Type of Employment Description Action Required
Full-time employee Works 5 hours or more a day/5
days a week or its equivalent (25
or more hours a week).
Enroll, report, and withhold
contributions from the first day of
paid service.
Part-time salaried
employee
Full-time employee
with another
Pennsylvania public
school employer, parttime
with you
Full-time employee
with the
Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania (state
employee), part-time
with you
Full-time employee
with the
Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania (state
employee), part-time
with you
Part-time hourly
Is contracted to work less than 5
hours a day/5 days a week, or its
equivalent (less than 25 hours a
week).
Works full-time with another
Pennsylvania public school
employer, but only works part-time
with you.
Employee elected Multiple Service
status and is working full-time for
the State and part-time for you.
Employee did not elect Multiple
Service status and is working fulltime
for the State and part-time
for you.
Works less than 5 hours a day and
is paid on an hourly basis.
Enroll, report, and withhold
contributions from the first day of
paid service.
Enroll, report, and withhold
contributions from the first day of
paid service.
Enroll, report, and optionally withhold
contributions from the first day of
paid service, unless the employee
already maintains PSERS
membership in which case
contributions should be withheld from
the first day of paid service. If and
when membership status is acquired,
contributions must be withheld.
See Action Required for part-time
employment.
Unless a waiver is being requested,
enroll, report, and optionally withhold
contributions from the first day of
paid service, unless the employee
already maintains PSERS
membership in which case
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 18

Part-time per diem
Part-time with several
school employers
PSERS Annuitant
Employment under
provisions of Act
2004-63
Disability Retirement
not covered
PSERS Annuitant
(Non-emergency –
return to service)
Works less than 5 days a week and
paid on a day-to-day basis with a
minimum 5 hours a day.
Refers to part-time hourly and
part-time per diem.
An annuitant returning under Act
2004-63 for a public school in
emergency, shortage of personnel,
or extracurricular employment
under full-time and part-time.
An annuitant who becomes an
active member. Annuitant’s
monthly benefit stops.
contributions should be withheld from
the first day of paid service. If and
when membership status is acquired,
contributions must be withheld.
Unless a waiver is being requested,
enroll, report, and optionally withhold
contributions from the first day of
paid service, unless the employee
already maintains PSERS
membership in which case
contributions should be withheld from
the first day of paid service. If and
when membership status is acquired,
contributions must be withheld.
Unless a waiver is being requested,
enroll, report, and optionally withhold
contributions from the first day of
paid service, unless the employee
already maintains PSERS
membership in which case
contributions should be withheld from
the first day of paid service. If and
when membership status is acquired,
contributions must be withheld.
Do not enroll, report, or withhold
contributions.
Complete a PSERS Retirees Returning
to Service (PSRS-1299) form.
Tax Collector,
Solicitor, Doctor,
Dentist, Consultant,
Psychologist
Certain positions may not meet the
true employer-employee
relationship for member eligibility.
See Membership Eligibility
Questionnaire on page 20.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 19

Membership Eligibility Questionnaire
If you require further PSERS’ assistance in determining whether PSERS membership
for an employee is mandatory, optional, or prohibited, please complete the
Questionnaire to Determine PSERS Membership Eligibility (PSRS-349) form.
To prevent enrollment of ineligible employees, you must complete a Questionnaire to
Determine PSERS Eligibility (PSRS-349) for employees hired in classifications the
same as or similar to those listed below:
Consultant
Dentist
Doctor
Psychologist
Solicitor
Tax Collector
Questionnarie to Determine PSERS Membership Eligibility (PSRS-349)
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 20

PSERS will review the questionnaire and let you know if you must enroll this
employee. As a time-saver, this questionnaire does not need to be submitted for
employees who are clearly ineligible for membership.
Determining if a Part-Time Employee may Waive Membership in
PSERS
Any part-time employee (salaried, hourly, or per diem) who has sole ownership of one
of the following types of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) as defined by section
408 in the Internal Revenue Code may waive membership in PSERS
• Traditional IRA
• Roth IRA
• Simplified Employee Pension (SEP)
• Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees of Small Employers (Simple)
IRA
It is the responsibility of the employer to report this request within 30 days of the
employees’ first day of employment.
To help you determine whether the employee is eligible to request a waiver in PSERS
membership, answer the following questions:
Ineligible to Waive Membership:
• Is the employee employed full time?
• Is this employee an annuitant who is returning to non-emergency or
extracurricular service?
• Is the employee full time with another employer?
• Is the employee employed by you in multiple part-time positions that
equate to a full-time position (A full-time employee is defined as an
employee who works 5 hours or more a day, 5 days a week or its
equivalent (25 or more hours a week)?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, the employee is ineligible
to waive membership.
Eligible to Waive Membership:
• Is the employee employed part-time salaried, hourly, or per diem?
• Does the employee have sole ownership of one of the following types of
Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) as defined by section 408 in the
Internal Revenue Code (Note: Age of the employee does not matter)?
Traditional IRA
Roth IRA
Simplified Employee Pension (SEP)
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 21

Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees of Small Employers
(Simple) IRA
• Did the employee show you proof of sole ownership of the qualified
Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA)?
If you answered yes to all of the above questions, the employee is eligible to
waive membership.
Informing PSERS of an Employees’ Request to Waiver
Membership in PSERS
• Submit a Member Contract Record with a Work Status equal to “ACTIVW” (See
Member Contract Records – Changing Information for an Employee on page 56) for
the part-time employee within 30 days of starting employment.
Note: It is not necessary for the part-time employee to complete and submit a
waiver at the start of each school year. PSERS will contact the employee each
year to confirm the waived status and will assume it remains in place unless the
employee responds otherwise.
PSERS and the Employees’ Action upon Receipt of the ACTIVW
Contract Record
• PSERS will send a PSERS membership waiver information packet directly to the
employee and the steps required to complete the waiver process.
• The Employee will contact the PSERS Regional Office for benefit explanations and
acquire the PSERS Membership Waiver (PSRS-51) form.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 22

PSERS Membership Waiver (PSRS-51)
• A part-time employee must submit the PSERS Membership Waiver (PSRS-51) form by
the close of the fiscal (school) year (June 30) in which they begin work in that parttime
position Note: When the employee waives membership in PSERS, the
employee cannot purchase any qualifying service rendered during the school years
that were waived.
• PSERS will notify you and the employee whether the membership waiver request is
approved or denied.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 23

PSERS Annual Waiver Evaluation
In May of each fiscal year, PSERS will determine if the employee is eligible to
continue waiving membership in the subsequent school year.
If the member is not eligible to waive PSERS membership, you and the
employee will be notified that the employee must be enrolled
If the member is eligible to continue waiving PSERS membership, the
employee will be notified that the membership waiver may continue
Events that Terminate a Membership Waiver
If the employee takes a position in which they elect to join PSERS or are required
to join PSERS, and they have a currently waived position, then:
The existing waiver status remains in effect for the waived position until the
end of the current FY if the waived position is with a different employer.
The existing waiver status for all waived positions is voided retroactively to the
later of the first day of the FY or the first day of employment if the waived
position is with the same employer.
If the employee qualifies for membership in PSERS, the waiver can be terminated in
one of the following ways:
the employee can withdraw the membership waiver and elect to join PSERS
the employee is no longer eligible to waive membership and must join PSERS
Employer’s Action if Membership Waiver is Denied or
Terminated
If the membership waiver is denied or terminated, you must end date the
“ACTIVW” contract record. Contact PSERS for the exact date to be used in the end
date field of the “ACTIVW” contract record. Once the end date of the “ACTIVW”
contract record is determined, submit a new “ACTIVE” contract record with the start
date equal to the first day of work within the fiscal year the employee joins PSERS.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 24

Chapter
3
Member Demographic
Information
What is Member Demographic Information?
Member Demographic Information about an employee includes their:
• Name
• Social Security Number (You must see a copy of the social security card.)
• Date of Birth (You must see proof of birth date.)
• Gender
• Address
• Phone Numbers
• E-Mail Address
You must provide Demographic Information for each eligible and potentially eligible
employee when you first hire the employee. Refer to Chapter 2 for guidance on which
employees fall into this category.
If an employee is coming to you from another employer, or otherwise exists in the
system, you must still submit Member Demographic Information. If a duplicate
Member Demographic Information Record is received for an employee, PSERS will use
the duplicate to update the information on file.
If you are not sure whether an employee already has a record, you can check this
easily online. See Entering an Employee’s Member Demographic Information on page
27.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 25

How is Member Demographic Information Sent to PSERS?
All Member Demographic Information is sent to PSERS through the online system.
Member Demographic Information can be submitted for individual employees, by
entering them into the online system one at a time, or for a batch of employees all at
once, by uploading a file that was exported by your payroll/HR software system.
Either way, you begin by accessing the system:
1. Access the Employer Services window in the online system. If you are not familiar
with how to do this, see Accessing the Online System on page 1.
2. From the Employer Services window, click “Member Demographic Info” in the lefthand
menu. A sub-menu appears, as shown next:
Member Demographic Info Sub-Menu
For further details on the Member Demographic Info Sub-Menu refer to the chapter
titled Sub Menus on page 141.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 26

Entering an Employee’s Member Demographic Information
Use the process described in this section to create or change employees under any of
the following conditions:
• You have never created a record for this employee in PSERS.
or…
• You already have a record for this employee in PSERS before, but the employee
has returned to service and information needs updating.
Example: An employee worked full-time for you from 1985 – 1999. During this
time, the employee was a member of PSERS and made retirement contributions.
At the end of the 1998 – 1999 school year, the individual left your employment.
This individual has now returned to employment with you.
First, access the Member Demographic Info sub-menu, as described in How is
Member Demographic Information Sent to PSERS? on page 26.
From the “Member Demographic Info” sub-menu on the left side of the screen, click
“Create Demographic Info” to add a new employee. You will be prompted to enter
the SSN (social security number) for the employee you are adding:
The SSN (social security number) is used to identify the employee’s account at
PSERS. It is vital that this number be entered correctly. You MUST REQUEST to see
a copy of the employee’s social security card, though it is no longer necessary to send
a copy of this card to PSERS. Once the social security number has been entered, click
“Submit.”
• If you attempt to add an employee who already has a record, you will see the
message, “Error – Member already exists.” In this case, use the “View/Edit
Demographic Info” option on the left-hand menu to edit this employee’s
information.
• If the social security number was reported incorrectly, submit the Demographic
Information Change Request (PSRS-1870) with both the old and new numbers. See
Demographic Information Change Request on page 28. A copy of the employee’s
social security card must accompany the form.
• If you submit the Demographic Information Change Request (PSRS-1870),
continue to submit monthly Work Report Records for the employee using the
old social security number until you have been notified by PSERS that the
correction has been made.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 27

Demographic Information Change Request (PSRS-1870)
The Demographic Information Change Request (PSRS-1870) is available on the
PSERS website.
Only use this form to change social security, date of birth, or when a person’s gender
has changed. Do not use this form to change any other information. A picture of this
form is shown next:
Demographic Information Change Request (PSRS-1870)
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 28

Member Demographic Information Window
The Member Demographic Information Window allows you to enter or edit Member
Demographic Information about an individual employee. This Window looks like:
Enter the employee’s information into the fields on this window. Most of these fields
are self-explanatory, but a few details are provided below:
First Name: This field has a maximum entry of 35 letters and/or characters. If an
employee has a double first name, such as Mary Jane or Bobbi-Jo, enter both first
names in this field. You may enter the hyphen in a hyphenated name.
Middle Name: This field can be left blank or can be filled in with just an initial if
desired. If the employee has multiple middle names, these can be entered with a
space or other character between them. Up to 35 letters and/or characters can be
entered.
Last Name: This field has a maximum entry of 33 letters and/or characters. If an
employee has a hyphenated last name, enter the first 33 letters of this name, with
the hyphen included if desired.
Under some circumstances, PSERS requests proof of a name change from an
employee. In this case, PSERS will send the letter to the employee, who will fill it
out and submit it directly to PSERS with the required proof.
Gender: Use this field if the wrong gender was incorrectly used when entering the
original Demographic Information. Use PSRS-1870 when a person’s gender has
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 29

changed. See Demographic Information Change Request on page 28. Proof may be
required to determine that is in fact, the same person.
Birth Date: Enter the date of birth in the format MM, DD, YYYY (2-digit month in the
first part of the field, 2-digit day in the second part, and 4-digit year in the third part).
Example: for July 14, 1950.
Note: The employer’s representative must verify the employee’s date of birth by
examining one of the following documents:
• Birth Certificate
• Baptismal Record
• Passport
• Elementary or Secondary School Record
• Life Insurance Policy Listing Date of Birth
• PA Driver's License
• Naturalization Record
• Alien Registration Record
As with the social security number, you cannot change a date of birth. If the birth
date needs to be changed after an employee’s record is already created, you must
submit a Demographic Information Change Request (PSRS-1870) to PSERS. See
Demographic Information Change Request on page 28. You should include a letter of
explanation and a copy of one of the documents listed above.
Note: When submitting a Demographic Information Change Request (PSRS-1870)
printed from the PSERS website, be sure to either staple the two pages together, or
insert the member’s name and social security number on the top of the second
page.
Residence Address Fields: Enter the employee’s residential address. Complete as
necessary with the apartment number, suite number, floor or any critical
information for accurate mail delivery in addition to the normal street name, post
office box or route number. Enter the zip code plus its additional four-digits, if
available. The U.S. Post Office has a website where you can look up the complete zip
code. Go to www.usps.com and click on “Find a Zip Code”.
“Street,” “Apt/Suite #,” and “Care of” each appear as a line of the address
whenever PSERS sends information to this member. When entering this
information, you must type the word “Street,” Apt/Suite #,” and “Care of” in the
field. For example: Care of John Smith or Suite 123.
When the Member Demographic Information is submitted, the system will check the
address to ensure it meets U.S. Post Office standards; if any problems are found,
suggested changes will be displayed. The following is a sample address:
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 30

Phone Number Fields: Enter all phone numbers with the area code in the first part
of the field, the local “exchange” in the second part of the field, and the 4-digit
number in the third part of the field. Example: for 717-555-2222.
Saving the Member Demographic Information Record
When you are done entering information, click “Save.” You will be returned to the
Member Demographic Information Window, with the message, “Msg – Member info
created successfully” near the top of the screen.
At this point, the record has been saved to the member’s account with PSERS. You
may make additional changes and save those, or you may click “Cancel” to exit from
this screen. Clicking “Cancel” will cause you to lose any changes you made since the
last “Save.”
Changing an Employee’s Member Demographic Information
To change an employee’s Member Demographic Information a record must already
exist in PSERS, first access the Member Demographic Info sub-menu, as described in
How is Member Demographic Information Sent to PSERS on page 26.
From the “Member Demographic Info” sub-menu on the left side of the screen, click
“View/Edit Demographic Info” to view and/or change an employee’s current
Member Demographic Information. You will be prompted to enter the SSN (social
security number) for the employee you are updating.
The SSN (social security number) is used to identify the employee’s account at
PSERS. Always verify that the social security number matches the employee whose
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 31

information you are changing. Once the social security number has been entered,
click “Submit.”
• If you attempt to view or change information for an employee who does not have
a record, you will see the message, “Error – Member does not exist.” In this case,
use the “Create Demographic Info” option on the left-hand menu to enter this
employee’s information.
The Member Demographic Information Window appears. See the Member
Demographic Information Work Area – File Window heading later in this section.
• You can change information in any field except SSN (Social Security Number)
and Birth Date. If the social security number or birth date needs to be changed
after an employee already has a record, you must submit a Demographic
Information Change Request (PSRS-1870) to PSERS.
Warning: Do not attempt to change an employee’s social security number by
creating a new Member Demographic Information Record with the new number.
This will create a new employee record with this number, while leaving the old
employee record intact.
Essentially, the online system will think these two social security numbers
represent two different employees who happen to have the same name. All of
the employee’s current information (contributions, service time, Member
Contract Records, etc.) will remain with the old social security number.
As a result, you will encounter errors when running monthly Work Reports and
the employee’s benefits calculations will be incorrect. In order to correct this
situation, you must submit a Member Demographic Information Change Request
(PSRS-1870) to PSERS with proof of the employee’s correct social security
number, along with a letter explaining the situation.
PSERS will merge the two member records and will set the social security
number to the correct value. After this, you may need to resubmit or correct
the employee’s Work Report Records.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 32

Member Demographic Information – Submit by
Uploading a File
You can submit Member Demographic Information for multiple employees at once, by
uploading a file to the online system. In most cases, the file will be exported by your
payroll/HR software system. This file must be in a specific format, defined under
Format for Member Demographic Information Files on page 33.
This method can be used to add new employees as well as to change information for
existing employees. The process is the same for both. You may use this procedure to
submit as few or as many Member Demographic Information Records as you want,
but if you only need to submit a small number of records, you may find it easier to
enter them directly online – see Entering an Employee’s Member Demographic
Information on page 27.
Submit Member Demographic Information to PSERS whenever you hire a new
employee and whenever information changes for a current employee. All additions /
changes within a month can be submitted in a file, as long as this is done before you
submit your Member Contract Records and your next monthly Work Report.
For information on how to submit Member Demographic Information by uploading a
file see Submitting Records by Uploading Files on page 144. After Member
Demographic Information has been submitted for an employee, you can make
changes when needed by editing the Member Demographic Information Record with
the correct information. All fields except SSN (social security number) and Birth Date
can be changed. If the social security number or birth date needs to be changed, the
employer must submit a Demographic Information Change Request (PSRS-1870) to
PSERS. See Entering an Employee’s Member Demographic Information on page 27.
Format for Member Demographic Information Files
For information on how to correctly format a Member Demographic File see the
chapter titled Standard File Format on page 145. The fo llowing pages will
illustrate in detail the layout for Member Demographic Information Files.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 33

Header of the Member Demographic Information File
The Member Demographic Information file must include a single-line header as the
first line in the file. The header line identifies the employer, the type of records in the
file, the number of records in the file, and the date and time the file was created.
This information must be in the following format:
Header
Record
Type
R/O/C
R = Requir
ed
O = Option
al C =
Conditiona
l
Byte
s Start Format & Values Sample Comments
R 1 1 A lpha (D=Demographic)
D
Describes
the
incoming
file type.
R 6 2 Numeri c 002345 Employer ID
assigned to
you by
PSERS.
R 6 8 Numeri c 002680 Total
number of
detail
records in
this file.
Employer
Code
Detail
Record
Count
File
Creation
Date
and
Time
R 12 14 Date as
MMDDYYYYHHMM
Filler R 338 26 NULL Filler. Space
filled to match fixed
length of detail
record.
102520061400 Date and
time in
military
format.
338 spaces
All fields are required. “Start” indicates what column that field begins in on the
header line. “Bytes” indicates how many bytes (characters) are in the field. All
fields are a fixed-length.
Example: The following sample header uses the information as shown in the above
table:
D002345002680102520061400
In this example, a Member Demographic Information File from Employer 002345 is
being submitted with 2,680 records in it. The file was created on October 25, 2006 at
14:00 (2:00 p.m.).
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 34

Record Lines in the Member Demographic Information File
Each Member Demographic Information Record must consist of a single line of
information, in the following format:
R/O/C
R = Requir
ed
O = Option
al C =
Conditional Bytes Start Format & Values Sample Comments
SSN R 9 1 Numeric 149250245 Social Security
Number
Last R 33 10 Alpha SMITH Required
Name
First R 35 43 Alpha AARON Required
Name
Middle
Name
O 35 78 Alpha JOHN Optional
Suffix O 3 113 Alpha as JR, SR, I,
II, III, IV, V
Gender R 1 116 Alpha/M = Male or
F = Female
JR
M
Must be a valid
value listed. No
punctuation.
Must be a valid
value listed. No
punctuation.
Birth Date R 8 117 Date as
07231958
MMDDYYYY
Care Of /
Address1
O 35 125 Alphanumeric Care Of John
Smith
Compliant with
Postal Regulations.
Apt/Suite
/Floor /
O 35 160 Alphanumeric Apt A Compliant with
Postal Regulations.
Address2
Street /
Address3
O 35 195 Alphanumeric 123 MAIN ST Compliant with
Postal Regulations.
City R 21 230 Alphanumeric HARRISBURG Compliant with
Postal Regulations.
State R 2 251 Alphanumeric PA Compliant with
Postal Regulations.
Zip Code
with
Zip+4
R 9 253 Alphanumeric; 5-
digit zip code
followed by 4-digit
“zip plus 4 code” if
known or 0000 if
unknown
171080125 Compliant with
Postal Regulations.
No dashes.
Country O 2 262 Alpha US If blank, PSERS will
default to US.
Day
Phone
O 10 264 Numeric 7177878540 Area Code &
Telephone Number.
No parentheses or
dashes.
Day
Phone
Extension
Evening
Phone
Evening
Extension
Other
Phone
O 5 274 Numeric 00245 No parentheses or
dashes.
O 10 279 Numeric 7175558540 Area Code &
Telephone Number.
No parentheses or
dashes.
O 5 289 Numeric 00032 No parentheses or
dashes.
O 10 294 Numeric 7175558540 Area Code &
Telephone Number.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 35

Number
No parentheses or
dashes.
Fax O 10 304 Numeric 7175558540 Area Code &
Telephone Number.
No parentheses or
dashes.
Email O 50 314 Alphanumeric A@US.COM Member’s email
address
For more information on any field, see Entering an Employee’s Member Demographic
Information on page 27. “Start” indicates what column that field begins in on the header line.
“Bytes” indicates how many bytes (characters) are in the field. All fields are a fixed-length.
Uploading a Member Demographic Information File
You must first access the Member Demographic Info sub-menu, as described on
page 141.
For further information on how to upload a Member Demographic Information File see
Uploading a File on page 147.
Member Demographic Info Work Area – File Window
After uploading a file, go to the Member Demographic Info Work Area, either by
clicking “Work Area” in the File Upload window or by clicking “Work Area” in the
Member Demographic Info sub-menu. The File window of the Work Area appears:
For information on how to navigate in the Member Demographic Information File
Window see Chapter 15 Work Area Window located on page 149.
Member Demographic Info Work Area – Record Detail
Window
The Record Detail window in the Member Demographic Info Work Area is used to add
to, delete, or edit the individual employee records that are included in an uploaded
file.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 36

Access
To access the Record Detail window, go to the File window (see Member Demographic
Info Work Area – File Window on page 36) and click “Detail” next to the desired file.
Note: The file must be validated before the Record Detail window can be accessed for
that file.
The Record Detail window looks similar to the following example:
For more information on how to navigate the Member Demographic Information
Record Detail Window refer to the chapter titled Work Area—Record Detail Window on
page 152.
Saving Your Changes
After adding, deleting, or editing any records in the Record Detail window always save
your work. To save, click “Save” twice. The first “Save” will save the information to a
temporary file and the second “Save” will save the information permanently.
If you log out or go to another part of the system without clicking “Save” twice, you
will lose ALL changes you made since the last save. In this case, any records you
added will be lost, any records you deleted will be restored, and any records you
edited will be returned to their previous information.
Submitting the Records to PSERS
For information on how to submit Member Demographic Files to PSERS see
Submitting Records by Uploading Files on page 144.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 37

Member Contract Records
What are Member Contract Records?
Member Contract Records provide a way to define the position(s) each employee
works, in a way that helps automate the pension process. You must provide at least
one Member Contract Record for each eligible and potentially eligible employee when
you first hire the employee. Refer to Chapter 2 for guidance on which employees fall
into this category.
Remember, before you can add a Member Contract Record, you must first enter
the employee’s Member Demographic Information. See the How is Member
Demographic Information Sent to PSERS? sections starting on page 26. You must
create a Member Contract Record before you can add your employee to your Work
Report Record.
A Member Contract Record contains the following information:
• Employer’s Name and Employer Code
• Employee’s Job Title
• Employment Type (part-time or full-time)
• Wage Type (hourly, per diem, or salaried)
Chapter
4
• Work Status (actively working, on some form of leave, terminated, deceased, a
waiver has been requested, etc.)
• Start Date of the work status described in this Member Contract Record
• End Date of the work status described in this Member Contract Record
• Number of months normally worked for this position in a school year
• Number of days or hours normally worked for this position in a school year
• Voting Status (certified or non-certified position)
• Items relating to a terminated or deceased employee (Balance of Contract and
Outstanding Service Credit status)
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 38

In general, a Member Contract Record should be created for EACH job an employee
works. If an employee works for multiple employers, a Member Contract Record
needs to be submitted by each employer. If an employee works multiple positions for
a single employer, this may or may not require multiple Member Contract Records.
To determine this, see the next section Employee Working Multiple Jobs for One
Employer.
Employee Working Multiple Jobs for One Employer
It is not unusual for an employee to work more than one job for a single employer.
For example, a teacher may coach a sports team or help at lunchtime. In this case,
depending on the types of jobs worked, it may or may not be necessary to submit
multiple Member Contract Records for the employee.
Employee Works a Full-Time Position Plus Other Positions
Only one Member Contract Record is needed. Enter a Member Contract Record for
the full-time position. If more than one full-time position is worked, enter a Member
Contract Record for the salaried position, if there is one. If more than one position is
salaried, or if there is no salaried position, select the position that you feel best
categorizes the employee’s work. The other positions do not require their own
Member Contract Records.
• Only one Member Contract Record is required for all part-time HOURLY
positions the employee works.
• Only one Member Contract Record is required for all part-time PER DIEM
positions the employee works.
Example: A full-time teacher chaperones a school activity, takes tickets for an event,
and oversees a yearbook club. Enter a single Member Contract Record for the fulltime
teaching position. Report the additional work on the employee’s monthly Work
Report as follows: Record the additional wages in the “Supplemental Wages” field.
Record the extra contributions in the “Contributions” field. Record the extra service in
the “Hours” or “Days” field.
Employee Works Multiple Part-Time Positions but NO Full-Time
Position
Each part-time SALARIED position requires its own Member Contract Record. All
other part-time positions require only one contract record per wage type (e.g. per
diem or hourly).
Example #1: An employee works a part-time per diem job as a substitute teacher.
She also works a part-time hourly job in the cafeteria and another part-time hourly
job teaching a high school science class. You would need to create two Member
Contract Records for this employee: one for her per diem position and one for the two
hourly positions.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 39

Example #2: An employee works a part-time per diem job as a substitute teacher.
He also works a part-time salaried job teaching a high school English class and
another part-time salaried job coaching a football team. You would need to create
three Member Contract Records for this employee: one for his per diem position, one
for his salaried teaching position, and one for his salaried coaching position.
In general, there is no harm in creating a Member Contract Record even if it is not
required. If you find it easier to create a Member Contract Record for every position
an employee works, this is fine.
Note: You will not necessarily submit a separate monthly Work Report Record for
each Member Contract Record you create. If multiple Member Contract Records for
an employee have the same Wage Type (hourly, per diem, or salaried), earnings for
these Member Contract Records will be reported on the same Work Report Record in
your monthly Work Reports.
Example: A member has two part-time hourly positions. The wages from both
positions are reported on one line in the work report. The wage type for this member
is hourly.
How are Member Contract Records Transmitted to
PSERS?
All Member Contract Records are transmitted to PSERS through the online system.
Member Contract Records can be submitted for individual employees by entering
them into the online system one at a time. Member Contract Records can also be
submitted for a batch of employees all at once by uploading a file that was exported
by your payroll/HR software system. Either way, you begin by accessing the system:
1. Access the Employer Services window in the online system. If you are not familiar
with how to do this, see Accessing the Online System on page 1.
2. From the Employer Services window, click “Member Contract Info” in the lefthand
menu. A sub-menu appears, as shown next:
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 40

Member Contract Info Sub-Menu
For further details on the Member Contract Info Sub-Menu refer to the chapter titled
Sub—Menus on page 141.
Member Contract Records – Creating Individually
You can enter Member Contract Records for your new employees’ one at a time, by
completing an online form. Use this procedure if you only need to enter a small
number of employees. Otherwise, you may find it easier to submit a file with multiple
Member Contract Records at once – see Member Contract Records - Create by
Uploading a File on page 51.
First, access the Member Contract Info Sub-Menu, as described on page 41.
From the “Member Contract Info” sub-menu on the left side of the screen, click
“Create Member Contract.” You will be prompted to enter the SSN (social security
number) for the employee you are adding. Enter the social security number and click
“Submit.”
• If there is no Member Demographic Information on file for the social security
number you entered, you will see the message, “Error – Member does not
exist.” In this case, see the How is Member Demographic Information Sent to
PSERS? on page 26 to enter Member Demographic Information for the
employee before continuing.
If the employee has Member Demographic Information on file, the Member Contract
Information window appears.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 41

Member Contract Information Window
The fields at the top of this screen are displayed for reference but cannot be edited.
In the other fields on this screen, enter information about the job this employee works
for you.
If the employee works more than one job for you, it may or may not be necessary to
enter multiple Member Contract Records for this employee. To determine this, see
Employee Working Multiple Jobs for One Employer on page 39.
The fields on this screen are:
• Job Title: A Job Title must be entered for every Member Contract Record. This is
a required field. This field has a maximum entry of 50 letters and/or characters.
Independent contractors are not eligible for PSERS membership. If you are not
sure whether a Job Title is an employee or an independent contractor, see
Membership Eligibility Questionnaire on page 20.
• Employment Type: Select “Full Time” or “Part Time” from the drop-down
menu. Full-time employment is defined as 5 hours or more a day, 5 days a
week or its equivalent (25 or more hours a week). Employment Type must be
entered for every Member Contract Record. This is a required field.
• Wage Type: Select “Hourly,” “Per Diem or “Salaried from the drop-down
menu based on how this position is paid.
• Work Status: Use the drop-down menu to select the appropriate work status
for this Member Contract Record, such as “ACTIVE - Actively Working.”
Work Status is reported in all monthly Work Reports, and the status that is
reported must match a Member Contract Record for that employee.
The various Work Status options are described in Work Status Descriptions on
page 45.
• Work Status Start Date – MM/DD/YYYY: Enter the date the Work Status
described in this Member Contract Record begins. For an actively working parttime
hourly or per diem employee, enter the first day of actual employment, not
the first day contributions were withheld from the employee’s salary and reported
to PSERS. If the Member Contract Record is for an employee who went on leave,
died, or terminated all employment with you, set the Work Status appropriately
and enter the date the leave began, or the date of death, or date of termination
as the Start Date.
Example: A teacher is hired to begin work August 16, 2006. Enter the Work
Status as “ACTIVE - Actively Working” and enter the Start Date as 08/16/2006.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 42

Example: When an employee resigns, his last day of paid work will be the
start date of his termination contract. If the employees last paid day of
service was on June 15, 2006 and the resignation is received on August 1,
2006, the Work Status Start Date is 06/15/2006 unless the employee is
granted a leave after June 15, 2006.
• Work Status End Date – MM/DD/YYYY: Enter the date the Work Status
described in this Member Contract Record will end or has ended.
For an employee who is expected to work multiple years, the End Date should be
left blank. In this case, the Member Contract Record will renew automatically each
school year, remaining in effect until you enter an End Date later (such as when
the employee ends work in this position or goes on leave).
Example: A teacher is hired. The teacher is expected to continue working for
multiple school years, so no End Date is entered. In January, the teacher takes a
job as Principal, which requires leaving the teaching position. On the existing
teacher Member Contract Record, the End Date should be updated to be the last
day the employee works as a teacher. A new Member Contract Record must be
created for the Principal position.
Note: In some cases, the End Date is modified automatically by PSERS. If an
employee goes on a non-contributing leave, dies, or terminates all employment
with you, you do not need to set the End Date on the employee’s existing Member
Contract Records. Instead, create a single new Member Contract Record for that
employee with the new Work Status (the type of leave, “DECESD - Deceased,” or
“TRMNTN – Termination”) and with the Work Status Start Date set to the date
the leave began or the date of death or the date of termination. In response to
this new Member Contract Record, PSERS will change the End Date on all of the
employee’s other Member Contract Records appropriately. When the employee
returns from leave, create a new Member Contract Record for each position the
employee resumes.
• Expected Months: Enter the number of months that a full-time employee
would normally be expected to work in this position each fiscal (school) year.
This field must be set if Work Status is set to “ACTIVE - Actively Working” or
“ACTIVW - Waiver Request” AND Employment Type is set to “Full Time”;
otherwise, this field is optional. If left blank, this field will default to 10 for
part-time salaried employees.
Example: If a full-time teacher is hired to work a 10-month school year, whether
or not they are paid over the summer, enter “10” months.
Note: The employee’s actual service time will be determined from Work Reports,
not from the value entered into this field. This field is used only for certain types
of benefit calculations.
• Expected Units: Enter the number of days or hours that a full-time employee
would normally be expected to work in this position each fiscal (school) year.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 43

This field must be set if Work Status is set to “ACTIVE - Actively Working” or
“ACTIVW - Waiver Request” AND Employment Type is set to “Full Time”;
otherwise, this field is optional. If left blank, this field will default to 180 for
part-time per diem employees and 1100 for part-time hourly employees.
Full time hourly employees that work 9 or 10 months must have the
correct hours posted in the Expected Units field in order to receive
credit for the correct service.
Example: A full time hourly secretary works for 9 months at 25 hours per
week. The Expected Units for this employee is 900 (9 months times 100
hours). The employee will receive credit for a full year of service if the
employer reports 900 hours in the Monthly Work Reports. This only applies to
full time hourly employees who work 9 to 10 months.
If an employee is hired partway through the school year, enter the Expected Units
that would apply if the position lasted an entire school year. The employee’s
service time will be determined from Work Reports, not from Expected Units.
Example: If a full-time teacher is hired for a 9 or 10 month school year, the
expected number of units would be 180 – 195 days. It is assumed there are 18-
22 workdays per month. Entering a value outside this range will generate an
exception message. To determine expected units for a part-time, salaried
position, such as a coach, see Reporting – Service Time on page 106.
Note: The employee’s actual service time will be determined from Work Reports,
not from the value entered into this field. This field is used only for certain types
of benefit calculations.
• Voting Status: Use the drop-down menu to select “Certified” if this Member
Contract Record describes a position that requires certification through the
Pennsylvania Department of Education or other licensing agency, such as a
teacher position. Otherwise, select “Non-Certified.” This classification is used
to determine in which election the employee will vote to fill a seat on the
PSERS Board. This field must be set if Work Status is set to “ACTIVE - Actively
Working” or “ACTIVW - Waiver Request”; otherwise, it is optional.
• BOC Flag: This field is to be completed as a result of a termination or death of
an employee. You must select either “Yes” or “No” from the drop-down menu.
Select “Yes” if additional salary is to be reported in the month following
termination or death of the employee; otherwise, select “No”.
• Outstanding Service Credit Flag: Use the drop-down menu to select “Yes” if
the employee has outstanding service time to be reported after termination or
death. Only set this field to “Yes” if the employee has been terminated or has
died and has additional service time to be reported later.
• BOC/SVC End Date – MM/YYYY: If either the BOC Flag or the Outstanding
Service Credit Flag is set to “Yes,” enter the month in which the last portion of
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 44

the outstanding service or Balance of Contract will be paid. After the Work
Report for that month has been submitted, PSERS will assume that all
information has been reported, and Final Benefit Calculation will take place.
The BOC/SVC End Date cannot be more than six months from the Work Status
Start Date. Example: If an employee dies on June 3 rd , the BOC/SVC End Date
must be November or earlier.
Saving the Member Contract Record
When you are done entering information, click “Save.” You will be returned to the
Member Contract Information Window, with the message, “Msg – Member contract
created successfully” near the top of the screen.
At this point, the record has been saved. You may not make additional changes to
the contract except to enter a contract end date and changes to the voting status.
You may click “Cancel” to exit from this screen.
Work Status Descriptions
For employees on leave, select the Work Status that matches the reason for the
leave, as well as whether or not the employee is contributing to their retirement
account while on leave. Work Statuses that describe leaves of absence are divided
into two categories: The final letter of the Work Status code for any type of leave is
either “C” for contributing or “N” for non-contributing, based on whether or not the
employee is making retirement contributions while on leave. Some of the noncontributing
leaves are eligible for Purchase of Service, while others are not, as
indicated for each.
For information on how different Work Statuses affect Work Reports, see Reporting –
Leaves of Absence on page 100.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 45

• ACTIVE - Actively Working: This is the most common status. It is used
when an employee is actively working, whether or not the employee is making
contributions.
• ACTIVW - Waiver Request: Select this Work Status if a part-time employee
has requested a waiver from PSERS membership. PSERS will send a packet of
information to the employee automatically, explaining how waivers work and
providing a Membership Waiver (PSRS-51) form.
• ACTMLC - Activated Military Leave (Contributing): You must use this
Work Status for active employees who make retirement contributions while on
leave to fulfill an obligation in the Armed Forces of the United States in time of
war or armed conflict. This leave also applies to a reserve member of the
armed forces pursuant to an order on or after July 1, 1990, to enter active
military service for an order other than to enter into active duty to meet
periodic training requirements.
An employee serving the regular 15 days of active duty for Reserves should be
reported as if in regular employment (with Work Status set to “ACTIVE - Actively
Working”).
“ACTMLC - Activated Military Contributing Leave” should not be used to report
an employee who volunteers to join the Military Service or National Guard. In
that case, the Work Status should be “LEAVEN – Any Other Leave Not Listed
(Non-Contributing)” or “TRMNTN – Termination” as appropriate.
• SSLSSC - Special Sick Leave, School Sponsored (Contributing): This
leave is granted to an employee who is ill and wishes to receive credit towards
retirement. Granting of special sick leave is optional and must be approved by
your (the employer’s) board of directors. The leave may not exceed one year.
To qualify for the leave, the employer must pay for disability insurance
sufficient to provide the employee with at least one-half regular salary. Both
you and the employee must be willing to contribute based on the employee's
full contract salary.
• SSLWCC - Special Sick Leave, Worker’s Compensation (Contributing):
This leave is granted to an employee who has been injured on the job and
wishes to receive credit towards retirement. Granting of special sick leave is
optional and must be approved by your (the employer’s) board of directors.
The leave may not exceed one year. To qualify for the leave, the employee
must receive at least one-half regular salary through Worker’s Compensation.
Both you and the employee must be willing to contribute based on the
employee's full contract salary.
• SABTLC - Sabbatical Leave (Contributing): Select if the employee is on a
paid sabbatical. The employee must receive at least one-half regular salary
during the period of the sabbatical leave. Both you and the employee must
make retirement contributions on the full salary that would have been earned
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 46

had the employee been working. The difference between the salary actually
paid and regular full salary must be reported in the “Unpaid Retirement
Covered Compensation” field on Work Reports. For more information, see
Reporting – Leaves of Absence on page 100.
• STUDYC - Professional Study Leave (Contributing): This Work Status is
used for an employee who has been granted a leave for professional study and
growth and who wishes to make retirement contributions while on leave.
When your board of directors approves a Professional Study Leave, the board
minutes should contain a note that the leave is for professional study and growth.
• EXCHGC - Exchange Teacher Leave (Contributing): This leave is granted
to a school employee who exchanges teaching positions with a teacher from
another country and wishes to make retirement contributions while on leave.
The foreign exchange teacher should not be added as a PSERS member and
should not be reported through monthly Work Reports.
• UNIONC - Collective Bargaining Unit Leave (Contributing): Select if the
employee has been granted a leave for collective bargaining unit and wishes to
make retirement contributions while on leave. Report the full contracted salary
and service the employee would have worked for your school.
Work Status for Non-Contributing Leaves that can be
Purchased
• ACTMLN - Activated Military Leave (Non-Contributing): This Work Status
is used for an employee who is on activated military leave and has decided to
discontinue making retirement contributions to PSERS during the leave. The
service time from this leave may be purchased later if the employee chooses.
This full salary should be reported under “Wages No Contributions” (WNC) in
the Monthly Work Reports. You should also report full service.
Military leaves are different from other leaves in that you, the employer, must
continue to contribute the employer’s share of retirement contributions whether or
not the employee chooses to contribute. You CANNOT receive a credit for these
contributions, even if the employee does not elect to purchase credit for this
service later or does not return from the leave.
When the employee returns to school employment, the employee must provide a
copy of the discharge documentation to you, the employer. A copy of this
documentation must be submitted to PSERS.
• SSLSSN - Special Sick Leave, School Sponsored (Non-Contributing):
This leave is granted to an employee who is ill and who does not wish to make
retirement contributions while on leave. The employee may choose to
purchase the service time from this leave at a later date. Granting of special
sick leave is optional and must be approved by your (the employer’s) board of
directors. The leave may not exceed one year.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 47

The full contracted salary should be reported under “Wages No Contributions”
(WNC) in the Monthly Work Reports.
To qualify for the leave, the employer must pay for disability insurance sufficient to
provide the employee with at least one-half regular salary.
• SSLWCN - Special Sick Leave, Worker’s Compensation (Non-
Contributing): This leave is granted to an employee who has been injured on
the job and who does not wish to make retirement contributions while on
leave. The employee may choose to purchase the service time from this leave
at a later date. Granting of special sick leave is optional and must be approved
by your board of directors. The leave may not exceed one year.
This salary should be reported under “Wages No Contributions” (WNC) in the
Monthly Work Reports.
To qualify for the leave, the employee must receive at least one-half regular salary
through Worker’s Compensation.
• STUDYN - Professional Study Leave (Non-Contributing): This Work
Status is used for an employee who has been granted a leave for professional
study and who does NOT wish to make retirement contributions while on leave.
The employee may choose to purchase the service time from this leave at a
later date.
This salary should be reported under “Wages No Contributions” (WNC) in the
Monthly Work Reports.
When your board of directors approves a Professional Study Leave, the board
minutes should contain a note that the leave is for professional study and growth.
• EXCHGN - Exchange Teacher Leave (Non-Contributing): This Work
Status is used for an employee who exchanges teaching positions with a
teacher from another country and who does NOT wish to make retirement
contributions while on leave. The employee may choose to purchase the
service time from this leave at a later date.
This salary should be reported under “Wages No Contributions” (WNC) in the
Monthly Work Reports.
Work Status for Non-Contributing Leaves that cannot be Purchased
• WKCMPN - Worker’s Compensation Non-Contributing Leave: This leave
is granted to an employee who has been injured while on the job, is receiving
Worker’s Compensation, is not making retirement contributions while on leave,
and is NOT eligible to purchase service time from this leave. This leave may
last up to two years.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 48

The employee may NOT purchase service time from this leave. Use this Work
Status if you, the employer, have not approved a special sick leave as a
contributable or purchasable leave.
Do not report any earnings or service to PSERS while an employee is on this type
of leave.
• LEAVEN – Any Other Leave Not Listed (Non-Contributing): Use this
status when the employee is on leave, is not making retirement contributions,
and the leave does not match any of the non-contributing leaves listed. This
leave may last up to 24 months.
The employee may NOT purchase service time from this leave. Use this Work
Status if you, the employer, have not approved a leave as a contributable or
purchasable leave.
Do not report any earnings or service to PSERS while an employee is on this type
of leave.
TRMNTN - Termination: Select if the employee has ended ALL work for you,
the employer. Any other Member Contract Records this employee has with you
will be ended automatically. If the employee has only ended one position but is
still working for you in another position, do not set the Work Status to
“TRMNTN - Termination.” Instead, set the Work Status End Date to indicate
this position has ended. If necessary, enter another Member Contract Record
to describe the continued employment.
• DECESD – Deceased: Select if the employee died while in active, waved or
leave status. Entering this status on any Member Contract Record
automatically ends ALL Member Contract Records for this employee. Because
it is important to begin benefits processing quickly after an employee’s death,
Work Status should be changed within one day of when you learn about the
death. Do not wait until the next batch of Member Contract Records is being
submitted unless a file will be uploaded that day anyway.
Note: Jury Duty is considered to be active employment rather than a leave.
Report employees on Jury Duty as if they were working normally, with a Work
Status of “ACTIVE – Actively Working.” If you have a policy of paying employees
on Jury Duty the difference between their regular, full salary and the amount they
are paid for Jury Duty, see Reporting – Leaves of Absence on page 100).
Note: To be eligible to purchase a non-contributing leave, the employee must
meet the eligibility criteria.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 49

Work Status Quick Reference Table
Work Status
ACTIVE - Actively Working
ACTIVW - Waiver Request
ACTMLC - Activated Military
Contributing Leave
SSLSSC - Special Sick Leave, School
Sponsored (Contributing)
SSLWCC - Special Sick Leave,
Worker’s Compensation
(Contributing)
SABTLC - Sabbatical Leave
(Contributing)
STUDYC - Professional Study Leave
(Contributing)
EXCHGC - Exchange Teacher
Contributing Leave
UNIONC - Collective Bargaining Unit
Leave (Contributing)
ACTMLN - Activated Military Leave
(Non-Contributing)
SSLSSN - Special Sick Leave, School
Sponsored (Non-Contributing)
SSLWCN - Special Sick Leave,
Worker's Compensation (Non-
Contributing)
STUDYN - Professional Study Leave
(Non-Contributing)
EXCHGN - Exchange Teacher Leave
(Non-Contributing)
Description
The employee is actively working, whether contributing or not.
A Waiver Request has been made by an actively working
employee, whether contributing or not.
The employee is contributing while on activated military leave.
The employee is contributing while on a special sick leave. The
board of directors must approve this leave. The employer
must pay for disability insurance sufficient to provide the
employee with at least 1/2 regular salary.
The employee is contributing while on a special sick leave.
This leave must be approved by your board of directors, and
the employee must be receiving at least 1/2 regular salary
through Worker’s Compensation.
The employee is contributing while on sabbatical. The
employee must receive at least 1/2 regular salary during this
leave.
The employee is contributing while on a leave for professional
study.
The employee is contributing while working in a foreign
teacher exchange program.
The employee is contributing while on a leave for collective
bargaining.
The employee is NOT contributing while on activated military
leave. The employee may choose to purchase the service
time from this leave at a later date.
The employee is NOT contributing while on a special sick leave.
The board of directors must approve this leave. The employer
must pay for disability insurance sufficient to provide the
employee with at least 1/2 regular salary. The employee may
choose to purchase the service time from this leave at a later
date.
The employee is NOT contributing while on a special sick
leave. The board of directors must approve this leave and
the employee must be receiving at least 1/2 regular salary
through Worker’s Compensation. The employee may choose
to purchase the service time from this leave at a later date.
The employee is NOT contributing while on a leave for
professional study. The employee may choose to purchase
the service time from this leave at a later date.
The employee is NOT contributing while working in a foreign
teacher exchange program. The employee may choose to
purchase the service time from this leave at a later date.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 50

Work Status
WKCMPN - Worker's Compensation
Leave (Non-Contributing)
Description
The employee is NOT contributing while on leave and receiving
partial salary from Worker’s Compensation. The employee
CANNOT purchase the service time from this leave.
LEAVEN - Any Other Leave Not
Listed (Non-Contributing)
TRMNTN - Termination
DECESD - Deceased
The employee is NOT contributing while on a leave that does
not match any of the other leaves listed. The employee
CANNOT purchase the service time from this leave.
The employee has ended ALL employment with you. If only
some positions have ended, instead set the Work Status End
Date on the appropriate Member Contract Records.
The employee has died.
Member Contract Records – Create by Uploading a File
You can submit multiple Member Contract Records at once, by uploading a file to the
online system. You may use this procedure to submit as few or as many Member
Contract Records as you want, but if you only need to submit a small number of
Member Contract Records, you may find it easier to enter them directly online – see
Member Contract Records – Creating Individually on page 41.
Submit Member Contract Records to PSERS whenever you hire a new employee and
whenever an employee’s work status and/or positions change.
Before a Member Contract Record can be submitted for an employee, Member
Demographic Information must be on file with PSERS for that employee. See the
How is Member Demographic Information Sent to PSERS? sections starting on page
26 for more information.
For information on how to submit Member Contract Records by uploading a file see
Submitting Records by Uploading Files on page 144.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 51

Format for Member Contract Information Files
For information on how to correctly format a member Contract Record see the
chapter title Standard File Format on page 145. The following pages will illustrate in
detail the layout for Member Contract Information Files.
Header of the Member Contract Information File
The Member Contract Information file must include a single-line header as the first
line in the file. The header line identifies the employer, the type of records in the file,
the number of records in the file, and the date and time the file was created. This
information must be in the following format:
Header
Record
Type
Employer
Code
Detail
Record
Count
File
Creation
Date and
Time
R/O/C
R = Requir
ed
O = Option
al C =
Conditional
Byt
es Start Format & Values Sample
Comment
s
R 1 1 Alpha (C=Contract) C Describes
the
incoming
file type.
R 6 2 Numeric 002345 Employer
ID
assigned to
you by
PSERS.
R 6 8 Numeric 002680 Total
number of
detail
records in
this file.
R 12 14 Date as
MMDDYYYYHHMM
Filler R 151 26 NULL Filler. Space
filled to match fixed
length of detail
record.
102520061400 Date and
time in
military
format.
151 spaces
All fields are required. “Start” indicates what column that field begins in on the header line.
“Bytes” indicates how many bytes (characters) are in the field. All fields are a fixed-length.
Example: The following sample header uses the information as shown in the above
table:
C002345002680102520061400
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 52

In this example, a Member Contract Information File from Employer 002345 is being
submitted with 2,680 records in it. The file was created on October 25, 2006, at
14:00 (2:00 p.m.).
Record Lines in the Member Contract Information File
Each Member Contract Record must consist of a single line of information, in the
following format:
R/O/C
R = Required
O = Optional
C =
Conditional Bytes Start Format & Values Sample Comments
SSN R 9 1 Numeric 14925024
5
Social Security
Number
Last Name R 33 10 Alpha SMITH Required
First Name R 35 43 Alpha AARON Required
Date of
Birth
R 8 78 Date as MMDDYYYY 07231958 Required
Job Title C 50 86 Alphanumeric; No
predefined values.
Space-filled if no
value.
Employment
Type
C 2 136 Alpha (PT= Part-time,
FT= Full-time, spacefilled
if no value)
Wage Type C 2 138 Alpha
(SA = Salary, HR =
Hourly,
PD = Per Diem,
space-filled if no
value)
Work R 6 140 Alpha (status from
Status
table on page 45)
Work
Status
Start Date
Work
Status End
Date
Expected
Months
Expected
Units
Voting
Status
Teacher
PT
SA
ACTIVE
Required if Work
Status = ACTIVE or
ACTIVW, else
Optional.
Required if Work
Status = ACTIVE or
ACTIVW, else
Optional.
Required if Work
Status = ACTIVE or
ACTIVW, else
Optional.
Required
R 8 146 Date as MMDDYYYY 10252006 Required. The date
the Work Status
started.
C 8 154 Date as MMDDYYYY 10252006
or
00000000
C 2 162 Numeric ## (01-12,
00=NULL)
C 4 164 Numeric ####,
0000=NULL
C 1 168 Alpha
(Y=Certified,
N=Non-certified,
space=NULL)
The date the Work
Status ended.
10 or 00 Required if
Employment
Type=FT AND Work
Status = ACTIVE;
Optional if
Employment
Type=PT AND Work
Status = ACTIVE.
0180 or
0000
Y
Required if
Employment
Type=FT AND Work
Status = ACTIVE;
Optional if Work
Status = ACTIVE
and Employment
Type = PT.
Required if Work
Status = ACTIVE,
else Optional.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 53

R/O/C
R = Required
O = Optional
C =
Conditional Bytes Start Format & Values Sample Comments
BOC Flag C 1 169 Alpha
(Y=Balance Due,
N=No Balance Due,
space=NULL)
Y
Required if Work
Status =TRMNTN or
DECESD, else
Optional.
Outstandin
g Service
Credit Flag
BOC/Svc
End Date
C 1 170 Alpha (Y= Member
still has service to be
reported, N= Member
does not still have
service to be
reported,
space=NULL)
Y
C 6 171 Date as MMYYYY 102006
or
000000
Required if Work
Status = TRMNTN or
DECESD, Required,
else Optional.
If BOC Flag is set to
“Y” or the
Outstanding Service
Credit Flag is set to
“Y” then Required,
else Optional
For more information on any field, see Member Contract Records – Creating Individually on
page 41. “Start” indicates what column that field begins in on the record line. “Bytes”
indicates how many bytes (characters) are in the field. All fields are a fixed-length.
Uploading a Member Contract Information File
First, access the Member Contract Info sub-menu, as described in How is Member
Demographic Information Sent to PSERS? on page 26.
From the “Member Contract Info” sub-menu on the left side of the screen, click “File
Upload.” The following screen appears:
For further information on how to upload a Member Contract Record see Uploading a
File on page 147.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 54

Member Contract Info Work Area – File Window
After uploading a file, go to the Member Contract Info Work Area, either by clicking
“Work Area” in the File Upload window or by clicking “Work Area” in the Member
Contract Info sub-menu. The File window of the Work Area appears:
For information on how to navigate in the Contract Records Info File Window see the
chapter on Work Area Window located on page 149.
Member Contract Info Work Area – Record Detail Window
The Record Detail window in the Member Contract Info Work Area is used to add to,
delete, or edit the individual Member Contract Records that are included in an
uploaded file.
Access
To access the Record Detail window, go to the File window (see Member Contract Info
Work Area – File Window on page 55 and click “Detail” next to the desired file.
Note: The file must be validated before the Record Detail window can be accessed for
that file.
The Record Detail window looks similar to the following example:
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 55

For more information on how to navigate the Member Contract Record Info Record
Detail Window refer to the chapter titled Work Area—Record Detail Window on
page 152.
Saving Your Changes
After adding, deleting, or editing any records in the Record Detail window always save
your work. To save, click “Save” twice. The first “Save” will save the information to
a temporary file and the second “Save” will save the information permanently.
If you log out or go to another part of the system without clicking “Save” twice, you
will lose ALL changes you made since the last save. In this case, any records you
added will be lost, any records you deleted will be restored, and any records you
edited will be returned to their previous information.
Submitting the Records to PSERS
For information on how to submit Member Contract Record to PSERS see Submitting
Records by Uploading Files on page 144 .
Member Contract Records –
Changing Information for an Employee
You must create a new Member Contract Record when the employee does one of the
following:
• requests a waiver from PSERS membership
• goes on leave
• returns from a leave
• begins a new job with you
• terminates one or more jobs with you
• dies
• changes positions
Member Contract Records cannot be changed once they are created.
Employers may only edit the End Date and voting status of a contract.
If an error is found in an old Contract Record, call the Employer Service Center for
assistance.
What You Do When an Employee…
• goes on leave
• terminates all jobs with you
• dies
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 56

• furlough
…submit a single new Member Contract Record with Work Status set to the
appropriate leave, or “TRMNTN - Termination,” or “DECESD - Deceased.” Set the
Work Status Start Date to the date the leave began, or the date of termination or
the date of death. In the case of termination or death, also set the BOC Flag,
Outstanding Service Credit Flag, and BOC/Svc End Date fields to appropriate
values. All of the employee’s other Member Contract Records will be end-dated
automatically.
• returns from a leave
• begins a new job with you
• receives a waiver denial
…submit a new Member Contract Record for each job the employee will be working
for you. If the employee is returning from leave, the Member Contract Record(s)
showing the leave will be end-dated automatically. (Waiver denials require the
employer to manually end-date previous “ACTIVW” record.) If a member furloughs
submit a LEAVEN record.
• requests a waiver from PSERS membership
…submit a single new Member Contract Record with Work Status set to ”ACTIVW -
Waiver Request” and Work Status Start Date set to the date the waiver was
requested. Do not edit the existing Member Contract Record(s) for this employee.
• terminates one job with you but continues working for you in another job
…end-date the Member Contract Record for the position being ended, as described
under End-Dating a Member Contract Record.
…contact the Employer Service Center for further assistance. See Contacting
PSERS on page 192.
Changing Member Contract Records Online
You can only EDIT a Member Contract Record if you need to end-date change the
voting status. In all other cases, you will be submitting a new Member Contract
Record, as described in Member Contract Records – Creating Individually on page 41.
Contact the PSERS Employer Service Center to make changes to an existing Contract
Record.
End-Dating a Member Contract Record
In some cases, you must “end-date” an existing Member Contract Record.
Example: An employee works per diem as a substitute teacher and also works a
part-time, hourly position providing office help. As her office hours increase, she
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 57

decides to stop working as a substitute teacher. Edit the Member Contract Record
that describes the per diem substitute teacher position. Set the Work Status End
Date to the final date of work at this position.
From the “Member Contract Info” sub-menu on the left side of the screen, click
“View/Edit Member Contract.” You will be prompted to enter the social security
number for the employee. Enter the social security number and click “Submit.”
• If the social security number you entered already has at least one Member
Contract Record set up, you will see a list of these records:
• Click “Detail” next to the Member Contract Record to be viewed or edited. You
will see the Member Contract Information window.
If you file a contract record with a voting status of certified and the member turns
out to be non-certified…
Job Titles Requiring Certification for Voting
Purposes
The job titles that shall be considered “Certified” as defined in the Public School
Code, Section 1101, 24 PS 11-1101 are as follows:
• Teachers
• Substitute teachers
• Vocational instructors
• Supervisors (instructional)
• Principals
• Assistant principals
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 58

• Vice-principals
• Directors of Vocational education
• Dental hygienists
• Visiting teachers
• Home and school visitors
• School counselors
• Child nutrition program specialists
• School librarians
• School nurse
Even if a member’s certification has recently expired or they have not formally
attained certification PSERS looks at the position the member holds. If the position
does not require certification then the member’s voting status is “non-certified”.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 59

For more information on this window and the fields on it, see Member Contract
Records – Creating Individually on page 41.
• Edit the Work Status End Date. Enter the last date the Work Status described in
this Member Contract Record was / will be valid. For example, if the employee is
ending work in this position as of March 1, 2006, enter 03 01 2006.
• Click “Save”.
After saving, you will be returned to the above screen, with the message, “Msg –
Member contract created successfully” near the top of the screen. At this point, the
record has been saved. You may make additional changes and save those, or you
may click “Cancel” to exit from this screen. Clicking “Cancel” will cause you to lose
any changes you made since the last “Save.”
Correcting an Error in a Member Contract
If you make an error when you submit a Member Contract Record, follow the
directions under End-Dating a Member Contract Record.
If you do not catch the error until after you have submitted your next monthly Work
Report, you can only change the Work Status End Date field. To change another field,
contact PSERS Employer Service Center.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 60

Changing Member Contract Records by Submitting a File
This process is the same as submitting new Member Contract Records. See Member
Contract Records - Create by Uploading a File on page 51 for details on this process.
The only field that you can edit on a Member Contract is the End Date field.
End-Dating a Member Contract Record
In some cases, you must “end-date” an existing Member Contract Record, as directed
under What You Do When an Employee….
In order to end-date a Member Contract Record, submit a Member Contract Record
where all information matches the current Member Contract Record, except for the
Work Status End Date. Submit the appropriate date in this field.
Example: An employee works per diem as a substitute teacher and also works a
part-time, hourly position providing office help. As her office hours increase, she
decides to stop working as a substitute teacher. Submit a Member Contract Record
where all information matches the Member Contract Record for the per diem
substitute teacher position, except for the Work Status End Date. In this field, submit
the final date of work as a substitute teacher.
Examples
The following examples detail how to create Member Contract Records when an
employee’s work status changes. For information on how to REPORT the employee
during a time of change, see When An Employee’s Work Status Changes on page 97.
Example #1: A teacher takes on a job as Principal, which involves leaving the
teaching job. End-date the existing teacher Member Contract Record by setting Work
Status End Date to the last date the employee will work as a teacher. Then, create a
new Member Contract Record for the Principal position, with Work Status Start Date
as the following day. (The first day working as a Principal.)
Example #2: An employee works multiple positions for you and goes on leave.
Submit a single new Member Contract Record with Work Status set to the appropriate
type of leave and Work Status Start Date set to the date the leave began. PSERS will
modify all of the employee’s existing Member Contract Records with you automatically
to reflect the leave.
If an employee works multiple positions for you and is only going on leave from one
or some of these positions, contact PSERS to set just the appropriate Member
Contract Records to leave and keep the others open. See Contacting PSERS on page
192.
When an employee returns from leave, submit new Member Contract Records for the
position(s) being resumed. PSERS will automatically end-date all of the leave
Contract Records.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 61

Example #3: An employee dies. Submit a single new Member Contract Record with
Work Status set to “DECESD – Deceased” and Work Status Start Date set to the date
of death. Also set the BOC Flag, Outstanding Service Credit Flag, and BOC/Svc End
Date fields to appropriate values. PSERS will modify all of the employee’s existing
Member Contract Records with you automatically.
Any Member Contract Records the employee has with other employers will not be
affected, since the employee may have different Balance of Contract and Outstanding
Service values with each employer.
Example #4: An employee terminates all employment with you. Submit a single
new Member Contract Record with Work Status set to “TRMNTN – Termination” and
Work Status Start Date set to the date of termination. Also set the BOC Flag,
Outstanding Service Credit Flag, and BOC/Svc End Date fields to appropriate values.
PSERS will modify all of the employee’s existing Member Contract Records with you
automatically.
If the employee is only terminating one or more positions with you and is still working
another position, do not set the Work Status to “TRMNTN - Termination.” Instead,
change the Work Status End Date for the positions that are ending.
Example #5: A part-time employee requests a waiver from PSERS membership.
Submit a single new Member Contract Record with Work Status set to “ACTIVW -
Waiver Request.” Set the Work Status Start Date to the day of employment for the
position being waived.
Only part-time employees can request a waiver from PSERS membership. To make
sure the employee qualifies for the waiver, see Determining if a Part-Time Employee
may Waive Membership in PSERS on page 21. When you set an employee’s Work
Status to indicate a waiver has been requested, PSERS will send a packet of
information to the employee automatically, explaining how waivers work and
providing a Membership Waiver (PSRS-51) form. The employer is no longer required
to provide this form to the employee.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 62

Chapter
5
Reporting – An
Introduction
What You Will Do Monthly, Quarterly, and Annually
Monthly:
• Submit Member Demographic Information and at least one Member
Contract Record for each of your new employees. Refer to Member
Demographic Information on page 25 and Member Contract Records on page 38.
• Transmit a Work Report to PSERS by the 20 th of the month to report the
previous month’s wages, contributions, and service (where applicable). See
How are Work Reports Transmitted to PSERS? on page 117.
You may find it is better to submit Work Reports before the 10 th of the month,
in order to check the total amount of your Member (Employee) Contributions
before you remit these to PSERS. These remittances are due at PSERS by the
10 th of the month.
• After transmitting the Work Report, validate it. This process will detect most
errors that may be in the Work Report. Correct all errors by the 20 th of the
month and approve your report. See How are Work Reports Transmitted to
PSERS? on page 117.
• Remit Member (Employee) Contributions and Member Purchase of
Service Installments to PSERS by the 10 th of the month. These are the
contributions you withheld from employees’ wages during the previous month.
If you are mailing a check, we suggest you mail it by the 5 th of the month to
allow mail-handling time and ensure the check reaches us by the 10 th of the
month. Interest will be charged for late payments. For details, see Payments
– Remitting to PSERS on page 174.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 63

Quarterly, Annual, or As-Needed:
• Pay your employer share of the retirement contributions to PSERS
quarterly. (For due dates, see Payments – Remitting to PSERS on page 174).
Interest will be charged for late payments.
• Submit Work Report Adjustments as needed. Salary or service must be
correct through Work Report Adjustments due to problems you will encounter
when reporting through the normal Work Reports. See Reporting – Work
Report Adjustments on page 116.
• If you are not reporting service time for your salaried employees monthly,
report this service time annually, as part of June’s Work Report, which
must be submitted by July 10 th . Service time for all hourly and per diem
employees must be included in monthly Work Reports as the service occurs.
• If needed, submit form Request for Reporting Unit Credit (PSRS-709) to receive
credit for contributions you paid for an employee on a paid leave who does not
return from the leave or upon returning does not remain in your employ for a
sufficient time (see Reporting – Leaves of Absence on page 100. In these
situations, see Refund of Contributions / Credit for Salary Reported on page 187.
Do not fill our form Request for Reporting Unit Credit (PSRS-709) to receive a
credit for contributions you paid for non-qualifying part-time employees
during or after July 2004. This process is automated, so you will receive credits
automatically when appropriate.
What Earnings Qualify for Contributions and Contribution
Rates
For retirement purposes, all employee earnings (salary/wages, sick pay, pay during
leave, bonuses, etc.) are either qualified or unqualified. Retirement contributions
must be paid on qualified earnings and must not be paid on unqualified earnings.
Qualified earnings must be reported to PSERS in Monthly Work Reports. Unqualified
earnings need not be reported but may be reported in Monthly Work Reports under
“Non Retirement Covered Compensation” (NRCC). See How are Work Reports
Transmitted to PSERS? on page 117.
Qualified Earnings
The types of payments listed below are considered to be qualified earnings for
retirement purposes if they are paid to a school employee who is eligible for PSERS
membership. (See Membership: Mandatory, Optional, and Prohibited on page 13.)
Retirement contributions must be paid on these earnings.
In the monthly Work Reports, you must report earnings in the field indicated
for each type of payment.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 64

• Regular Salary/Wages – Salary/wages based on the standard pay
schedule for which the employee is rendering service. Report these earnings
in the Base field.
• Overtime – Wages, paid over and above the regular salary, which represent
additional hours worked. Report these earnings in the OT (Overtime) field.
• Extracurricular activities – Wages paid for additional duties performed
after normal working hours should be included in the SUPP (Supplemental)
field. Examples of these earnings are wages paid to coaches, ticket takers,
chaperones for school activities, yearbook overseers, etc.
If you employ an individual solely for an extracurricular activity and they
have qualified employment, then the earnings would be reported in the
Base field as qualified salary. The member cannot be currently receiving
a PSERS annuity and they cannot have waived membership in PSERS.
• Jury duty – You must withhold and pay retirement contributions on the
regular, full salary of employees who are serving jury duty. If you are paying
the employee the regular, full salary, report this as usual in the Base field. If
you are paying the employee the difference between the regular, full salary
and the amount the employee is paid for serving on jury duty, report the
amount you actually pay in the Base field and report the amount the
employee is paid for the jury duty in the URCC (Unpaid Retirement Covered
Compensation) field. Keep the Work Status as “ACTIVE – Actively Working”
for employees on jury duty.
• Difference payments – This type of payment applies if you pay a teacher
who is on leave the difference between the teacher’s regular, full salary and
the salary you pay to the substitute teacher who fills in for this teacher. In
this case, you must pay retirement contributions on the regular, full salary.
Report the amount you actually pay in the Base field and report the amount
that is not paid in the Unpaid Retirement Covered Compensation field.
• Incentive payments – Based on a Commonwealth Court decision, incentive
payments are retirement-covered compensation. The following criteria must
be met:
The payment must be tied to work performance.
There is an objective means to calculate the payment.
The employer is contractually obligated to make the payment if the
performance standards are met and are not discretionary or subjective.
The payment is a significant part of the employee’s income.
If the above criteria are met, report the incentive payment in the SUPP
(Supplemental) field and withhold retirement contributions as you would on
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 65

other pay to this employee. If the employee is part-time hourly or per diem
and is not yet having contributions withheld, report the incentive payment in
the WNC (Wages No Contribution) field.
Example #1: All classroom reading teachers whose students show an
average increase in reading ability of X% from the scores earned by an
established testing method will earn an additional $1,000 payment at the
close of the school year. The test(s) must be given during the first 4 weeks
of the school year to establish a base reading level for each student and
during the last 4 weeks of the school year to establish the reading level at
the close of the school year.
Example #2: A bus driver will receive an additional X% of their yearly
salary if they have a whole school year with no accidents and no late runs.
Late runs caused by weather conditions will not be counted against the
driver. Adverse weather conditions will be determined using the standard
school policy.
• Paid Leave – Sick, annual, or personal leave paid to an employee who is on
leave and is NOT making retirement contributions while on the leave MUST
be reported. This type of payment is considered to be qualified earnings
when an employee is reported to PSERS as being on a non-contributing
leave, is NOT receiving Worker’s Compensation while on leave, and is then
paid salary for their accumulated sick leave, annual leave, and/or personal
leave. PSERS considers this payment for “used” leave, which qualifies as
retirement-covered compensation. Report this type of pay in the Base field
and record the contributions on it in the Contributions field. Report service
time for this payment in the Days or Hours field.
If you are reporting the employee’s regular, full salary in the WNC (Wages No
Contribution) field during the leave, do NOT do so when you report the
accumulated sick leave, annual leave, and/or personal leave. The WNC
(Wages No Contribution) field should only be used if ALL of the salary in a
Work Report Record is unpaid and is available for Purchase of Service.
Exception: If the employee is receiving Worker’s Compensation during the
leave, do NOT report any accumulated sick leave, annual leave, and/or
personal leave that you pay to the employee. Continue to report the
employee normally.
• Employee dies while in service – Payment to an employee’s beneficiary or
estate for time worked prior to the employee’s death. Record this payment
in the Base field and make contributions on it normally.
Part-Time Hourly and Per Diem Employees
Part-time hourly and per diem employees become eligible for retirement
contributions on their 500 th hour or 80 th day of employment in a school year. This
service time is cumulative among all PSERS employers, so you must begin
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 66

withholding contributions when the total employment between you and the other
employer(s) reaches 80 days or 500 hours. PSERS will notify you if you do not
begin withholding contributions at the necessary time.
You have two basic choices for these employees:
1. Withhold and report contributions to PSERS from the first day of
employment. In this case, report the employee’s earnings as described
under Qualified Earnings.
Or…
2. Wait and make contributions when the employee reaches 500 hours or 80
days. In this case, prior to the 80 th day / 500 th hour, report all earnings that
would normally be qualified in the WNC (Wages No Contribution) field. Do
not use the Base, OT (Overtime), SUPP (Supplemental), URCC (Unpaid
Retirement Covered Compensation), or EXSAL (Excess Salary) fields.
You must withhold contributions beginning with the employee’s 80 th day or
500 th hour. At this time, you must also begin paying the employer
contributions. The employee and the employer will be billed for the
contributions on the wages reported in the WNC (Wages No Contributions)
filed.
PSERS helps you determine when a part-time employee qualifies for retirement
contributions:
• If you do not pay employer contributions for an employee who qualifies,
PSERS will send you a letter and bill you for the contributions you should
have made. PSERS will also bill the employee for the employee’s share of
the contributions that should have been made.
• If you make employer contributions for an employee and that employee
never reaches 80 days or 500 hours of employment in that school year,
PSERS will credit the contributions to your account after the end of the school
year.
• If an employee does not reach qualification status in a school year and
member contributions were deducted, PSERS will refund the member after all
employer reporting is competed for that school year. An Application for
Partial Refund (Non-Qualifying Service) is not required.
Maximum Earnings Subject to Contributions
IRS Section 401(a)(17) of the Internal Revenue Code limits the amount of
compensation that is subject to retirement contributions for active employees entering
PSERS membership on or after July 1, 1996.
• For employees who became PSERS’ members before July 1, 1996, there is no
maximum earning level beyond which retirement contributions should not be
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 67

made. Contributions must be made on all qualifying earnings for these
employees, regardless of how much they earn in a calendar year.
• For employees who became PSERS’ member on or after July 1, 1996, the
maximum amount of earnings that qualify for retirement contributions may not
exceed the following amounts:
Calendar Year Reportable Compensation Limit
2011 $245,000
2010 $245,000
2009 $245,000
2008 $230,000
If an employee earns more in a calendar year than the limit shown above, all
salary that exceeds this limit should be reported in the EXSAL (Excess Salary) field
on the employee’s Work Report Records for the remainder of that CALENDAR year.
No retirement contributions should be made on this excess salary.
If a determination period consists of fewer than 12 months, the compensation limit
for that year will be multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number
of months in the determination period and the denominator of which is 12.
Example: For an employee who works for 5 months in 2006, the reportable
compensation limit would be $91,667 ($220,000 x 5/12).
Unqualified Earnings (Non Retirement Covered Compensation)
The Public School Employees' Retirement Board's Regulations, 22 Pa. Code §211.2
states that certain types of payments you make to your employees must not be
included in a retirement calculation.
It is highly recommended that you report unqualified earnings to PSERS to reduce
future questions, but it is not required. If reported, unqualified earnings must be
reported in the NRCC (Non Retirement Covered Compensation) field in your monthly
Work Reports.
Below are the types of payments made to a school employee eligible for PSERS
membership that are unqualified earnings.
• Bonuses: As compared with incentive payments, which ARE qualified
earnings, bonuses are paid as an extra amount outside of the contract between
you and the employee and/or are based on subjective criteria.
Example: An employer makes a payment of $1,000 to an employee in
recognition of exceptional performance in the current school year. The
payment is outside of the employee’s contract. This payment is a bonus
because there was no contractual obligation to make the payment and defining
an “exceptional performance” is subjective.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 68

• Severance Payments: Any payment that is contingent upon an employee
retiring is not eligible for retirement contributions.
Example: An employer agrees to pay $5,000 to any member who retires
during the school year. This payment is not compensation for retirement
because it is contingent upon retirement.
• Additional Unqualified Payments: the following types of payments are not
eligible for retirement contributions:
Any payment you make to a non-salary reduction Internal Revenue Code
403(b) tax sheltered annuity, or similar payment. Although it may be
considered compensation, it is not part of the stated salary for the job
position.
Example: If the employer agrees to make a contribution to an
employee’s 403(b) plan in lieu of a salary increase, etc., the amount of
the contribution should be reported in the NRCC (Non Retirement Covered
Compensation) field in your monthly Work Reports.
Any payments (remuneration or a profit derived from one’s office) received
by a school employee for school service that is not based on the standard
pay schedule for which they are rendering service.
Payment for unused sick leave if paid in a lump sum.
Payment of salary from sick leave, annual, or personal leave while an
employee is on a non-contributing leave and is receiving a Worker’s
Compensation benefit. This is considered payment for “unused” leave.
Payment to an employee while on a non-contributing leave when the
compensation does not equal at least one-half of the employee's regular
contract salary (see Reporting – Leaves of Absence on page 100.)
Special payments for health and welfare plans based on the hours
employed.
Payment for unused vacation days or annual leave.
Payment for unused personal days.
Payments for attending school seminars and conventions.
Reimbursements for expenses, including tuition.
Payments or a profit derived from one’s office that may be negotiated in a
collective bargaining agreement for the express purpose of enhancing the
compensation factor for retirement benefits.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 69

Payments made because of settlement or an arbitration or court case
when the settlement involves less than full reinstatement, back pay, and
benefits.
Interest payment included with settlements or arbitration of a court case.
All settlements or salary from arbitration will be reviewed by PSERS on a
case-by-case basis. Send the information in writing to PSERS. Be sure
to state what the settlement represents in detail and what the salary
payment represents. You must provide a copy of the court award or
arbitration.
• Salaries for PSERS retirees hired for employment due to an emergency or
shortage of personnel. An emergency is characterized as an increase in
workload that creates a serious impairment of service to the public or a
shortage of appropriate subject certified teachers or personnel.
Salaries for PSERS retirees hired for an extracurricular activity. This
applies only if hired under both of the following conditions:
• The retiree is hired for an extracurricular position that is conducted
outside of the regular instructional hours and is not part of the
school’s mandated curriculum.
• The retiree is employed under a separate written contract with you;
and the written contract contains both:
A waiver by the retiree of any potential retirement benefits that
could result from the post-retirement employment, and…
A release of both you and PSERS from any liability for benefits
related to the post-retirement employment.
Payments to a student who is working as part of the student’s
curriculum. If the work is NOT part of the curriculum, it is considered to
be QUALIFIED earnings if the student is age 15 or older.
Salary paid to employees serving as PIAA officials (they are considered
independent contractors contracted through PIAA).
Payments to an employee on a leave of absence due to a collective
bargaining issue, in some circumstances. Contact PSERS to determine this.
(This is a case-by-case basis). To contact PSERS, see Contacting PSERS on
page 192.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 70

Payment to an employee in lieu of a benefit the employee is eligible to
receive, or any reimbursement received by the employee. (These
payments do not become part of your standard pay schedule.)
Example: Payments in lieu of your employer-sponsored vision and dental
plan.
Determining Employee Contribution Rates
The contribution rate for each employee depends on several factors. You must
determine the correct rate for each employee when that employee first begins work
for you. It is also possible for an employee’s contribution rate to change under
certain circumstances.
As a double-check, PSERS calculates the contributions automatically for each
employee and compares these contributions against the contribution reported in your
Work Report. If the contributions do not match, PSERS notifies you of the
discrepancy by identifying the information as an exception in the work report and
charges or credits the difference to your account with PSERS. Employers should
always check for exceptions in the work report before approving. Contact
PSERS immediately if you do not agree with the rate PSERS displays in the exception
message. The rate will be reviewed for accuracy.
Membership Class
Employees who become a member of PSERS on or after July 1, 1967, automatically
belong to the standard rate group. These employees are also members of the Dual
Coverage group.
All employees who become a member of PSERS after June 30, 2001, are
automatically in Class T-D membership and have a standard contribution rate of 7.50
percent of salary.
Employees who became members of PSERS prior to July 1, 2001, had a standard
contribution rate of 5.25 percent or 6.25 percent of salary. If the employees elected
the new Class T-D, their contribution rate increased by 1.25 percent of their
previously established contribution rate.
Employees who did not elect the new Class T-D membership remain in Class T-C with
a standard contribution rate of 5.25 percent or 6.25 percent of salary.
If an employee has had a break in service or other qualifying event, consult the chart
on page 73 to see if the employee’s contribution rate has changed.
Membership Classes T-E and T-F
These membership classes are for school employees who become new members of
PSERS on or after July 1, 2011. All new members will automatically become Class T-E
members. New members will have a one-time opportunity to elect Class-F. Failure to
elect Class T-F at the time of original eligibility will make the member ineligible for
Class T-F Forever. Once the election is made either by action or inaction, the election
is permanent.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 71

Membership ClassT-E has a pension multiplier of 2% and a contribution base rate of
7.5% with “shared risk” contribution levels between 7.5%-9.5%. If the employee has
never been a member of PSERS is not actually providing services until after July 1,
2011 then the contract record should have this employee at a 7.5% contribution rate
as a Class T-E member.
Membership Class T-F has a pension multiplier of 2.5% and a contribution base rate
of 10.3% with “shared risk” contribution levels between 10.3%and 12.3%.
Class T-E and T-F members cannot withdraw contributions and interest when retiring.
They have a ten year vesting period. Class T-E and T-F members must work until age
65 with a minimum of 3 years of service or attain a total combination of age and
service that is equal or greater than 93 with a minimum of 35 years of service for
normal retirement. Their pension benefit after their option selection cannot exceed
the member’s final average salary. Employees starting after July 1, 2011 will
contribute based on the “shared risk” rate in effect at date of hire.
Shared Risk
Beginning with the annual actuarial valuation ending June 30, 2014, PSERS will
compare the actual investment rate of return, net of fees, to the actuarial assumed
rate of return for the previous period. Every three years the system will compare the
actual investment rate of return with the assumed rate of return for the prior 10 year
period. Until a full 10 year look-back period is available, the look-back period will not
go further than July 1, 2011 and occur in 3 year increments. The first look-back
period will be from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2014. This will be analyzed in
2014, and the PSERS Board would set the corresponding contribution rate in
December 2014 for a change in rate (if applicable) effective date of July 1,
2015.
If the investment rate of return (less investment fees) is equal to or exceeds the
assumed rate of return, the member’s contribution rate will decrease by .5%.
If the earnings during the ten-year period are 1.0% or more below the assumed rate
of return, the member’s contribution rate would increase by .5%.
The rate can never go below the base rate of 7.5% for Class T-E and 10.3% for Class
T-F members, or above 9.5% for Class T-E and 12.3% for Class T-F members. If the
system is fully funded at the time of the comparison, then the member contribution
rate reverts to the base rate for the class. The investment return measurement return
period will begin on July 1, 2011. If the employer rate is below the final contribution,
the shared risk rate will revert back to the base. If the employer rate has not
increased in the prior 3-year period, then the shared risk rate will not increase.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 72

Quick Reference – When the Contribution Rate Changes
Certain situations can cause the contribution rate for an employee to change:
Hired… and… Contribution Rates
prior to July 22,
1983
The employee has a 90-day or
longer break in service, or a 2 year
non-contributing leave and
returned after July 1983.
A break in service is defined as a
90-day period during which the
employee is not employed.
If class T-C,
report
at...6.25%
If Class T-D,
report
at...7.5%
prior to July 22,
1983
prior to July 22,
1983
prior to July 22,
1983
Summer vacation is not
considered a break in service.
The employee refunds, vests or
takes a normal, early, or
disability retirement and
subsequently returns to service
on or after 7/1/2001.
a part-time member who qualifies
for membership each school year
The employee is purchasing the
period beginning with the
effective date of hire to the
effective date on which
retirement withholding began.
Submit a letter to the Member
Accounting Section certifying the
employee's effective date, that
the employee was employed prior
to the time purchased, and
retirement contributions were
deducted after July 22, 1983.
N/A (Return to
membership
will qualify
under Class T-
D)
If Class T-C,
report
at...5.25%
If Class T-C,
report
at...5.25%
If Class T-D,
report
at...7.5%
If Class T-D,
report
at...6.5%
If Class T-D,
report
at...6.5%
prior to July 22,
1983
An employee who refunds but
returns their checks because they
decided not to refund is allowed to
remain at the rate as long as the
employee has returned to service
within 90 days of leaving service.
The check must be returned to
PSERS within 90 days.
If Class T-C,
report
at...5.25%
If Class T-D,
report
at...6.5%
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 73

after July 22,
1983, but prior
to July 1, 2001
a part-time employee who fails to
qualify for membership during a
school year
N/A (Return to
membership
will qualify
under Class T-
D)
If Class T-D,
report
at...7.5%
Quick Reference – Act 120 Contribution Rate Changes
Certain situations can cause the contribution rate for an employee to change:
Hired… And… Contribution Rates
Qualified on
or after July1,
2011
Qualified on
or after July1,
2011
Qualified on
or after July1,
2011
If the employee has never been a
member of PSERS and is not
acutally providing services until
after July1, 2011
Election to Class T-F
Shared Risk
Automatically placed in Class
T-E, report at 7.5%; will have
option to elect T-F once
qualified
Rate increased from 7.5% to
10.3%
If Class T-E,
7.5% - 9.5%
If Class T-F,
10.3% - 12.3%
Qualified on
or after July1,
2011
Break in service longer than 90
days or a 2 year non contributing
leave and returned after July 1,
2011
If Class T-E,
report at
7.5%
If Class T-F,
report at
10.3%
Qualified on
or after July1,
2011
The employee refunds, vests or
takes a normal, early, or disability
retirement and subsequently
returns to service on or after
7/1/2011.
If Class T-E,
report at
7.5%
If Class T-F,
report at
10.3%
Exceptions
• An employee who transfers to another employer is considered not to have a
break in service if the transfer is made within 90 days of resignation from the
former employment.
• An employee who is furloughed or on a leave of absence is permitted to return
to service within a two-year period and maintain the previous rate of
contribution.
• An employee who does not work because of a strike maintains the previous
rate of contribution.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 74

Part-time employees reported, who qualified in a previous school year, worked a short
period of time in the next school year, went on leave without pay or were furloughed
should remain at the established rate. This is provided they returned to service within
a two-year period even though they may have refunded the money reported in a
school year for which they did not qualify.
Breaks in Service and How it Affects Contribution
Rates
Once a member qualifies for membership all service earned after the initial
qualification will be considered qualified until their membership is broken. Members
who break membership do have to re-qualify to receive retirement credit for service
upon their return. The following examples constitute breaks in membership.
Example: A member terminates and refunds his contributions and interest.
Example: A non-vested member terminates without refunding his contributions and
interest and does not return to service prior to the expiration of inactive member
status (a period of two full fiscal years from June 30 of the last FY of the member’s
last day of paid service).
Example: a non-vested member is not reported as being employed by a public school
employer for a period of two full fiscal years from June 30 of the last FY of the
member’s last day of paid service, irrelevant of refunding his contributions and
interest, unless the member was granted MS and is active with SERS.
Break in Service vs. Break in Membership
A break in membership occurs when a member refunds or the inactive period of two
fiscal years has lapsed and they are not vested.
A break in service is termination no re-employment for a period that exceeds 90 days
or a leave of absence greater than the 2 year inactive period.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 75

Chapter
6
Reporting – Monthly Work
Report
Once you have submitted any demographic and/or contract record changes that have
occurred since you submitted your last work report, you are ready to submit your
monthly work report.
Each month you are required to report all of your employee’s wages to PSERS
(including all Part-time employees) unless the employee has been approved to waive
PSERS membership, is ineligible for PSERS membership, or is a PSERS retiree working
under the provisions of Act 2004-63 (emergency or shortage of school personnel OR
in an extracurricular position under a separate contract).
Work Reports may be submitted by importing them or creating them manually. They
should be submitted via the employer web by the 10 th of each month and then
approved no later than the 20 th of the month for the prior month’s activity. PSERS
strongly recommend that you submit your Work Reports on or before the 10 th of the
month so you can submit timely and accurate payments.
A description of each of the work report fields is described in Work Report Record
Fields on page 86.
How is Work Reports Transmitted to PSERS?
Work Reports may be submitted manually (Method # 1) or by importing a formatted
file (Method # 2). Each method is described in the section below.
First, access the Employer Services window in the online system. If you are not
familiar with how to do this, see Accessing the Online System on page 1.
Upon logging in, the Main Page is displayed. In the left-hand menu, click on “Work
Reporting”. A sub-menu will appear, as shown below:
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 76

Work Reporting Sub-Menu
For further details on the Monthly Work Report Info Sub-Menu refer to the chapter
titled Sub Menus on page 141.
Method # 1: Manually Creating a Work Report Online
Some employers may prefer or need to enter their Work Report Records manually
rather than uploading a file to PSERS. Small employers, who do not have a
payroll/HR software system to create importable files, typically use this option. If you
would like to submit your work reports using an Excel template instead of submitting
each record manually, please contact your Employer Service Center Representative.
From the “Work Reporting” sub-menu on the left side of the screen, click “Create
Work Report.” You will see the following on your screen:
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 77

Enter the calendar Year and Month in which the salary and service you are
reporting was earned. Enter the year in YYYY format, with no spaces, dashes, or
other characters. Select the appropriate Month from the drop-down box.
After entering the Year and Month, click the Create button. You will see the following
screen:
This screen is the Work Area Detail Window. From here you will add or edit your
employees’ Work Report Records. To add an employee to the work report, click the
“Add” button (additional instructions can also be found under Adding and Editing a
Work Report Record on page 84). To delete a record from the work report, select the
record (in the delete column) and then click the “Save” button. To Save the work
report, click the “Save” button. To cancel a record that hasn’t been saved yet, click
the “Cancel” button.
A description of each of the work report fields is described under Work Report Record
Fields on page 86.
NOTE: You should save the report after each record OR once you have one page of
records completed (10 records) or your data will not be saved. Also, if a record is
invalid, it will not be saved (the error must be fixed before moving forward or your
data may need to be re-entered). If you have records that are marked as
“Exceptions” (highlighted in orange), they must be reviewed prior to approval (these
records will be processed but may contain an error). If you have any questions
regarding any Invalid or Exception messages, you can contact your Employer Service
Center Representative.
Once all of you data entry is complete and verified for accuracy, you can approve your
work report. From the “Work Reporting” sub-menu on the left side of the screen,
click “Work Area”. The following default screen will be displayed. To see the listing
of Manual work reports, you must change the radio button to Manual Reports.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 78

This screen shows all pending imported work reports. To approve a work report, you
need to select the desired work report and then click the Approve button. A display
message will appear
Method # 2: Uploading a Work Report File (most
common reporting method)
Only one Work Report can be submitted for a particular month, so ensure your
Work Report is complete and correct before you approve it for submission to PSERS.
See Reporting – Ensuring the Monthly Work Report is Complete and Correct on page 94.
If you are using this method to submit your monthly work report, the fields must be
formatted as described below under “Format for Work Report Files”. Further
information can also be found in Chapter 13 – Standard File Format. The first row of
data is called the “header record row”, which contains information regarding the file
(type of file, employer code, month and year of the work report, number of records,
total dollar amount for each wage category, and the date and time). The remaining
rows of data are the “record lines”, which contain the member’s information and data
to be reported for the month (SSN, date of birth, fiscal year, wage type, work status,
days and/or hours, contributions, and wage totals).
From the “Work Reporting” sub-menu on the left side of the screen, click “File
Upload.”
To add an employee to the work report, click the “Add” button. To “Delete” a record
from the work report, select the record (in the delete column) and then click the
“Save” button. To Save the work report, click the “Save” button. To cancel a record
that hasn’t been saved yet, click the “Cancel” button. To see an individual record,
click on the Edit, Detail, or SSN.
A description of each of the work report fields is described under the “Work Report
Record Fields” section on page 86.
NOTE: You should save the report after each change OR once you have one page of
changes completed (10 records) or your data may not be saved. If you have records
that are marked as “Invalid” (highlighted in red), they must be fixed prior to approval.
If a record is listed as “Invalid” after the work report is approved, it will not be
transmitted to PSERS and you will need to submit an adjustment to have the data
added to the employee’s account. If you have records that are marked as
“Exceptions” (highlighted in orange), they must be reviewed prior to approval (these
records will be processed but may contain an error). If you have any questions
regarding any of these Invalid or Exception messages, you can contact your Employer
Service Center Representative.
Once all of your data entry is complete and verified for accuracy, you can approve
your work report. From the “Work Reporting” sub-menu on the left side of the
screen, click “Work Area”.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 79

This screen shows all pending work reports. To approve a work report, you need to
select the desired work report and then click the Approve button.
For information on how to navigate in the Work Report File Window see the chapter
on Work Area Window on page 149.
Format for Work Report Files
For information on how to correctly format a Work Report see the chapter titled
Standard File Format on page 145.
Header of the Work Report File
The Work Report file must include a single-line header as the first row in the file. The
header row identifies the type of file, employer code, month and year of the work
report, number of records in the file, total dollar amount for each wage category, and
the date and time the file was created.
This information must be in the following format:
Note: All fields are required. The “Start” column indicates what column that the field
begins in on the header line. The “Bytes” column indicates how many bytes
(characters) are in the field. All fields are a fixed-length.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 80

Header
Record
Type
Employer
Code
Reporting
Period
Date
Detail
Record
Count
R/O/C
R = Required
O = Optional
C = Condition
Format &
al Bytes Start
R 1 1 Alpha (R=Work
Report)
R 6 2 Numeric 6-digit
number
R 6 8 Date as
MMYYYY
R 6 14 Numeric 6-digit
number
Base Total R 12 20 Numeric as
#########.
##
Unpaid
Retirement
Covered
Compensation
Total
Overtime
Total
Supplemental
Total
Wages No
Contribution
Total
Member
POS
Installment
Total
Excess
Salary
Total
Non-
Retirement
Covered
Compensation
Creation
Date and
Time
R 12 32 Numeric
#########.
##
R 12 44 Numeric
#########.
##
R 12 56 Numeric
#########.
##
R 12 68 Numeric
#########.
##
R 12 80 Numeric
#########.
##
R 12 92 Numeric as
######.##
R 12 104 Numeric as
######.##
R 12 116 Date as
MMDDYYYY
HHMM
Values Sample Comments
R
Describes the
incoming file type;
Member Work Report
information.
003456 Employer ID assigned
by PSERS
052006 The month and year
being reported in the
Work Report. Cannot
be duplicated.
002680 Total number of Work
Report Records.
666777888.99
or
000000000.00
666777888.99
or
000000000.00
666777888.99
or
000000000.00
666777888.99
or
000000000.00
666777888.99
or
000000000.00
666777888.99
or
000000000.00
666777888.99
or
000000000.00
666777888.99
or
000000000.00
102520061300
or
000000000.00
Total dollar amount
of Base field in all
Work Report Records.
Total dollar amount
of Unpaid Retirement
Covered
Compensation field in
all Work Report
Records.
Total dollar amount
of Overtime field in
all Work Report
Records.
Total dollar amount
of Supplemental field
in all Work Report
Records.
Total dollar amount
of Wages No
Contribution field in
all Work Report
Records.
Total dollar amount
of Member POS
Installment field in all
Work Report Records.
Total dollar amount
of Member Excess
Salary field in all
Work Report Records.
Total dollar amount
of Non-Retirement
Covered
Compensation field in
all Work Report
Records.
File creation date and
time in military
format.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 81

Record Lines in the Work Report File
The remaining rows of data are the “record lines”, which contain the member’s
information and data to be reported for the month (SSN, date of birth, fiscal year,
wage type, work status, days and/or hours, contributions, and wage totals).
Each Work Report Record must consist of a single line of information, in the
following format:
Note: All fields are required. The “Start” column indicates what column that the field begins
in. The “Bytes” column indicates how many bytes (characters) are in the field. All fields are a
fixed-length. Do not leave blank spaces except under “Filler”.
Social
Security
Number
Date of
Birth
Fiscal
Year
Ending
Wage
Type
Work
Status
R/O/C
R = Required
O = Optional
C = Conditional Bytes
Star
t
Format &
Values Sample Comments
R 9 1 Numeric 123456789 Required
R 8 10 Date as
MMDDYYYY
04121980 Required
R 4 18 Year as YYYY 2006 The fiscal year in
which the salary and
service were earned.
R 2 22 Alpha
SA
The wage type must
SA = Salary
match the Contract
PD = Per Diem
Record submitted.
HR = Hourly
R 6 24 Alpha; value
from Work
Status Table
Base C 9 30 Numeric as
######.##
Unpaid
Retirement
Covered
Compen
sation
Overtime
C 9 39 Numeric as
######.##
O 9 48 Numeric as
######.##
ACTIVE
005000.00
or
000000.00
005000.00
or
000000.00
000100.00
or
000000.00
The work status that
was in effect at the
end of the month of
the reporting period.
This field is required
if… Work Status
equals ACTIVE AND
both Supplemental
AND Wages No
Contribution equal
zero. Work Status
equals SABTLC.
Work Status equals
ACTMLC, STUDYC,
EXCHGC, SSLWCC,
UNIONC, or SSLSSC
AND Unpaid
Retirement
Contributions equals
zero.
This field is required
if…
Work status equals
SABTLC Work
status equals
ACTMLC, STUDYC,
EXCHGC, SSLWCC,
UNIONC, or SSLSSC
AND Base equals zero
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 82

R/O/C
R = Required
O = Optional
C = Conditional Bytes
Star
t
Format &
Values Sample Comments
Supplemental
C 9 57 Numeric as 000100.00 If Work Status equals
######.##
or ACTIVE AND both
Base AND Wages No
000000.00
Contribution equal
zero, then Required.
Contribu C 9 66 Numeric as 000350.00 If Base OR
tions
######.##
or Supplemental OR
Overtime OR Unpaid
000000.00
Retirement Covered
Compensation is not
zero, then
Contributions
Required.
Hours C 4 75 Numeric as
####
0160 or
0000
If Wage Type equals
HR AND
(Contributions are
greater than zero OR
Wages No
Contributions are
greater than zero)
then Required, else
Optional.
Days C 6 79 Numeric as
###.##
Wages
No
Contribu
tions
Member
POS
Installment
Excess
Salary
C 9 85 Numeric as
######.##
O 9 94 Numeric as
######.##
C 9 103 Numeric as
######.##
020.00
or
000.00
000100.00
or
000000.00
000100.00
or
000000.00
000100.00
or
000000.00
If Wage Type equals
PD AND
(Contributions are
greater than zero OR
Wages No
Contribution greater
than zero) then
Required, else
Optional.
This field is required
if…
Work Status equals
ACTMLN OR SSLWCN
SSLSSN OR STUDYN
OR EXCHGN.
Work Status equals
ACTIVE AND (Wage
Type equals HR OR
PD) AND Base equals
zero AND
Supplemental equals
zero, then Required.
If you are deducting
Purchase of Service
for employee, this
field must represent
the amount withheld.
If Work Status =
ACTIVE and Base
exceeds the 401(a)
(17) limitation, then
Base must not be
greater the 401(a)
(17) limitation and
Excess Salary must >
0.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 83

Non-
Retirement
Covered
Compen
sation
R/O/C
R = Required
O = Optional
Star Format &
C = Conditional Bytes t
O 9 112 Numeric as
######.##
Filler R 7 121 NULL Filler.
Space filled to
match fixed
length of header
record.
Values Sample Comments
000100.00
or
000000.00
Optional field for Non-
Retirement Covered
Comp, such as
payment of unused
sick time, bonus pay,
etc.
7 spaces
Not Required
For information on how to navigate in the Work Report File Window see the chapter
on Work Area Window on page 149.
Adding and Editing a Work Report Record
To add a new Work Report Record to the monthly Work Report, click Add on the
Work Report Record Detail window. You will be prompted to enter the SSN (social
security number) for the employee whose work you are entering.
Enter the social security number and click “Submit.”. A blank record will appear in
the work report. Complete the data fields as needed. A description of each of the
work report fields is described under the “Work Report Record Fields” section.
• If there is no Member Demographic Information on file, for the social security
number you entered, you will see the message, “Error – SSN does not exist.”
Click in each field in and enter the data to be reported for the month.
or…
Click on Edit to the left of the Work Report Record. This will take you into the
Edit window, described under Using the Edit Window, next. This window
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 84

provides more information about any error(s) and exception(s) in the record
as you edit.
Add a Work Report Record for each employee who is to be reported. If an employee
works more than one position for you, combine the positions by Wage Type (hourly,
per diem, and salaried). For example, combine all of an employee’s hourly positions
into a single Work Report Record. If the work report is approved and the records are
not combined by Wage Type, the record(s) will be marked as “Invalid” and not
transmitted to PSERS. Using the Edit Window it allows you to add or edit information
for any individual Work Report Record. To access this window, click on “Edit” to the
left of a Work Report Record in the Work Report Record Detail window.
The Edit window looks like the following:
Note: You must use leading zeros when editing an uploaded file.
Enter information into the appropriate fields. For more information on any field, see
Work Report Record Fields on page 86.
When done entering information, click Save. The record will be validated to ensure
that all information is entered in the correct format and that all necessary fields have
been filled in for this Work Report Record.
• If any errors or exceptions are found during the validation process, you will be
returned to the Edit window, and the errors or exceptions will be displayed near
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 85

the top of the window. Errors must be corrected. Exceptions are shown for
your reference, so you can verify that the information is correct. Once the
record is corrected, you must click the “Save” button on the Detail screen and
on the main work report screen. Some sample errors include:
• If the Work Report Record passes the validation check, it will be saved to your
monthly Work Report. You will be returned to the Edit window, with the
message, “Msg – Member work record created successfully” near the top of the
screen. You must click the “Save” button on the Detail screen and on the main
work report screen. You may make additional changes and save those, or you
may click “Cancel” to exit from this screen. Clicking “Cancel” will cause you to
lose any changes you made since the last “Save.” When entering new
information or entering new data, always save the file twice before leaving in
order to ensure that the data will be retained.
Note: Errors are not saved on manual files. Errors are only saved to edit later on
uploaded files.
All errors must be corrected before you can save the Work Report Record and exit
from the Edit window. Exceptions are shown for your information; you may save and
exit with the exception still in place. If you must leave this window without correcting
all errors, click “Cancel” and then edit the record when you have the correct
information.
Work Report Record Fields
Each Work Report Record contains the following fields:
• Social Security Number
• Date of Birth
• YEAR (Fiscal Year Ending): A fiscal year starts July 1 st and ends June 30 th .
Enter the ending year of the fiscal year in which the salary and service was
earned (not paid). Enter the year in YYYY format, with no spaces, dashes, or
other characters.
Example # 1: For the November 2007 work report, the fiscal year is
2007-2008; therefore the Year is entered as 2008.
Example # 2: For the April 2008 work report, the fiscal year is 2007-
2008; therefore the Year is entered as 2008.
Example # 3: For the July 2008 work report, the fiscal year can be
2007/2008 OR 2008/2009. If the wages and service were earned in the
2007/2008 fiscal year, then the Year is entered as 2008. If the wages
and service were earned in the 2008/2009 fiscal year, then the Year is
entered as 2009.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 86

If an employee is getting paid for two different fiscal years on
one monthly work report, two records should be submitted on
the work report (one for each fiscal year).
July, August, and September are the only three months that
PSERS will allow two different fiscal years on a work report.
Contract settlements must be reported in the correct fiscal
year(s). Therefore, if a settlement is for the current fiscal
year, you can include it in your current work report. If the
settlement is for a prior fiscal year(s) and is paid in the
current/different fiscal year, an adjustment must be submitted
for the correct fiscal year(s) that the contract settlement
applies to so that the correct Employer Share cost is
calculated.
• Wage Type: Select “Hourly,” “Per Diem,” or “Salary” from the drop-down
menu, based on how this position is paid (the employee must have a Contract
Record that matches this Wage Type).
If an employee is on a leave of absence, select the Wage Type for how the
employee would be paid if not on leave.
• Work Status: Select the appropriate Work Status from the drop-down menu
(the employee must have a Contract Record that matches this Work Status).
Additional information on Work Statuses can be found on page 45.
• BASE: Enter the employee’s base salary earned during the period being
reported. Do not include any earnings above the IRS 401(a) (17) limitations.
Enter the earnings as up to 6-dollar digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents digits.
Do not enter the dollar sign or any punctuation other than the single decimal
point.
Example: If the employee earned $1,233.00, enter: 1233.00.
This field must be higher than zero if any of the following is true:
Work Status is “ACTIVE - Actively Working” AND the SUP (Supplemental)
AND WNC (Wages No Contribution) fields both equal zero.
or…
Work Status is “SABTLC – Sabbatical Contributing Leave.”
or…
URCC (Unpaid Retirement Contributions) equals zero AND Work Status is
any paid/contributing leave of absence: “ACTMLC - Activated Military
Contributing Leave”; “STUDYC - Professional Study Contributing Leave”;
“EXCHGC - Exchange Teacher Contributing Leave”; “SSLWCC - Special Sick
Leave, Worker’s Compensation (Contributing)”; “SSLSSC - Special Sick
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 87

Leave, School Sponsored (Contributing)”; or “UNIONC - Collective
Bargaining Unit Contributing Leave.”
• URCC (Unpaid Retirement Covered Compensation): Enter any
salary/wages that were not paid due to a contributing leave of absence, but on
which contributions were paid by the employee. Enter the amount as up to 6-
dollar digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents digits. Do not enter the dollar sign or
any punctuation other than the single decimal point.
If you are paying partial salary to the employee during the leave, enter the
amount you actually pay into the BASE field. In the URCC field, enter the
difference between the amount you are actually paying to the employee and
the full, regular salary the employee would have earned if not on leave.
Contributions must be made on the employee’s full, regular salary. For details,
see Reporting – Leaves of Absence on page 100.
Example: An employee who normally earns $3,500 per month is earning
$2,000 per month while on sabbatical. Enter 2000.00 in the BASE field and
1500.00 in the URCC field. Calculate contributions based on $3,500 and enter
these into the CONTRIB field.
The URCC field must be higher than zero if any of the following is true:
Work Status is “SABTLC – Sabbatical Contributing Leave.”
or…
BASE equals zero AND Work Status is any paid/contributing leave of
absence: “ACTMLC - Activated Military Contributing Leave”; “STUDYC -
Professional Study Contributing Leave”; “EXCHGC - Exchange Teacher
Contributing Leave”; “SSLWCC - Special Sick Leave, Worker’s
Compensation (Contributing)”; “SSLSSC - Special Sick Leave, School
Sponsored (Contributing)”; or “UNIONC - Collective Bargaining Unit
Contributing Leave.”
• OT (Overtime): Enter any compensation paid to the employee over and
above the regular salary, for additional hours worked. Do not include any
earnings above the IRS 401(a) (17) limitations. Enter the earnings as up to 6-
dollar digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents digits. Do not enter the dollar sign or
any punctuation other than the single decimal point.
• SUP (Supplemental): Enter any compensation paid to the employee over
and above the regular salary, for additional duties performed. Only enter
earnings into this field if they are eligible for retirement contributions; if not,
use the WNC (Wages No Contributions), EXSAL (Excess Salary), or NRCC (Non
Retirement Covered Compensation) field. Do not include any earnings above
the IRS 401(a) (17) limitations. Enter the earnings as up to 6-dollar digits, a
decimal point, and 2 cents digits. Do not enter the dollar sign or any
punctuation other than the single decimal point.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 88

This field may be used to enter earnings from a part-time hourly or per diem
position that is worked in addition to a salaried position. In this case, enter the
supplemental hours worked in the HRS (Hours) field or the supplemental days
worked in the DAYS field. Include contributions on the Supplemental wages in
the CONTRIB (Contributions) field.
This field must be higher than zero if ALL of the following are true:
Work Status is “ACTIVE - Actively Working”
BASE equals zero,
and…
WNC (Wages No Contribution) equals zero.
• CONTRIB (Contributions): Enter the contributions you withheld from the
employee’s paycheck. Contributions must be calculated on the total amount
entered into the following fields: BASE, SUP (Supplemental), OT (Overtime),
and URCC (Unpaid Retirement Covered Compensation). To determine the
contribution rate for an employee, see Determining Employee Contribution
Rates on page 71.
Enter the amount as up to 6-dollar digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents digits.
Do not enter the dollar sign or any punctuation other than the single decimal
point.
The CONTRIB field must be higher than zero if any of the following is true:
BASE is greater than zero.
or…
SUP (Supplemental) is greater than zero.
or…
OT (Overtime) is greater than zero.
or…
URCC (Unpaid Retirement Covered Compensation) is greater than zero.
• HRS (Hours): For employees who are paid hourly, enter the number of hours
worked during the period being reported. Only enter hours that count as
Service Time. Enter the hours using four digits (decimals must be rounded to a
whole number).
Examples: Enter 86 for an hourly employee who worked 86.4 hours during
the month. Enter 87 for an hourly employee who worked 86.5 hours during
the month.
Employees on Leave: For an employee who is on a Contributing leave and
who is normally paid hourly when not on leave enter the number of hours the
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 89

employee would have worked if not on leave. For an employee who is on a
non-contributing leave, leave HRS blank or enter: 0000.
Exception: Service time must be added for Activated Military Non-
Contributing Leaves.
This field must be higher than zero if Wage Type is Hourly AND either of the
following is true:
CONTRIB (Contributions) is greater than zero
or…
WNC (Wages No Contribution) is greater than zero AND Work Status is
“ACTIVE – Actively Working.”
• DAYS: For employees, who are paid on a per diem or salaried basis, enter the
number of days worked during the period being reported. Only enter days that
count as Service Time. Enter the days as 3-day digits, a decimal point, and
two partial-day digits.
Example: Enter 19.50 for a per diem employee who worked 19 ½ days during
the month.
For Salaried Employees: You must report service time for salaried employees
either monthly or annually in May or June. If you choose to report these days
annually, on the May or June work report you will enter the employee’s entire
service time for the fiscal (school) year in the DAYS field. This must include all
service time earned by the employee from July 1 to June 30.
Employees on Leave: For an employee who is on a Contributing leave and who
is normally paid on a salaried or per diem basis when not on leave enter the
number of days the employee would have worked if not on leave.
Exception: Service time must be added for Activated Military Non-Contributing
Leaves.
This field must be higher than zero if Wage Type is Per Diem (or Wage Type is
Salaried and this is the Work Report for June and days were not reported in May) AND
either of the following is true:
CONTRIB (Contributions) is greater than zero
or…
WNC (Wages No Contribution) is greater than zero AND Work Status is
“ACTIVE – Actively Working.”
• WNC (Wages No Contribution): This field is used for wages/salary (either
paid or unpaid) upon which contributions are NOT being made. Only enter
wages/salary in this field if they may be available for Purchase of Service at a
later time. There are two situations where this is the case:
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 90

If a part-time hourly or per diem employee is not qualified/contributing yet
(because the employee has worked fewer than 500 hours or 80 days each
school year), enter the wages/salary paid to the employee during the
period being reported.
or…
If an employee is on a non-contributing leave of absence that can be
purchased later (“ACTMLN – Activated Military Non-Contributing Leave,”
“SSLSSN – Special Sick Leave, School Sponsored (Non-Contributing),”
”SSLWCN – Special Sick Leave, Worker’s Compensation (Non-
Contributing),“ “STUDYN – Professional Study Non-Contributing Leave,” or
“EXCHGN – Exchange Teacher Non-Contributing Leave”), enter the
wages/salary the employee would have earned if not on leave.
Do NOT enter anything into the WNC (Wages No Contribution) field for
employees on a non-contributing leave that cannot be purchased later
(“LEAVEN – Any Other Leave Not Listed (Non-Contributing)” or “WKCMPN –
Worker’s Compensation Non-Contributing Leave”).
Enter the amount as up to 6-dollar digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents digits.
Do not enter the dollar sign or any punctuation other than the single decimal
point.
Note: This field CANNOT be used for Full-time or Part-time salaried employees.
Salaried employees must have retirement deductions withheld beginning the
first day of service unless employee is part-time salaried and PSERS
membership is waived.
The WNC field must be higher than zero if any of the following is true:
Work Status is one of these non-contributing leaves of absence: “ACTMLN
- Activated Military Non-Contributing Leave”; “EXCHGN - Exchange Teacher
Non-Contributing Leave”; “STUDYN - Professional Study Non-Contributing
Leave”; “SSLSSN - Special Sick Leave, School Sponsored (Non-
Contributing)”; or “SSLWCN - Special Sick Leave, Worker's Compensation
(Non-Contributing)”
or…
Wage Type is Hourly or Per Diem AND BASE equals zero AND SUP
(Supplemental) equals zero AND Work Status is “ACTIVE - Actively Working”..
If you pay any salary to an employee during a non-contributing leave, see
Reporting – Leaves of Absence on page 100.
• POS (Member Purchase of Service Installments): This field is used when
an employee is paying installments to purchase service. The employee must
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 91

have received a Statement of Amount Due before initiating any Member POS
Installments.
Enter the amount as up to 6-dollar digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents digits.
Do not enter the dollar sign or any punctuation other than the single decimal
point.
Note: The member’s Statement of Amount Due shows a guideline of
installment payments and will not reflect the exact amount that is owed. The
approved monthly work report will track the payments for the POS against the
debt (the balance owed)
Enter 000000.00 if the employee is not purchasing service.
• EXSAL (Excess Salary): This field is used when an employee earns more
than the IRS 401(a) (17) limitations, described in What Earnings Qualify for
Contributions and Contributions Rates on page 64. Enter the employee’s
wages/salary up to the IRS 401(a) (17) limit in the BASE field and enter any
amount above this limit in the EXSAL field.
Enter the earnings as up to 6-dollar digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents digits.
Do not enter the dollar sign or any punctuation other than the single decimal
point.
• NRCC (Non-Retirement Covered Compensation): Enter any salary/wages
that do not qualify for retirement contributions as described in What Earnings
Qualify for Contributions and Contributions Rates on page 64. Enter the
amount as up to 6-dollar digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents digits. Do not
enter the dollar sign or any punctuation other than the single decimal point.
Example: Non-qualified earnings include payment for unused sick time and
bonus pay that is NOT paid as an incentive for a measurable goal. Enter these
into the NRCC field and do not calculate contributions on this amount.
Saving Your Changes
After adding, deleting, or editing any Work Report Records, always save your work.
Click “Save” in the Work Report Record Detail window BEFORE you log out or go to
another part of the system.
IMPORTANT: If you log out or go to another part of the system without clicking
“Save” first, you will lose ALL changes you made since the last save. In this case, any
records you added will be lost, any records you deleted will be restored, and any
records you edited will be returned to their previous information.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 92

Submitting the Monthly Work Report to PSERS
For information on how to submit a Monthly Work Report to PSERS see Submitting
Records by Uploading Files on page 144.
Each night, PSERS processes all Work Reports that have been approved for
submission. At that point, the information in the Work Report is applied to your
account with PSERS and to your employees’ accounts with us. After that time, the
Work Report cannot be changed. To correct errors later, see Reporting – Work Report
Adjustments on page 116. The next day you can go to “Approved Reports” to see what
was applied.
If your Work Report still contains errors when it is submitted to PSERS, the erroneous
Work Report Records will be rejected. You must resubmit the information in these
Work Report Records, in the correct format, in your next monthly Work Report or in a
Work Report Adjustment, as appropriate. See Reporting – Work Report Adjustments
on page 116.
If you submit a Work Report Record that is in the right format, PSERS will accept it.
If you later discover that information in this record was incorrect, you must submit a
Work Report Adjustment to correct it. See Reporting – Work Report Adjustments on
page 116.The complete work report and billing information will be available the next
business day (unless the system is down due to maintenance). PSERS strongly
suggests that you double check the work report totals and total records that were
processed (to ensure everything was processed successfully). As indicated above, if
your work report contains errors, the erroneous work report records will be rejected
and then adjustment(s) will need to be submitted, as appropriate. See Reporting –
Work Report Adjustments on page 116.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 93

Chapter
7
This Chapter is currently
under contruction!
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 94

Chapter
8
This Chapter is currently
under construction!
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 100

Chapter
9
Reporting – Service Time
You must report your employees’ service time to PSERS. Service time includes all of
the following:
• All time spent working for you while the employee is making retirement
contributions.
and…
• All time spent working for you in a part-time hourly or per diem job where the
employee is NOT making retirement contributions, has NOT waived
membership in PSERS, and WILL be eligible to join PSERS upon reaching 500
hours or 80 days of employment.
and…
• Time on an approved leave of absence during which the employee is making
retirement contributions. In this case, the service time is the amount that
would have been earned had the employee been working their regular job(s)
rather than being on leave.
Note: PSERS considers full-time service as 5 hours or more a day for 5 days a week
or its equivalent of 25 or more hours a week.
The Pennsylvania Retirement Code has given PSERS the authority to withhold the
Basic Education Subsidy from any employer that is delinquent in submitting service
time and/or work reports and/or payments.
How to Report Service Time
You must report service time in your monthly Work Reports, as follows:
• For hourly employees who are working or are actively making contributions
while on leave, service time must be reported as it is earned. Report time even
if the employee has not yet qualified for membership. In the Work Report
Record for the month the service was earned, enter the service time in the HRS
(Hours) field.
• For per diem employees who are actively working or are making contributions
while on leave, service time must be reported as it is earned. Report time even
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 106

if the employee has not yet qualified for membership. In the Work Report
Record for the month the service was earned, enter the service time in the
DAYS field.
• For salaried employees who are actively working or are making contributions
while on leave, service time can be reported EITHER monthly or annually:
To report monthly, report service time as it is earned. In the Work
Report Record for the month the service was earned, enter the service
time in the DAYS field.
or…
To report annually, report all service time for the fiscal year (July 1 –
June 30) in the June Work Report Record. Enter the service time in the
DAYS field.
How to Calculate Service Time
Hourly Employees
For hourly employees, service time does not need to be calculated manually.
• In your monthly Work Reports, report all time that is actually worked as it is
paid. Typically, this time is determined from time cards and is what you
enter into your payroll system.
• If an employee goes on a contributing leave, report their usual number of
hours in your monthly Work Reports during the leave.
• Hours must be reported as whole hours. The hours should be rounded to the
nearest whole hour.
Example: If an employee works 110.49 hours in a reporting period, enter
110 hours in the HRS (Hours) field of the Work Report Record. If the
employee works 110.50 hours, enter 111 hours in the Work Report Record.
• Hours worked on extra-curricular activities or overtime MUST be reported.
Service for overtime is NOT calculated at time and a half. One hour should
be reported for each hour worked.
Per Diem Employees
For per diem employees, service time does not need to be calculated manually.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 107

• In your monthly Work Reports, report all time that is actually worked as it is
paid. Typically, this time is determined from time cards and is what you enter
into your payroll system.
• If an employee goes on a contributing leave, report their usual number of days
in your monthly Work Reports during the leave.
• Report service time for per diem employees in days or a portion of a 5-hour day.
Days may be broken down to two decimal places. Do not use fractions (i.e., ½,
¾, etc.).
Example: If an employee works 19 days of 5 hours per day plus one day of 2
½ hours, enter 19.50 in the DAYS field of the Work Report Record.
• Hours worked on extra-curricular activities or overtime MUST be reported. If the
extra work is paid hourly, report the number of hours in the HRS (Hours) field. If
the extra work is paid on a per diem basis, report the number of days or partial
days in the DAYS field (add this time to the regular per diem work). Service for
overtime is NOT calculated at time and a half. One hour should be reported for
each hour worked.
Example: An employee has two Member Contract Records: one for a per diem
position and one for an hourly position. If the employee works 5 hours in a day
for the per diem position and then works another 2 hours in the same day for the
hourly position, report 1 day in the Per Diem Work Report Record and report 2
hours in the Hourly Work Report Record. PSERS will ensure that the employee
does not receive more than a year’s worth of service time in a fiscal year.
Full-Time Salaried Employees
For full-time salaried employees, service time is calculated as follows:
• Typically, the number of days a salaried employee is hired to work is specified in
their contract with you. In this case, report this number of days either monthly or
annually, in the DAYS field of the employee’s monthly Work Report Record(s).
• If the number of days is not specified in your contract with the employee, you
must determine the number of days actually worked by the employee.
• Report service time for salaried employees in days or a portion of a 5-hour day.
Days may be broken down to two decimal places. Do not use fractions (i.e.,
½, ¾, etc.).
Example: If an employee regularly works 19 days of 5-8 hours per day plus
one day of 2 ½ hours (half of a 5-hour day), enter 19.50 in the DAYS field of
the Work Report Record.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 108

• Hours worked on extra-curricular activities or overtime MUST be reported. If
the extra work is paid hourly, report the number of hours in the HRS (Hours)
field. If the extra work is paid on a per diem basis, report the number of days
or partial days in the DAYS field (add this time to the service time reported for
the salaried work, if that is also reported in the Work Report Record). Service for
overtime is NOT calculated at time and a half. One hour should be reported for
each hour worked.
Part-Time Salaried Employees
For part-time salaried employees, service time is calculated as follows:
• Report service time for salaried employees in days or a portion of a 5-hour day.
Days may be broken down to two decimal places. Do not use fractions (i.e.,
½, ¾, etc.).
Example: The service for an employee who regularly works 19 three-hour
days per month should be entered as 11.40 days.
Hours worked divided by 5 = % (3/5= 60%) x days worked (19 x 60% = 11.4)
• Hours worked on extra-curricular activities or overtime MUST be reported. If
the extra work is paid hourly, report the number of hours in the HRS (Hours)
field. If the extra work is paid on a per diem basis, report the number of
days or partial days in the DAYS field (add this time to the service time
reported for the salaried work, if that is also reported in the Work Report
Record). Service for overtime is NOT calculated at time and a half. One
hour should be reported for each hour worked.
• If a part-time salaried employee is required to attend an all-day in-service day,
they are to receive a full day’s credit.
• Typically, the number of days and the number of hours per day that a salaried
employee is hired to work is specified in their contract with you. In this case,
report this number of days or partial days either monthly or annually, in the
DAYS field of the employee’s monthly Work Report Record(s).
• If your contract with the employee does not specify the number of days the
employee will work in the school year, you must determine the number of days
or partial days actually worked by the employee.
Example #1: The service for a part-time salaried employee who works 6
hours per day, 4 days a week during a 36-week school year should be the
actual days worked: 144 days (4 days a week X 36 weeks = 144 days).
Example #2: The service for a part-time salaried employee who works 4
hours per day, 5 days per week for a total of 185 days in a school year
should be reported as 148 days (4/5 of a day X 185 days = 148 days).
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 109

• Part-Time Salaried Adjunct Professors- Adjunct professors are generally
considered part-time salaried employees unless specially documented
otherwise (e.g. hourly or per diem) in an employment contract. As part-time
salaried school employees, they must have retirement contributions deducted
and reported from the first day of employment, unless they are eligible to
waive PSERS membership OR they are enrolled in an alternative acceptable
retirement plan offered by the college or university (e.g. TIAA-CREF).
Calculate and report service for these positions using the following
formula:
Consider 30 credit hours per year as the standard for a full-time
position.
Determine the number of credit hours taught by the part-time
adjunct.
Divide the credit hours worked for the part-time position by the
full-time credit hours standard (30) to obtain a percentage of
full-time work.
Multiply the percentage of full-time work by 180 days to
determine the equivalent number of days to be reported as
service credit for the part-time employment.
Example: Adjunct professor is contracted to teach 12 credit hours for
the school year.
12 divided by 30 = .40 or 40%
.40 X 180 days = 72 days to be reported
• Part-Time Salaried Coaches - For each part-time salaried coaching position, you
may calculate service time in either of two ways:
Method #1: You may use the following formula to calculate the coach’s
service time:
Number of Hours Worked Per Week
25
X Weeks per Season
X Days Worked per Week___
= Number of Days to Report
Example: A football coach conducts practice and attends games 10 weeks
during the fall season. The coach renders 20 hours per week during the
season, at 6 days each week. The calculation and number of days to report
would be: 20 hours 25 X 10 X 6 = 48 days.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 110

Method #2: You can establish an anticipated work schedule to determine the
hours and days the coach will work. Within the schedule, it is assumed that
the coach will fulfill the contract.
Example: On Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and some Saturdays, a coach is
expected to work 2 hours per day. Tuesday and Friday, the coach is expected
to work 4 hours per day and on some Saturdays; the coach is expected to work
8 hours. The coach’s service time is determined as shown in the following
table:
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 111

Example Service Calculation for Part-Time Salaried Coach
Week Mon Tues Wed Thu Fri Sat TOTAL
1 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 2/5 (4 x 2/5 day) + (2 x 4/5 day) =
3.20 days
2 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 2/5 (4 x 2/5 day) + (2 x 4/5 day) =
3.20 days
3 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 2/5 (4 x 2/5 day) + (2 x 4/5 day) =
3.20 days
4 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 2/5 (4 x 2/5 day) + (2 x 4/5 day) =
3.20 days
5 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 8 (3 x 2/5) + (2 x 4/5 day) + 1 =
3.80 days
6 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 2/5 (4 x 2/5 day) + (2 x 4/5 day) =
3.20 days
7 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 2/5 (4 x 2/5 day) + (2 x 4/5 day) =
3.20 days
8 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 8 (3 x 2/5) + (2 x 4/5 day) + 1 =
3.80 days
9 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 8 (3 x 2/5) + (2 x 4/5 day) + 1 =
3.80 days
10 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 2/5 (4 x 2/5 day) + (2 x 4/5 day) =
3.20 days
11 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 2/5 (4 x 2/5 day) + (2 x 4/5 day) =
3.20 days
12 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 2/5 (4 x 2/5 day) + (2 x 4/5 day) =
3.20 days
13 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 8 (3 x 2/5) + (2 x 4/5 day) + 1 =
3.80 days
14 2/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 4/5 8 (3 x 2/5) + (2 x 4/5 day) + 1 =
3.80 days
GRAND TOTAL -
47.80 days (.27 of a year of
service)
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 112

Employees Working Multiple Positions
Some employees work multiple positions either for you or for multiple school
employers. In this case, service time is calculated as follows:
• If an employee works both an hourly and a salaried or per diem position, report
service time for each position separately in the appropriate HRS (Hours) or
DAYS field. PSERS will combine the service time for this employee and will
ensure that the employee does not receive more than a year of service credit in
a school (fiscal) year.
• If an employee works multiple positions that are paid the same way (hourly,
Per Diem, or salaried), combine these in the same Work Report Record.
Example: If an employee has two positions that are both hourly, report the
service from both positions in one report entry
• Employees will receive a maximum of one year’s worth of service per fiscal
year, even if additional hours are worked beyond a full-time position.
Employees on a Non-Contributing Leave
No service time should be reported during a non-contributing leave of absence. If
the employee wishes to purchase service time from this leave later, PSERS will
determine the amount that can be purchased.
• Exception: If an employee who is on a non-contributing leave is paid for
used sick leave or is compensated from a school-sponsored sick bank,
report the total days or hours paid as service time IF the employee is NOT
receiving Workers’ Compensation. If the employee IS receiving Workers’
Compensation, this type of pay is not eligible for retirement contributions and
must not be reported.
• Exception: Activated Military must have service reported.
Employee Terminates Service During the Year
When an employee terminates one or more positions with you during the school year,
report the employee’s total service time in the last Work Report Record you submit for
the position(s). Usually, this will be the Work Report Record for the last month the
employee works, but it may be later if the employee has a balance of contract
remaining. See Member Contract Records – Changing Information for an Employee
on page 56 and When An Employee’s Work Status Changes on page 97.
Hourly and Per Diem
For hourly and per diem positions, the service time has been reported regularly
anyway, and you must simply report any balance in the last Work Report Record you
submit for this position.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 113

Salaried
• For salaried positions, if you have been reporting service time monthly, report
any balance in the last Work Report Record you submit for this position.
• If you have NOT been reporting service time monthly and would normally have
reported the annual service time in the June Work Report Record, you must
determine the total service time in this position and include it in the last Work
Report Record for this position, whenever that is submitted. In this case, do
not report the service time again in your June Work Report.
Member Contract Record
If the employee has terminated all positions with you, submit a Member Contract
Record to indicate this. Set the BOC Flag and/or the Outstanding Service Credit Flag
to “Yes” if you have salary and/or service to report after the month of termination. In
this case, set the BOC/SVC End Date to the last month in which this salary and/or
service will be reported to PSERS.
Example: An employee terminates all work with you effective March 15. The
employee’s contract with you does not provide for continued payment after
resignation, so March 15, the last day of work, is the last day for which this employee
will be paid. You have not been reporting this employee’s service time in monthly
Work Reports because you report your salaried employees’ service time annually.
You must do the following:
General Rules
Submit the Termination Member Contract Record with the BOC Flag and
Outstanding Service Credit Flag both set to “No.” Submit the employee’s
final Work Report Record in the March Work Report, with all of the
employee’s service time from the school year included. Remember not
include this employee in any monthly Work Reports after this.
• To ensure that service time is recorded accurately, it is extremely important
to select Full Time or Part Time correctly on each employee’s Member
Contract Record(s).
If an employee works a minimum of 5 hours per day, 5 days a week, or its
equivalent (25 hours per week), that job is considered to be full-time for
retirement purposes, regardless of how you or the employee view the
employment for other purposes.
• The full service that would have been earned during regular employment
should be reported for an employee on a contributing leave.
• An employee on strike is not eligible for service credit during the strike
unless the days or hours lost during the strike period are worked and
compensation is paid. This lost time must be made up no later than June 30
of the school year involved.
• Summer school service should be reported for all eligible employees. If the
employee is retiring, the effective date of retirement must be after the last
day of summer employment.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 114

Verifying Your Reported Service Time is Correct
PSERS will send you a Member Summary Report in the fall after your August work
report has been processed. This report will indicate the employee’s:
Social Security Number
Name
Hours and/or days of service time you reported
Total Salary (not just base)
Contributions and any Wages No Contributions “WNC”
You should review this report before the end of the calendar year to ensure that the
credited service figure for each employee is correct.
How to Correct Reported Service Errors
Upon occasion, you will need to correct service time that was previously reported for
an employee. To do this, see Reporting – Work Report Adjustments on page 116.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 115

Chapter
10
Reporting – Work Report
Adjustments
Use Work Report Adjustments when an error is made or a correction is needed to an
employee’s salary, contributions, service time, or Member Purchase of Service
Installments. Submit the Work Report Adjustment Record as soon as you become
aware of the incorrect information.
Work Report Adjustments are very similar to Work Reports, but you must report the
difference between what you reported erroneously and what you should have
reported.
Example: You submitted a Work Report Record for January that listed an employee’s
salary as $1,000, but the employee really earned $1,700. Correct this by submitting a
Work Report Adjustment Record with the BASE field set to $700, so the net amount in the
employee’s account will be $1,700. Always include the corresponding member
contributions for the salary. Adjustments reflect amounts reported for a school year and
not for a specific month.
In the future, PSERS will send employees a letter notifying them that the employer
has submitted a Work Report Adjustment.
A description of each of the adjustment fields is described in Work Report Adjustment
Record Fields on page 127.
When to Submit a Work Report Adjustment Record
Submit a Work Report Adjustment Record if any of the following occurs:
• A retroactive lump sum adjustment needs to be made for an employee.
• An error was made in a previous report to PSERS, and this error cannot be
corrected through your payroll system.
• An error was made in reporting an employee’s information in a previous fiscal
year.
• An employee’s Member Purchase of Service Installments were reported
incorrectly in a previous report.
• An employee’s service time was reported incorrectly in a previous report.
• Arbitration is settled or court award.
• A Work Report that was invalid at the time of approval.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 116

Interest for Late Contributions
PSERS will charge you interest for the time between the original due date and when
the contributions are received at PSERS if contributions are not made when required.
This interest is charged at an annual rate of 6%, pro-rated for each day the payment
is late. For more information, see Payments – Remitting to PSERS on page 174.
Adjustments to Fiscal Years Prior to 2004-2005
Member Contract Records prior to July 2004 were converted from PSERS’ previous
software system. You must contact PSERS to adjust service reported prior to the
2004-2005 school year for forms: 726 & 1310.
How are Work Report Adjustments Transmitted to
PSERS?
All Work Report Adjustment Records are transmitted to PSERS through the online
system. Whenever you discover an error that needs to be corrected, you can choose
to create Work Report Adjustment Records manually (Method # 1) or by importing a
formatted file (Method # 2). Each method is described in the section below. You may
submit as many records as need in a Work Report Adjustment file. Either way, you
begin by accessing the system:
1. Access the Employer Services window in the online system. If you are not
familiar with how to do this, see Accessing the Online System on page 1.
2. From the Employer Services window, click “Adjustments” in the left-hand
menu. A sub-menu appears, as shown next:
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 117

Adjustments Sub-Menu
For further details on the Work Report Adjustments Info Sub-Menu refer to the
chapter titled Sub Menus on page 141.
Method # 1: Manually Creating Work Report
Adjustment(s) Online
If you need to submit a Work Report Adjustment Record for one or only a few
employees, you may prefer to enter these directly online rather than uploading a file
to PSERS. This section describes how to do this. If you have a high volume of
adjustments that need to be submitted, please contact your Employer Service Center
Representative.
From the “Adjustments” sub-menu on the left side of the screen, click “Create
Adjustments.” You will see the following on your screen:
Enter a description of the Adjustment. The description should best reflect why
the adjustment was created (this description will appear on the monthly Employer
Statement of Accounts).
Example: If two employees dropped off the October 2007 Work Report. The
description could be:
Oct. 2007 WR - 2 Invalids
After entering your description, click Submit. You will see the following screen:
This screen is the Record Detail Window in the Adjustments Work Area. From here
you will create your Work Report Adjustments. To add an employee to the adjustment
file, click the “Add” button (additional instructions can also be found under “Adding a
Work Report Adjustment Record” page number. To delete a record for the
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 118

adjustment file, select the record (in the delete column) and then click the “Save”
button. To save the work report, click the “Save” button. To cancel a record that
hasn’t been saved yet, click the “Cancel” button. If you complete as much
information as you can on the main window and then open the individual record, the
screen will display the information already reported for this fiscal year and wage type
for this employee.
A description of each of the adjustment fields is described under “Work Report
Adjustment Record Fields”.
NOTE: You should save the report after each record OR once you have one page of
records completed (10 records) or your data will not be saved. Also, if a record is
invalid, it will not be saved (the error must be fixed before moving forward or your
data may need to be re-entered). If you have records that are marked as
“Exceptions” (highlighted in orange), they must be reviewed prior to approval (these
records will be processed but may contain an error). If you have any questions
regarding any Invalid or Exception messages, you can contact your Employer Service
Center Representative.
Once all of your data entry is complete and verified for accuracy, you can approve
your adjustment file. From the “Adjustment” sub-menu on the left side of the screen,
click “Work Area”. To see the listing of Manual Adjustment files, you must change the
radio button to Manual Adjustments
To approve an adjustment file, you need to select the desired work report and then
click the Approve button.
Method # 2: Uploading a Work Report Adjustment File
If you need to make a number of Work Report Adjustments in a month, you may
prefer to upload these in a file rather than entering each one individually online. If
you are using this method to submit an adjustment file, the fields must be formatted
as described below under “Format for Work Report Adjustment Files” page number.
Further information can also be found under Chapter 13. The first row of data is
called the “header record row”, which contains information regarding the file (type of
file, employer code, number of records, total dollar amounts for each wage category,
and the date and time). The remaining rows of data are the “record lines”, which
contain the member’s information and data to be adjustment (SSN, date of birth,
reason code, wage indicator, contributions withheld indicator, fiscal year, wage type,
work status, days and/or hours, contributions, and wage totals).
From the “Adjustments” sub-menu on the left side of the screen, click “File Upload”.
You will see the following on your
This process is very similar to uploading a file for your monthly Work Report, except
that you can upload Work Report Adjustment files at any time. You are not limited to
one file per month as you are with Work Report files.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 119

For more information on how to submit Work Report Adjustments, see Submitting
Records by Uploading Files on page 144.
To add an employee to the adjustment file, click the “Add” button (additional
instructions can also be found under “Adding a Work Report Adjustment Record” page
number). To delete a record from the adjustment file, select the record (in the delete
column) and then click the “Save” button. To save the work report, click the “Save”
button. To cancel a record that hasn’t been saved yet, click the “Cancel” button.
This screen will also display the information already reported for this fiscal year and
wage type for this employee.
A description of each of the work report fields is described under the “Work Report
Adjustment Record Fields” section.
NOTE: You should save the report after each change OR once you have one page of
changes completed (10 records) or your data may not be saved. If you have records
that are marked as “Invalid” (highlighted in red), they must be fixed prior to approval.
If a record is listed as “Invalid” after the adjustment file is approved, it will not be
transmitted to PSERS and you will need to resubmit the adjustment(s) to have the
data added to the employee’s account(s). If you have records that are marked as
“Exceptions” (highlighted in orange), they must be reviewed prior to approval (these
records will be processed but may contain an error). If you have any questions
regarding any Invalid or Exception messages, you can contact your Employer Service
Center Representative.
Once all of your data entry is complete and verified for accuracy, you can approve
your adjustment file. From the “Adjustments” sub-menu on the left side of the
screen, click “Work Area”.
This screen shows all pending imported adjustment files. To approve the adjustment,
you need to select the desired adjustment file and then click the Approve button.
Format for Work Report Adjustment Files
See the chapter titled Standard File Format on page 145 for information on how
to correctly format a Work Report Adjustment. The following pages will
illustrate in detail the layout for Work Report Adjustment Files.
Header of the Work Report Adjustment File
The Work Report Adjustment file must include a single-line header as the first line in
the file. The header row identifies the type of file, employer code number of records
in the file, totals for each wage category, and the date and time the file was created.
This information must be in the following format:
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 120

Note: All fields are required. The “Start” column indicates what column that the field begins in
on the header line. The “Bytes” column indicates how many bytes (characters) are in the field.
All fields are a fixed-length.
Header
Record
Type
Employer
Code
Detail
Record
Count
R/O/C
R = Required
O = Optional
C = Condition
al Bytes Start
Format &
Values Sample Comments
A 1 1 Alpha (A = A
Describes the
Adjustments)
incoming file
type;
Adjustments
R 6 2 Numeric 6-digit
number
R 6 8 Numeric 6-digit
number
Base Total R 12 14 Numeric
Signed, as
#########.
## or
-
########.#
#
Unpaid
Retirement
Covered
Compensation
Total
Overtime
Total
Supplemental
Total
Wages No
Contribution
Total
Member
POS
Installment
Total
R 12 26 Numeric
Signed, as
#########.
## or
-
########.#
#
R 12 38 Numeric
Signed, as
#########.
## or
-
########.#
#
R 12 50 Numeric
Signed, as
#########.
## or
-
########.#
#
R 12 62 Numeric
Signed, as
#########.
## or
-
########.#
#
R 12 74 Numeric
Signed, as
#########.
## or
-
########.#
003456 Employer ID
assigned by
PSERS
002680 Total number of
Adjustment
Records in this
file.
666777888.99
or
-66777888.99
or
000000000.00
666777888.99
or
-66777888.99
or
000000000.00
666777888.99
or
-66777888.99
or
000000000.00
666777888.99
or
-66777888.99
or
000000000.00
666777888.99
or
-66777888.99
or
000000000.00
666777888.99
or
-66777888.99
or
000000000.00
Total dollar
amount of Base
field in all
Adjustment
Records in this
file.
Total dollar
amount of
Unpaid
Retirement
Covered
Compensation
field in all
Adjustment
Records in this
file.
Total dollar
amount of
Overtime field in
all Adjustment
Records in this
file.
Total dollar
amount of
Supplemental
field in all
Adjustment
Records in this
file.
Total dollar
amount of
Wages No
Contribution field
in all Adjustment
Records in this
file.
Total dollar
amount of
Member POS
Installment field
in all Adjustment
Records in this
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 121

Excess
Salary
Total
Non-Retirement
Covered
Compensation
Creation
Date and
Time
R/O/C
R = Required
O = Optional
C = Condition
al Bytes Start
R 12 86 Numeric
Signed, as
#########.
## or
-
########.#
#
R 12 98 Numeric
Signed, as
#########.
## or
-
########.#
#
R 12 110 Date as
MMDDYYYY
HHMM
Filler R 18 122 NULL Filler.
Space filled to
match fixed
length of detail
record.
Format &
Values Sample Comments
# file.
666777888.99
or
-66777888.99
or
000000000.00
666777888.99
or
-66777888.99
or
000000000.00
Total dollar
amount of
Member Excess
Salary field in all
Adjustment
Records in this
file.
Total dollar
amount of Non-
Retirement
Covered
Compensation
field in all
Adjustment
Records in this
file.
102520061300 File creation date
and time in
military format.
18 spaces
Not required.
Record Lines in the Work Report Adjustment File
The remaining rows of data are the “record lines”, which contain the member’s
information and data to be adjusted (SSN, date of birth, reason code, wage indicator,
contributions withheld indicator, fiscal year, wage type, work status, days and/or
hours, contributions, and wage totals).
Each Adjustment Record must consist of a single line of information, in the
following format:
Note: All fields are required. The “Start” column indicates what column that the field begins
in. The “Bytes” column indicates how many bytes (characters) are in the field. All fields are a
fixed-length. Do not leave blank spaces except under “Filler”.
Social
Security
Number
Date of
Birth
Reason
Code
R/O/C
R = Requir
ed
O = Option
al C =
Conditional Bytes Start
Format &
Values Sample Comments
R 9 1 Numeric 123456789 Required
R 8 10 Date as
MMDDYYYY
R 6 18 Alpha as:
CNTRCT,
LMPSUM,
SVCADJ,
04121980 Required
CNTRCT
The reason for the
adjustment.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 122

Wage
Indicator
Contributions
Withheld
Indicator
Fiscal Year
Ending
Wage
Type
Work
Status
R/O/C
R = Requir
ed
O = Option
al C =
Conditional Bytes Start
C 1 24 Alpha (Y =
wages paid
during fiscal
year earned, N
= wages paid
during the
current fiscal
year,
space=NULL)
C 1 25 Alpha (Y =
contributions
were withheld
from the
member’s
wages at time
of payment, N
=
contributions
were not
made,
space=NULL
Format &
Values Sample Comments
LATRPT,
SALARY,
MEMPOS,
CAWARD, or
UNCRDT
Y
N
If Reason Code = CNTRCT,
LMPSUM, LATRPT,
SALARY, CAWARD, or
UNCRDT, then Required.
If Reason Code = CNTRCT,
LMPSUM, LATRPT,
SALARY, CAWARD, or
UNCRDT, then Required.
R 4 26 Year as YYYY 2006 The fiscal year in which
the salary and service
were earned.
R 2 30 Alpha
SA = Salary
PD = Per Diem
HR = Hourly
R 6 32 Alpha; value
from Work
Status Table
Base O 10 38 Numeric
Signed, as
#######.#
# or
-
######.##
Unpaid
Retirement
Covered
Compensation
O 10 48 Numeric
Signed, as
#######.#
# or
-
######.##
SA
ACTIVE
6777888.99
or
-777888.99
or
0000000.00
6777888.99
or
-777888.99
or
0000000.00
If Reason Code is
UNCRDT, Wage Type
should reflect the
employee’s current Wage
Type; otherwise, Wage
Type should reflect the
employee’s Wage Type in
effect during the time
period being adjusted.
Must match the work
status as reported on the
Contract Record for which
the adjustment is being
made unless the
adjustment is for
uncredited school service,
where the current work
status (ACTIVE) should be
used.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 123

R/O/C
R = Requir
ed
O = Option
al C =
Conditional Bytes Start
Format &
Values Sample Comments
Overtime O 10 58 Numeric
Signed, as
#######.#
# or
-
######.##
6777888.99
or
-777888.99
or
0000000.00
Supplemental
Contributions
O 10 68 Numeric
Signed, as
#######.#
# or
-
######.##
C 10 78 Numeric
Signed, as
#######.#
# or
-
######.##
Hours O 5 88 Numeric
Signed, as
##### or
-####
Days O 7 93 Numeric
Signed, as
####.## or
-###.##
Wages No
Contribution
Excess
Salary
Member
POS
Installment
Non-
Retirement
Covered
Compensation
O 10 100 Numeric
Signed, as
#######.#
# or
-
######.##
O 10 110 Numeric
Signed, as
#######.#
# or
-
######.##
C 10 120 Numeric
Signed, as
#######.#
# or
-
######.##
O 10 130 Numeric
Signed, as
#######.#
# or
-
######.##
6777888.99
or
-777888.99
or
0000000.00
6777888.99
or
-777888.99
or
0000000.00
00160 or
–0160 or
00000
0020.00 or
-000.00 or
0000.00
6777888.99
or
-777888.99
or
0000000.00
6777888.99
or
-777888.99
or
0000000.00
6777888.99
or
-777888.99
or
0000000.00
6777888.99
or
-777888.99
or
0000000.00
If Base OR Unpaid
Retirement Covered
Contributions OR
Overtime OR
Supplemental are not
zero, then Required.
If Work Status = ACTIVE
and Base exceeds the
401(a)(17) limitation, then
Base must not be greater
the 401(a)(17) limitation
and Excess Salary must >
0.
Optional field for Non-
Retirement Covered
Comp, i.e. payment of
unused sick time, bonus
pay, etc.
See Submitting Records by Uploading Files on page 144 for further information on
how to upload a Work Report Adjustment File.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 124

See the chapter on Work Area Window, the section on Manual Files Created Online
located on page 150 for information on how to navigate in the Work Report
Adjustment File Window.
Refer to the chapter titled Work Area—Record Detail Window on page 152 for more
information on how to navigate the Work Adjustment Records Detail Window
Adding a Work Report Adjustment Record
To add an individual to a Work Report Adjustment Record, click Add on the Work
Report Adjustment Record Detail window. You will be prompted to enter the SSN
(social security number) for the employee whose work you are entering.
Enter the social security number and click “Submit.”
• If there is no Member Demographic Information on file, or if there is no
Member Contract Record on file for the social security number you entered, you
will see the message, “Error – SSN does not exist.”
• If the employee has Member Demographic Information and at least one
Member Contract Record on file, a Work Report Adjustment Record will be
added for this employee. All of the other fields in the Work Report Adjustment
Record will be blank.
At this point, you must enter information into the appropriate fields for this Work
Report Adjustment Record. The fields are described under Using the Edit Window on
the next page. You can add or edit information in either of two ways:
Click in each field to enter or change the information. Use the scroll bar to
move across and update each field in the row as needed.
or…
Click on Edit to the left of the employee’s social security number. This will
take you into the Edit window, described under Using the Edit Window. This
window provides more information about any error(s) and exception(s) in the
record as you edit. The errors will be displayed at the top of the page.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 125

Using the Edit Window
The Edit window allows you to add or edit information for any individual Work Report
Adjustment Record. To access this window, click on “Edit” to the left of a Work
Report Adjustment Record in the Work Report Adjustment Record Detail window.
The Edit window looks like the following:
If you already entered a fiscal year into the YEAR field and saved the record after
doing so, the employee’s information for that fiscal year will appear in the left-hand
window, “Existing Fiscal Year Information.” The fields in this window will be blank if
you have not yet entered a fiscal year and saved the record after doing so.
Under “Adjustment Detail,” enter information into the appropriate fields. See Work
Report Adjustment Record Fields on page 127 for more information on any field.
When done entering information, click Submit. The record will be validated to ensure
that all information is entered in the correct format and that all necessary fields have
been filled in for this Work Report Adjustment Record.
• If any errors or exceptions are found during the validation process, you will be
returned to the Edit window, and the errors or exceptions will be displayed near
the top of the window. You must correct the errors. Exceptions are shown for
your reference so you can verify that the information is correct. Some sample
errors include:
• If the Work Report Adjustment Record passes the validation check, it will be
saved to your current Work Report Adjustment. You will be returned to the
Edit window, with the message, “Msg – Member adjustment created
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 126

successfully” near the top of the screen. At this point, the record has been
saved as a temporary file. You must click “Save” a second time to
permanently save the entry. You may make additional changes and save
those, or you may click “Cancel” to exit from this screen. Clicking “Cancel” will
cause you to lose any changes you made since the last “Save.”
You must correct all errors before you can save the Work Report Adjustment Record
and exit from the Edit window. Exceptions are shown for your information; you may
save and exit with the exception still in place. If you must leave this window without
correcting all errors, click “Cancel.” In this case, edit the record again later.
Note: When you exit an imported file, any records containing errors will appear in
red. Invalid records in a manual file will be lost when you exit the file.
Work Report Adjustment Record Fields
Work Report Adjustment Records contain the same fields as Work Report Records, but
these fields are used in a slightly different way. There are also three additional fields.
The additional fields and the specific use of the other fields are described here:
• Social Security Number
• Date of Birth
• Reason Code: Use the drop-down menu to select the reason the adjustment
is necessary. The Reason Code names in parenthesis are found in manual
adjustment files and may differ slightly from imported adjustments.
If there are several reasons for making this adjustment, select the most
important reason as indicated in the Reason Codes below.
NOTE: The names in parenthesis are used when making adjustments manually.
SALARY (Payroll Correction): Use this code if you are correcting any
salary/wages that you previously reported to PSERS incorrectly. You may also
correct service time in the same Work Report Adjustment Record.
CNTRCT (Missing Member Contract Record): Use this code if you are
submitting a Work Report Record that was rejected in your monthly Work
Report because the employee did not have a corresponding Member Contract
Record. Submit the correct Member Contract Record first and then submit the
employee’s work information in your next monthly Work Report or in a Work
Report Adjustment Record.
LMPSUM (Lump Sum / Retro Pay Adjustment): Use this code if the
employee receives a non-court awarded adjustment, such as a contract
settlement, that needs to be applied to a prior fiscal year or cannot be reported
in a Work Report Record for some other reason.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 127

SVCADJ (Service Adjustment): Use this code if you are correcting service
time that was previously reported to PSERS for this employee. This may be
used to adjust hours, days, or both.
Note: If this adjustment includes both a change to service time and a change
to salary, use the SALARY code rather than the SVCADJ code.
Reminder: Service corrections for the 2003/2004 school year and prior must be
submitted by using the appropriate adjustment form.
LATRPT (Late Report): Use this code if you are reporting an employee’s
wages/salary and contributions (if any) after you have submitted the monthly
Work Report in which this should have been reported. This code is only used
when reporting information late for an existing employee. If a qualified
employee was never entered as a member or reported to PSERS, use the
UNCRDT code to report this employee’s salary, contributions, and service time.
All other codes supersede the LATRPT code so LATRPT should only be used
when no other Reason Code applies.
POS Correction (Member Purchase of Service Installments Correction):
Use this code if you are correcting Member Purchase of Service Installments
information that you previously reported to PSERS incorrectly or that you did
not report to PSERS when you should have.
UNCRDT (Uncredited School Service): Use this code if, due to an
administrative error, you did not enter an employee as a member at the
appropriate time and if, as a result of this oversight, you did not report the
employee’s salary/wages, contributions (if withheld), and service time to
PSERS, but you did pay the employee at the time.
If you withheld contributions from the original payment to the employee but
did not enter the employee as a member or remit the contributions to PSERS, a
delinquency will be applied to your PSERS account for both your and the
employee portion of the contributions. This will include interest at the rate of
6% per annum, prorated for the number of days the payment was late.
If contributions were NOT withheld from the original payment to the employee,
but the service was eligible for retirement contributions, the employee must
purchase this service time.
CAWARD (Court Award): Use this code if you are reporting arbitration
relating to a rate grievance, improper termination, etc. PSERS must review the
court award/order before releasing any credit or debit to your and/or the
employee account.
If the court award spans fiscal years and/or contribution periods, then you
must submit a Work Report Adjustment Record for each fiscal year with the
corresponding salary and service reported in each.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 128

• Wage Indicator: This indicates whether or not the salary/wages in this Work
Report Adjustment Record were paid during the fiscal year in which they were
earned.
Yes: Select “Yes” if the salary/wages were earned and paid in the adjustment
fiscal year.
No: Select “No” if the salary/wages were earned in a prior fiscal year but were
paid in the current fiscal year (when the mistake was discovered).
This field can only be left blank if Reason Code is set to SVCADJ or MEMPOS.
• Contributions Withheld: This indicates whether or not contributions were
withheld from the salary/wages at the time they were paid to the employee.
Yes: Select “Yes” if contributions were withheld when the salary/wages were
paid whether that was in a past fiscal year or in the current fiscal year.
No: Select “No” if no contributions were withheld from the salary/wages when
they were paid to the employee.
This field can only be left blank if Reason Code is set to SVCADJ or MEMPOS.
• Wage Type: Select “Hourly,” “Per Diem” or “Salary” from the drop-down
menu. Do not leave this field blank.
If the Reason Code is set to UNCRDT, Wage Type should match the employee’s
current Wage Type as set in the employee’s Member Contract Record.
If Reason Code is anything other than UNCRDT, Wage Type should match the
Wage Type that was in effect during the time period being adjusted.
• Work Status: Use the drop-down menu to select the Work Status for the
employee during the time period being adjusted. Do not leave this field blank.
If the Reason Code is set to UNCRDT, Work Status should match the
employee’s current Work Status as set in the employee’s Member Contract
Record. If this Work Status is not ACTIVE, contact PSERS for assistance as
described in Contacting PSERS on page 192.
If Reason Code is anything other than UNCRDT, Work Status should match the
Work Status that was in effect during the time period being adjusted.
See Member Contract Records – Creating Individually on page 41 for more
information on Work Statuses.
• YEAR (Fiscal Year Ending): Enter the ending year of the fiscal year in which
the salary and service were earned (when the work was performed or the leave
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 129

of absence took place). Enter the year in YYYY format, with no spaces, dashes,
or other characters. This field cannot be left blank.
Example: For the 2006-2007 fiscal year, enter 2007.
If you reported the initial information with the wrong fiscal year, correct this by
submitting an Adjustment Record that subtracts all reported information from
the year it was erroneously reported in, and then submit a second Adjustment
Record that adds this information to the correct fiscal year.
Due to the increase in the contribution rate effective January 1, 2002, you
must use the June 2002 contribution rate to do any salary adjustment for the
2001-2002 school year.
• BASE: Enter the difference between what you originally reported as the
employee’s base salary and what should have been reported. This amount can
be positive or negative. Enter the amount as a minus sign (if needed), 6-dollar
digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents digits. Do not enter the dollar sign or any
punctuation other than the minus sign and a single decimal point. Leave this
field blank or enter 0000000.00 if BASE does not need to be corrected. Leading
zeros are not required for any field in a manual adjustment file.
Example #1: If an employee was reported as earning $1,233.00 less than
she actually earned, enter 1233.00 to add this amount to her earnings for the
fiscal year.
Example #2: If an employee was reported as earning $1,500 more than she
actually earned, enter -1500.00 to subtract these earnings.
The total amount of the BASE, OT, SUP, and URCC fields for the fiscal year,
after adjustments, cannot exceed the IRS 401(a)(17) limitations. See the
EXSAL field.
• URCC (Unpaid Retirement Covered Compensation): Enter the difference
between what you originally reported as the employee’s URCC and what should
have been reported. This amount can be positive or negative. Enter the
amount as a minus sign (if needed), 6-dollar digits, a decimal point, and 2
cents digits. Do not enter the dollar sign or any punctuation other than the
minus sign and a single decimal point. Leave this field blank or enter
0000000.00 if URCC does not need to be corrected.
The total amount of the BASE, OT, SUP, and URCC fields for the fiscal year,
after adjustments, cannot exceed the IRS 401(a)(17) limitations. See the
EXSAL field.
• OT (Overtime): Enter the difference between what you originally reported as
the employee’s OT and what should have been reported. This amount can be
positive or negative. Enter the amount as a minus sign (if needed), 6-dollar
digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents digits. Do not enter the dollar sign or any
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 130

punctuation other than the minus sign and a single decimal point. Leave this
field blank or enter 0000000.00 if OT does not need to be corrected.
The total amount of the BASE, OT, SUP, and URCC fields for the fiscal year,
after adjustments, cannot exceed the IRS 401(a)(17) limitations. See the
EXSAL field.
• SUP (Supplemental): Enter the difference between what you originally
reported as the employee’s SUP and what should have been reported. This
amount can be positive or negative. Enter the amount as a minus sign (if
needed), 6-dollar digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents digits. Do not enter the
dollar sign or any punctuation other than the minus sign and a single decimal
point. Leave this field blank or enter 0000000.00 if SUP does not need to be
corrected.
The total amount of the BASE, OT, SUP, and URCC fields for the fiscal year,
after adjustments, cannot exceed the IRS 401(a)(17) limitations. See the
EXSAL field.
• CONTRIB (Contributions): If you are adjusting an employee’s salary, adjust
the contributions appropriately. You may enter a positive or negative amount.
Enter the amount as a minus sign (if needed), 6-dollar digits, a decimal point,
and 2 cents digits. Do not enter the dollar sign or any punctuation other than
the minus sign and a single decimal point. Leave this field blank or enter
0000000.00 if the Contributions do not need to be corrected.
The CONTRIB field must be adjusted if any of the following is true:
BASE is not zero.
or…
SUP (Supplemental) is not zero.
or…
OT (Overtime) is not zero.
or…
URCC (Unpaid Retirement Covered Compensation) is not zero.
Do not adjust an employee’s contributions unless you are also adjusting salary.
If you withheld contributions from an employee’s paycheck at an incorrect rate,
you do not need to adjust this. PSERS posts the correct amount to the
employee’s account and charges/credits the difference to your account
automatically.
• HRS (Hours): Enter the difference between what you originally reported as
the employee’s hours of service time and what should have been reported.
This amount can be positive or negative. Enter the amount as a minus sign (if
needed) and 4-hour digits. Hours must be rounded up or down. Do not enter
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 131

any punctuation other than the minus sign. Leave this field blank or enter
00000 if the hours do not need to be corrected.
Only enter hours that count as Service Time (service that is earned, service
that may qualify later, or service that can be purchased).
• DAYS: Enter the difference between what you originally reported as the
employee’s hours of service time and what should have been reported. This
amount can be positive or negative. Enter the days as a minus sign (if
needed), 3-day digits, a decimal point, and two partial-day digits. Do not enter
any punctuation other than the minus sign. Leave this field blank or enter
0000.00 if the days do not need to be corrected.
Example: Enter 19.50 for a per diem employee who worked 19 ½ days more
during the fiscal year than you originally reported.
Only enter days that count as Service Time (service that is earned, service that
may qualify later, or service that can be purchased).
• WNC (Wages No Contribution): Enter the difference between what you
originally reported as the employee’s WNC and what should have been
reported. This amount can be positive or negative. Enter the amount as a
minus sign (if needed), 6-dollar digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents digits. Do
not enter the dollar sign or any punctuation other than the minus sign and a
single decimal point. Leave this field blank or enter 0000000.00 if WNC does
not need to be corrected.
• POS (Member Purchase of Service Installments): Enter the difference
between what you originally reported as the employee’s Member POS
Installment and what should have been reported. This amount can be positive
or negative. Enter the amount as a minus sign (if needed), 6-dollar digits, a
decimal point, and 2 cents digits. Do not enter the dollar sign or any
punctuation other than the minus sign and a single decimal point. Leave this
field blank or enter 0000000.00 if POS does not need to be corrected.
The POS field must be adjusted if the Reason Code is set to POS Correction.
• EXSAL (Excess Salary): Enter the difference between what you originally
reported as the employee’s EXSAL and what should have been reported. This
amount can be positive or negative. Enter the amount as a minus sign (if
needed), 6-dollar digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents digits. Do not enter the
dollar sign or any punctuation other than the minus sign and a single decimal
point. Leave this field blank or enter 0000000.00 if EXSAL does not need to be
corrected.
The total amount of the BASE, OT, SUP, and URCC fields for the fiscal year,
after adjustments, cannot exceed the IRS 401(a)(17) limitations, as described
in What Earnings Qualify for Contributions and Contribution Rates on page 64.
If the total of these fields, after adjustments, exceeds the IRS 401(a)(17) limit,
reduce the amount in the BASE field so that the total of these fields is equal to
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 132

the IRS 401(a)(17) limit, and enter the remainder of the employee’s earnings
in the EXSAL field.
• NRCC (Non-Retirement Covered Compensation): Enter the difference
between what you originally reported as the employee’s NRCC and what should
have been reported. This amount can be positive or negative. Enter the
amount as a minus sign (if needed), 6-dollar digits, a decimal point, and 2 cents
digits. Do not enter the dollar sign or any punctuation other than the minus sign
and a single decimal point. Leave this field blank or enter 0000000.00 if NRCC
does not need to be corrected.
Saving Your Changes
After adding, deleting, or editing any Work Report Adjustment Records, always save
your work twice. Click “Save” in the Adjustment Record Detail window BEFORE you
log out or go to another part of the system.
If you log out or go to another part of the system without clicking “Save” twice, you
will lose ALL changes you made since the last save. In this case, any records you
added will be lost, any records you deleted will be restored, and any records you
edited will be returned to their previous information.
Submitting the Work Report Adjustment(s) to PSERS
For information on how to submit Work Report Adjustments to PSERS see Submitting
Records by Uploading Files on page 144.
Each night, PSERS releases all Work Report Adjustments that have been approved for
submission, except for Court Awards, that must be reviewed before being released.
PSERS will automatically apply the information found in the Work Report Adjustment
to your account with PSERS and to your employees’ accounts. After that time, you
cannot change the Work Report Adjustment.
You may view a Work Report Adjustment the day after you approve the file. Use the
Approved Adjustments option to do this.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 133

Work Report Adjustments – Examples
This section provides examples of how you would correct errors made in reporting
work-related information to PSERS.
Reporting Information that was OMITTED
Salary/Contributions Not Reported
There may be times when you did not report the salary and/or contributions for an
employee at the correct time.
Example #1: A full-time, salaried employee earned $3,000 during the first quarter
of the 2005 – 2006 fiscal year. The employee was entered as a PSERS member at
the time, but due to an administrative error, you left this employee off your Monthly
Report. You paid the employee properly, and reported the employee’s service time
for the year correctly at the end of the year. You withheld $225 of retirement
contributions and remitted these to PSERS along with your other withholdings, but
since you did not report the employee, these withholdings were not credited to their
account. When the employee requests a retirement estimate, they bring the missing
quarter to your attention.
Correct this situation by submitting a Work Report Adjustment Record with the
fields set as follows:
• Reason Code: SALARY (Payroll Correction)
• Wage Indicator: Yes
• Contributions Withheld: Yes
• Wage Type: Salary
• Work Status: ACTIVE
• YEAR (Fiscal Year Ending): 2006 (the ending year of the 2005 – 2006 fiscal
year)
• BASE: 3000.00
• CONTRIB (Contributions): 225.00
• DAYS: 60.00
Since you withheld contributions properly and remitted these to PSERS at the correct
time, no interest charges apply (unless these contributions were refunded to you as
having been paid in error). If this happened, PSERS will apply a delinquency to your
account for both your and the employee portion of the contributions. This includes
interest at the rate of 6% per annum, prorated for the number of days the payment
was late from the original date it was due.
Example #2: Using the same situation as Example #1, if you withheld contributions
from the employee’s paycheck but did NOT remit these contributions to PSERS, the
following applies:
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 134

Since you withheld contributions from the original payment to the employee but did
not remit these contributions to PSERS, a delinquency will be applied to your PSERS
account for both your and the employee portion of the contributions. This includes
interest at the rate of 6% per annum, prorated for the number of days the payment
was late after the end of the fiscal year.
From the employee’s perspective, the wages and contributions in both of these
examples would be credited to the correct fiscal year and would earn interest as if
they had been in the account from June 30 of that year.
Example #3: Using the same situation as Example #1, if you did not withhold
contributions from the employee’s paycheck and the salary qualified for contributions,
the following applies:
• Reason Code: UNCRDT (Uncredited School Service)
• Wage Indicator: Yes
• Contributions Withheld: No
• CONTRIB (Contributions):
• WNC (Wages No Contribution): 0003000.00
• DAYS: 60
Note: Days and/or Hours must be submitted when submitting WNC (so we can
calculate the purchase of service billings correctly).
This Work Report Adjustment will cause PSERS to begin a Purchase of Service process
for this employee. PSERS will generate a Statement of Amount Due to the employee
for the retirement contributions that were never withheld but should have been.
PSERS will also generate a Statement of Amount Due to you.
Employees Work Report was Rejected
PSERS will reject your Work Report if you attempt to submit a monthly Work Report
Record for an employee without first submitting Member Demographic Information or
a Member Contract Record.
To correct this, submit Member Demographic Information and at least one
Member Contract Record. Then, you must submit a Work Report Adjustment
Record with the fields set as follows:
• Reason Code: CNTRCT (Missing Member Contract Record)
• Wage Indicator: Yes
• Contributions Withheld: Yes or No as appropriate
All fields need to be reported in the Work Report Adjustment Record.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 135

Adjusting Information that was Reported INCORRECTLY
In some situations, an employee’s salary, contributions, service time, and/or Member
Purchase of Service Installments may have been reported to PSERS incorrectly.
Incorrect Salary/Contributions Previously Reported
Example: A full-time, salaried employee was paid $3,500 in September 2006 but
you accidentally reported $5,300 in your monthly Work Report. You reported the
contributions correctly.
To correct the salary, submit a Work Report Adjustment Record with the fields set
as follows:
• Reason Code: SALARY (Correction to Previously-Reported Salary or
Contributions)
• Wage Indicator: Yes
• Contributions Withheld: Yes
• Wage Type: Salary (note that the Wage Type must match the Wage Type at
the time the work was performed)
• Work Status: ACTIVE
• YEAR (Fiscal Year Ending): 2007 (2006 – 2007 fiscal year)
• BASE: –1800.00 (3,500 – the 5,300 originally reported)
• CONTRIB (Contributions): –135.00
Incorrect Service Time was Previously Reported
Example: A full-time, salaried employee worked 190 days during the 2005 – 2006
fiscal year, but you accidentally reported 195 days of service time.
To correct this, submit a Work Report Adjustment Record with the fields set as
follows:
• Reason Code: SVCADJ (Service Adjustment)
• Wage Type: Salary (note that the Wage Type must match the Wage Type at
the time the work was performed)
• Work Status: ACTIVE
• YEAR (Fiscal Year Ending): 2006
• DAYS: –5.00 (190 – the 195 originally reported)
Note: If the Adjustment Record includes both a change to service time and a
change to salary, use the SALARY code rather than the SVCADJ code.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 136

Incorrect Member Purchase of Service Installments
Example: A part-time, hourly employee is paying Member Purchase of Service
Installments of $95 per month. You accidentally report $59 per month to PSERS for
September and October 2006 before the employee calls the mistake to your attention.
To correct this, submit a Work Report Adjustment Record with the fields set as
follows:
• Reason Code: MEMPOS (Member Purchase of Service Installments Correction)
• Wage Type: Hourly
• Work Status: ACTIVE
• YEAR (Fiscal Year Ending): 2007
• Member POS Installment: 72.00 ($95 – $59, times 2 months)
Note: If the Adjustment Record includes both a change to Member Purchase
of Service Installments and a change to salary, use the SALARY code rather
than the MEMPOS code.
Arbitration and Court Decision Payments
Contract salary awarded to an employee as a result of arbitration or a court
decision is compensation for retirement purposes IF THE EMPLOYEE RECEIVES FULL
BACK PAY AND BENEFITS.
• Report the total amount that represents only the employee's reinstated full
contract salary even though the amount of the award may have included
interest or punitive damages. Do not report any other awarded claims such
as interest.
• Interest payments received as part of the award are NOT subject to retirement
deductions. Report these in the Non-Retirement Covered Compensation field
on the employee’s Work Report Adjustment Record.
• You must make retirement contributions on the gross amount of contract
salary awarded, not on the net salary received by the employee. If an award
amount is reduced because of other outside income, you must still pay
contributions on the full award amount.
Example: An employee was awarded $20,000, but this amount was reduced by
other outside income. The employee must pay retirement contributions on the full
$20,000 award.
• Submit a copy of the arbitration or court decision to PSERS to:
PO Box 125
Harris burg, PA 17108-0125
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 137

You must show the total amount of the award, the salary breakdown by year,
and the days or hours of service time to be credited.
• If the court award spans fiscal years and/or contribution periods, then you
must submit a Work Report Adjustment Record for each fiscal year and/or
contribution period with the corresponding salary and service reported in each.
• PSERS must review the court award/order before releasing any credit or debit
to your and/or the employee accounts.
• If the Wage Indicator is set to “Y”, the employee and employer contribution
rate will be based on the fiscal year in the adjustment record. If the Wage
Indicator is set to “N”, the employee and employer contribution rate is based
on the current fiscal year rate.
Example: A salaried employee is terminated on December 17, 2009. The employee
feels the termination is wrongful and sues for full back pay, benefits, interest, and
penalties. The case goes to arbitration in August 2010, where it is decided that the
employee will receive back pay and benefits for the remainder of his contract, from
December 18, 2009 through June 10, 2010, as a $21,000 lump sum. Since the
employee has been working at another job since May 15, 2005 and received $3,000
in salary, the employer payment amount is reduced by $3,000, bringing the total you
pay down to $18,000. You and the employee must still pay retirement contributions
on the full $21,000 award, so you will withhold $1,575 from the lump sum payment.
The employee will be earning 49 days of service time (the remainder of the contract
for which he is being paid).
Submit a Work Report Adjustment Record with the fields set as follows:
• Reason Code: CAWARD (Court Award)
• Wage Indicator: No
• Contributions Withheld: Yes
• Wage Type: Salary
• Work Status: TRMNTN
• YEAR (Fiscal Year Ending): 2010
• BASE: 18000.00
• CONTRIB: 1575.00 (at 7.5%)
• DAYS: 49.00
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Non-Arbitration/Court-Awarded Lump Sum Payments
Retroactive Salary Increases Due to Late Contract
Settlement
Lump-sum payments that represent the difference between the old contract salary
and the new contract salary are compensation for retirement benefits.
• If the back salary increase spans fiscal years and/or contribution periods, then
you must submit a Work Report Adjustment Record for each fiscal year and/or
contribution period with the corresponding salary and service reported in each.
• If the Wage Indicator is set to “Y”, the employee and employer contribution
rate will be based on the fiscal year in the adjustment record. If the Wage
Indicator is set to “N”, the employee and employer contribution rate is based
on the current fiscal year rate.
Note: When a contract is settled and payments are made retroactively, you must
withhold and report member contributions in the year earned. If the employee has
retired or received a refund, PSERS will make any necessary adjustments to a
retiree’s benefit or additional payments to a refunded member.
Back Pay Award
Lump-sum payments also include back pay awards that are privately negotiated with
a (former) employee without a court order.
• If the back pay settlement spans fiscal years and/or contribution periods, then
you must submit a Work Report Adjustment Record for each fiscal year and/or
contribution period with the corresponding salary and service reported in each.
• If the Wage Indicator is set to “Y”, the employee and employer contribution
rate will be based on the fiscal year in the adjustment record. If the Wage
Indicator is set to “N”, the employee and employer contribution rate is based
on the current fiscal year rate.
Example: You terminated a salaried coach in April 2006. The coach disputes the
termination, seeking payment and service time for the remainder of his contract,
through June 2006. In August 2006, you agree to these terms. You pay the coach a
lump sum of $4,500, from which $292.50 in retirement contributions are withheld.
The coach will receive 12 days of service time.
Submit a Work Report Adjustment Record with the fields set as follows:
• Reason Code: LMPSUM (Lump Sum / Retro Pay Adjustment)
• Wage Indicator: No
• Contributions Withheld: Yes
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 139

• Wage Type: Salary
• Work Status: TRMNTN
• YEAR (Fiscal Year Ending): 2006
• BASE: 4500.00
• CONTRIB: 292.50
• DAYS: 12.00
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Chapter
11
Sub-Menus
Member Demographics and Contract Records
There are four options in the sub-menu under Member Demographic Info and Member
Contract Info:
• File Upload lets you submit new records and make changes to existing
records by uploading a file that was exported from your payroll/HR software
system. In this case, you must upload a file in the correct format. See
Submitting Records by Uploading Files on page 144.
• Work Area is used in connection with the File Upload option. See Uploading
a File on page 147 for more information on this option.
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• View/Edit option lets you check whether a record already exists on file
with PSERS. If so, you can view and edit this information online. Some
fields cannot be edited. If you need to change any information that you do
not have access to, contact the Employer Service Center for assistance.
• Create option lets you submit a new record by entering this information
directly online, one at a time.
Work Reports and Work Report Adjustments
There are four options in the sub-menu for Work Reports and Work Report
Adjustments:
• File Upload lets you submit Work Reports or Work Report Adjustments by
uploading a file that was exported from your payroll/HR software system.
In this case, you must upload a file in the correct format. See Submitting
Records by Uploading Files on page 144.
• Work Area is where Work Reports and Work Report Adjustments that you
have uploaded or created can be found. This is also where you go to approve
or delete a file. There is a separate Work Area for Import Reports and Manual
Reports. Import Reports are visible by default. To view Manual Reports, click
the radio button at the top of the page. To view Approved files for manual work
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 142

eports and adjustments, change the status in the drop down box. No changes
can be made to a file after it has been approved.
• Create Work Report/Adjustments allows the employer to create a
manual Work Report or Adjustment File.
• Approved Reports/Adjustments allows employers to view all approved
reports or adjustments by clicking on “View.” Once the file is open, the
employer will also have a “Print” function button on the top right of the
page. The next business day after the Work Report has been released,
Employers can view these Reports, which shows the Act 29 details,
Contribution Rate and Membership Class, Purchase of Service Balance, and
Member Savings and Employer Contributions.
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Submitting Records by
Uploading Files
There are five steps involved in submitting multiple records at once:
Chapter
12
1. Create a file in the correct format. In most cases, this involves exporting the
file from your payroll/HR software system. Name the file as specified in the
PSERS Filename Convention, described in Uploading a File on page 147. The
file format is detailed under Standard File Format on page 145.
2. Upload the file to PSERS, as described under Uploading a File on page 147.
3. Validate the file to check for any errors or exceptions. PSERS will validate
the file immediately upon submission.
PSERS newest validation is to let you know when to start withholding
contributions from your Part-Time Employees if you are reporting them
under WNC.
4. Fix the records with errors. Go to the section’s Work Area. Any records that
contain errors or exceptions will be flagged for you to examine. Exceptions are
shown for your information. You may submit records with exceptions still in
place but you should contact the Employer Service Center to inform PSERS,
especially if it is a Contribution Rate exception. Approve the file once all
exceptions are verified and all errors are corrected.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 144

Chapter
13
Standard File Format
In order to transmit a file to the system, all information in the file must be in the
correct format, as follows:
• Save the file as a plain text (ASCII) file that contains only Member
Demographic Information. You CANNOT mix Member Demographic
Information, Member Contract Records, Work Report Records, and/or Work
Report Adjustment Records into one file.
• The first line in the file is a header line. Refer to the section where the Header
Line is described. For example, The Member Demographic Header Line can be
found under Header of the Member Demographic Information File on page 34.
• Each individual record must appear on its own record line. Refer to the section
where the Record Lines are described. For example, the Member Demographic
Record Line section is found under Record Lines in the Member Demographic
Information File on page 35.
• All record lines must be in the fixed-record (fixed width) format.
• Report the fields in each record line in the order identified.
• All numeric (non-decimal) fields must be right justified, zero-padded left. If the
field is optional and will not be populated with data, zero-fill it.
• Date fields are considered numeric. If a date field is optional and will not be
populated with data, zero-fill it.
• All alpha or alphanumeric fields must be left justified, space-filled to the right.
If the field is optional and will not be populated with data, space-fill it.
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• Implied decimals cannot be used, but when an example shows a numeric value
with a decimal point, zero-value fields must include this decimal point in that
place.
• For fields that are numeric signed, the minus sign must appear as the leftmost
position in the field if the value is less than zero; otherwise, the leftmost
position would have a zero in it.
• All header and record lines must be Carriage Return, Line Feed (CRLF
Hexadecimal 0D25) delimited.
• All fields in the file are character-based and fixed-length. Some fields require a
particular character, such as a decimal point, in a specific place. The sample
data shown for each field indicates the layout of that field. All records must
use this layout for both real data and “empty” or “zero value” data.
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Chapter
14
Uploading a File
First, access the particular menu item that you need on the left side of the screen;
Member Demographic Info, Member Contract Info, Work Reporting, or Adjustments.
• From the sub-menu under that item, click File Upload.
• Click “Browse” to locate the file created by your payroll software to be
uploaded to PSERS. This file must be in the correct format. Name the file as
specified in the PSERS Filename Convention:
A Member Demographic Information filename must begin with your PSERS
Employer Code followed by the 2-digit month, and the 4-digit year.
A Contract Information filename must begin with your PSERS Employer Code
followed by the 2-digit month, and the 4-digit year.
A Work Report filename must begin with your PSERS Employer Code followed
by the 2-digit month, and the 4-digit year.
An Adjustments filename must begin with your PSERS Employer Code
followed by the 2-digit month, and the 4-digit year.
Example: Employer 1234 is submitting a Member Demographic Information
file in July2011. The file would be named: mdem001234201107.v3d
• After selecting the file, you must enter a brief description of the file in the
Description field. After the file is transmitted, you will no longer see the file
name. Instead, you will only see the description you entered.
The description should contain the following:
Your Employer Code.
File you are working on.
The 4-digit year and the 2-digit month.
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Sample Description: Employer 1234 is submitting a Member Demographic
Information file in August 2011. The description should be:
9395 Aug 2011
• The individual records will be validated when uploaded. The validation process
checks that the records in the uploaded file are in the correct format and that
all necessary information is included.
• If you want to clear the information you entered into this window, click “Clear.”
This will empty all the fields on the screen so you can start over.
• When you are ready to transmit the file, click “Upload.” This transmits the file
to PSERS. Do not click this button more than once, even if it seems to be
taking a long time. An error message will be displayed immediately if any
errors are found in the file format, or if the file header does not reconcile with
the records in the file. In this case, the file cannot be used in its current form.
Review the error(s) and make the necessary changes to your file in whatever
software program was used to create the file. Then, upload the new file.
Contact the Employer Service Center if you continue to have problems
uploading the file. The file will be loaded into the Work Area if it passes the
format and header check. The records will be checked to make sure they are in
a valid format and that all necessary information is included. At this point, a
summary of the results will be displayed, such as:
Records Transmitted: 330 shows number of records that were
transmitted from the file
Records Validated: 330 shows number of records that were
validated
Status: Valid Records: 327 shows number of records that passed
validation check
Invalid Records: 3 shows number of records that failed
validation check
Exception Records: 3 shows number of records
with exceptions
Elapsed Time: 900ms shows amount of time the upload
and validation check took
All records in the uploaded file are placed in the Work Area. They will NOT be
submitted to PSERS automatically. You MUST go to the particular Work Area to
check the records, correct any errors, and approve the file before they will be
submitted to PSERS.
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Chapter
15
Work Area Window
Created by File Upload
The Work Area window displays the file that was just uploaded as well as files that
were uploaded in the past. From the Work Area window, you have the following
options:
• Status: Use this drop-down menu to view only files that meet a certain
criterion.
All displays all files you have transmitted to the system. You will see an option
to continue to the next “page” in the file list if there are more files than fit
on the screen.
Validated displays only files that have been through the validation check but
have not yet been approved
• Select: Use this check box to select the file(s) to be affected by the next action
you take, such as “Approve” or “Delete.”
Note: When you are ready to approve a file, change the status in the dropdown
box form “All” to “Validated” so that the only files visible are those that
have not been approved yet. Select the desired file by putting a check mark in
the Select box, then click the Approve button. Use this same procedure to
delete a file if necessary.
• Select one or more files and click “Validate” to validate the records in the
selected file(s). Validation checks that the records in the uploaded file are in
the correct format and that all necessary information is included. You will need
to correct any records that do not pass the validation check before they can be
submitted to PSERS.
• Delete File: Click to delete the selected file(s) entirely. This can only be done
before a file has been approved for submission to PSERS. Use this option if a
file contains an error in the file header or contains too many errors to correct,
and you want to delete it and upload a new file instead.
• Approve: This option appears if Status is set to view “Validated” files. Select
one or more files and click “Approve” to approve ALL records in the selected
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file(s) and submit these to PSERS. You should only approve the files after you
have made all the necessary changes and you are ready to submit the records.
Once you approve the file, you cannot delete or change it. If necessary, you
can contact the Employer Service Center to delete a file that was approved but
is still in “Pending” status. This must be done the same day that the file is
approved. Once the file status is “Released”, no one can delete it.
If you approve the file but some of the records still contain errors, those
records will NOT be posted to the system. At this point, they cannot be fixed
and submitted to PSERS. Instead, create a Work Report Adjustment File with
the correct information and submit these records to PSERS. Delays in
reporting Member (Employee) Contributions may cause you to be charged
delinquency interest.
For all of these reasons, a file should only be approved if the display indicates
that ALL of the records in the file are valid. The number in the “Valid Rows”
column should match the number in the “Rows Imported” column and in the
“Rows Processed” column. The “Not Processed Rows” and “Invalid Rows”
columns should both show “0.”
If the file contains any invalid records, those will be indicated in the “Invalid
Rows” column. In this case, click “Detail” to view the records and correct the
errors before approving the records.
• Detail: Click to view the individual records in the file. This option allows you to
edit the information for a particular employee, add additional records, or delete
an employee’s record.
Clicking “Detail” will take you to the Record Detail window described in Work
Area – Record Detail Window on page 152.
Manual Files Created Online
You must select the “Manual” button to view this Work Area. The system will
automatically default to “Import” if you do not choose “Manual”. The following
options are available from the File Window screen:
• Status: Use this drop-down menu to view only files that were created online.
The Status choices are:
All displays all files that you created online. You will see an option to continue
to the next “page” in the file list if there are more files than fit on the
screen.
Validated displays only files created online but not yet approved for
submission to PSERS.
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Not Validated displays files created online but that have not yet been through
the validation check. Check the file under “Select” to validate these
records. This does not apply to manual reports.
Approved displays files created online and already approved for submission to
PSERS. You can view but can no longer edit these records if PSERS has
released them already.
Approved with Errors displays files created online and submitted to PSERS
with uncorrected errors in some records. This does not apply to manual
reports.
• Select: Use this check box to select the file(s) to be affected by the next
action you take, such as “Approve” or “Delete.”
Note: You cannot select files while Status is set to view “All” files. You must
first change Status to "Validated".
• New Report / New Adjustment: Click if you need to create another file.
• Approve: This option appears if Status is set to view “Validated” files. Select
one or more files and click “Approve” to approve ALL records in the selected
file(s) and submit these to PSERS. This should only be done when the file is
complete and correct, and all records in it are ready to be submitted.
Each night, PSERS releases all files approved for submission, except for Court
Awards that must be reviewed before being released. PSER will automatically
apply the entries to your account with PSERS and to your employees’ accounts.
After that time, you cannot change the file.
You may view a file after PSERS has released it. Use the Approved option to
do this.
If your file still contains invalid information when it is approved for submission
to PSERS, these entries will be rejected.
• Edit: Clicking “Edit” will take you to the Record Detail Window where you can
add, delete, or edit records. See Work Area – Record Detail Window on page
152.
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Chapter
16
Work Area – Record Detail
Window
You will see the following changes in this window, the page finder (First, Prior, Next,
Last Page 2 of 5) is now stationary under the first column. Under the Birth Date
column is Total Members that are in the report. Each column within the report from
Base to NRCC will have a total above the scroll bar, these total will update as you
correct the data in the report.
You have the following options from the Record Detail window:
• Status: Use this drop-down menu to view only records that meet a certain
criterion:
All displays all of the records in the selected file. Records with errors or
exceptions will be highlighted in the list.
Non validated displays records that have been added or edited and have not
yet been validated.
Valid displays only records that have been through the validation check and
are found to be in a valid format.
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Exceptions Records with non-standard data. They are shown for your
reference so you can verify that the non-standard data is correct. These are
often contribution rate discrepancies.
Invalid displays records that have been through the validation check and are
found to contain errors. You must correct all errors before the record can
be submitted to PSERS.
• Scroll: Use the vertical scroll bar to see additional records. Use the horizontal
scroll bar to view the fields in a particular record without editing that record.
• PRINT: Click for a copy of what is in the detail work area, full report or what is
showing when a search is completed. A print window will open, click “FILE”,
click “Print”, select your printer and print.
• Search: This button is used to find members;
o
o
Name/SSN: Use to find all records for a certain member. Enter their
SSN or Last Name in the field, click the search button and all their record
for that SSN will show in the work area or all the members with that last
name will show in the work area.
Message: Click in the message box to see all the errors and/or warnings,
select one, click the search box and all members with that condition will
show in the work area.
• Delete: Select the “Delete” check box for any records that you should delete
rather than submit to PSERS. After you checked all desired records, click
“Save”. Located under the SSN – Name column.
• Edit: If you need to change the information in a record, you can do so by
clicking in the desired field and changing that field on the spot. If preferred,
you can click “Edit” to the left of the record to edit the information in the Edit
window. This window provides more information about the error(s) and
exception(s) in the record. It also validates the information you add or edit.
Near the top of the window, you will see any errors that need to be corrected
for this record as well as any exceptions that you should verify are correct.
Edit the information in each field to correct any errors. When done editing,
click “Save” to accept the changes you made and exit from this window. Click
“Cancel” to exit from this window without saving any changes.
• Add: Click to add another record to the current batch. You will be prompted
to enter the additional employee’s social security number. A new record with
this social security number will be added to the Record Detail window. The
other fields for this employee will be blank and will need to be filled in by
editing the record. Use the “Add” function when an employee is left out of the
batch by mistake or if an employee’s social security number was incorrect in
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 153

the file that was submitted. This field cannot be edited so you would need to
delete the incorrect record and add a correct record.
• Save: Click to save any changes you made to the records. Do this after you
have finished all adding, deleting, and editing of records. If you exit the Record
Detail window (for example, if you log out or go to another part of the system)
without saving, you will lose ALL changes you made since the last save. In this
case, any records you added will be lost, any records you deleted will be
restored, and any records you edited will be returned to their previous
information. It is advisable to save your work periodically during the editing
session if you are editing extensively. Save twice!
• Cancel: Click to cancel ALL changes you made to the records since the last
“Save.” This will delete any records you added and will return any records you
edited to their previous information. It will also restore any records you
deleted.
Go To Page: to return to a certain page in your report enter the page number
in the box and click on the Go To Page button.
You will be ready to submit your records to PSERS after you have…
• Finished adding, deleting, and editing records in the Record Detail window.
and…
• Clicked “Save” to save your changes.
Click “Work Area” in the sub-menu on the left-hand side of the screen to submit
your finalized, saved file. This will return you to the File window.
Change “Status” to display only “Validated” files. Then, click the check box to
select the file and finally click “Approve” to send the file to PSERS.
NOTE: To delete a file - change “Status” to display only “Validated” files. Then, click
the check box to select the file and finally click “Delete File” you will receive a
message “Are you sure you want to delete the selected files?” click OK to delete the
files or Cancel to return to the prior step.
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1
3
2
You will see the following message in a pop-up window:
Click OK.
You will receive the following message!
Msg - Selected files have been approved. You can check them by clicking on
Approved or Approved with Errors
The file has now been submitted to PSERS. It will disappear from the Validated
screen since it no longer falls in the category of being validated but not submitted.
After this, change “Status” to display “Approved” or “Approved with Errors” to see
the file.
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Purchase of Service –
Employer Responsibilities
Chapter
18
NOTE: In the event that an in state or out-of-state employer or an out-of-state
retirement system is unable or unwilling to certify a public school Purchase of
Service (POS) application and PSERS deems the evidence provided by the member
to be “reasonable”, PSERS will accept the evidence and process a Statement of
Amount Due (SOAD).
Reasonable evidence may include but is not limited to social security records,
payment stubs, and/or similar proof that the member’s service and salary reflected
on the POS application is complete and accurate and that this service was public
school service.
There are important benefits for the employer and the employee for purchasing
service credit early in an employee’s career.
The employer will:
Experience less difficulty locating records for former employees.
Should you have difficulty locating former employee information, the
employee’s Social Security records may assist you with the completion of the
PSERS applications. Generally, Social Security records will be of assistance
for service rendered prior to 1979 because they provide a quarterly
breakdown for salary. The employee can request this breakdown of reported
salary information from the Social Security Administration and provide you
with a copy. With this record, you may be able to determine the pay rate
and the number of hours or days the employee actually worked.
The employee will:
Pay a lower purchase cost due to a shorter interest accrual period if the
employee elects to pay for the service credit in a lump sum or
installment payments.
“Earn” higher death benefits during employment.
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Reach eligibility to apply for a disability retirement benefit sooner.
Qualify for vested status sooner.
Qualify for a retirement benefit sooner.
The employee may qualify for premium assistance.
Eligible Service
The employee who qualifies may purchase the following types of service credit:
Return of Withdrawn Contributions
A Return of Withdrawn Contributions (PSRS-696) application should be completed to
apply for this type of service purchase.
An employee who has returned to service as a contributing member may restore
credit for former service. The former service is from a period of PSERS covered
employment where the employee terminated employment and elected to receive
a payment of their contributions and interest in the fund.
Former Uncredited Full-Time Service
A Purchase of Former Uncredited Full-Time Service (PSRS-27) application should be
completed to apply for this type of service purchase.
Former uncredited full-time service is service rendered in a Pennsylvania public
school system as an employee, for which no contributions were reported to
PSERS.
Former Uncredited Part-Time Service
A Purchase of Former Uncredited Part-Time Service (PSRS-100) application should be
completed to apply for this type of service purchase.
Former uncredited part-time service is qualifying part-time service for which
no contributions were reported.
A member (employee) must be:
• Active and contributing
• Meet eligibility requirements in the year they apply
During the school year in which the application was received, the employee
must have met 500 hours (hourly) or 80 days (per diem), and the employee
must have appeared on a Work Report Record. If the employee did not appear
on a Work Report Record, an online Work Report Record Adjustment must take
place.
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Former Uncredited Non-Qualifying Part-Time Service
A Purchase of Former Uncredited Part-Time Service (PSRS-100) application should be
completed to apply for this type of service purchase.
Non-qualifying part-time (NQPT) service is part-time hourly or part-time per diem
school employment in which the service is less than 500 hours or 80 days in a
given school year (July 1 - June 30). Effective February 1, 1999, a new policy was
adopted which allowed an employee to purchase credit for part-time school service
where the school service was less than 500 hours or 80 days (non-qualifying).
After the employee meets membership eligibility (a part-time per diem employee works
at least 80 days in a single school year, or a part-time hourly employee works 500
hours in a single school year) and is entered into the system, then any previous periods
of part-time service that did not reach 500 hours or 80 days may be purchased.
People who are in an Inactive, Vestee, and/or Annuitant Status as well as nonmembers
with previous TC/TD service on 7/1/2011 have a one-year window upon
their first return to active membership, (i.e. one year from the date of notification)
after 7/1/2011 to purchase Non-Qualifying Part-Time (NQPT) service.
Class TE/TF members have a one-year window from the date of qualification (i.e.
one year from the date the Welcome Packet was generated) to purchase prior NQPT
service.
If the Member Status is ACTIVE on 7/1/2011 the member has a fixed three-year
window through 6/30/2014 to purchase NQPT. This is true regardless of how many
times the Member terminates/refunds and subsequently returns to service during
the three-year window, provided the member is active and contributing at the time
of the filing of the application.
The current eligibility rules for purchasing NQPT service remain the same. The
member still has to be in an active contributing status at the time of application.
NOTE: Pension reform legislation changed the current law beginning July 1, 2011.
Under this change, the purchase of NQPT will not be available to inactive members
of PSERS. Former members who are inactive with PSERS and are active with SERS,
the ability to purchase NQPT service without being an active contributing
member of PSERS expired on June 30, 2011.
Approved Leave of Absence
A Purchase of Approved Leaves of Absence (PSRS-112) application should be
completed to apply for this type of service purchase.
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Approved leave of absence is defined as leave granted by the employer and
approved by the school board (approval and reason for leave must appear in the
board minutes) for the following types of leave:
• Sabbatical leave
• Service as an exchange teacher
• Service with a collective bargaining organization
• Leave taken for professional study
• Special sick leave (no more than one year of service may be purchased)
A full-time active contributing member (employee) may purchase service credit for
a leave of absence for professional study, as an exchange teacher or service with a
collective bargaining organization, which has been approved by the employer's
board.
A member (employee) must be:
• Active and contributing.
• Meet eligibility requirements in the year they apply.
NOTE: Family Medical Leave Act absences does not meet the requirements for a
purchasable approved leave of absence.
Maternity Leave of Absence
A Purchase of Maternity Leave of Absence (PSRS-1127) application should be
completed to apply for this type of service purchase.
The provisions of the legislation that allow for the purchase of a maternity leave
specifically state that the leave had to be as the result of the employee’s
pregnancy. Up to two years of credit per leave may be purchased, provided the
maternity leave started prior to November 1, 1978. Adoptions and child rearing
leaves are not eligible for this type of purchase.
An active contributing member (employee) may purchase credit for a maternity
leave due to pregnancy if the member:
• Resigned or…
• Took a leave of absence and…
• The leave began prior to November 1, 1978.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 159

Service with a County Board of School Directors
Credit for former service with a County Board of School Directors may be
purchased by an active contributing PSERS member (employee) if the employee is
not now nor in the future eligible for an annuity from the county.
There are two types of County Board Service:
1. School service (hired and paid by County Board of School Directors).
a. Full-time service-- The employee will be billed for only the
employee's share. The Intermediate Unit that absorbed the
County Board of School Directors must pay the employer’s share.
b. Part-time service--The employee will be billed for only the
employee's share. The employer's share will not be billed because
all service is before 1975.
2. Non-school Service (hired and paid by County Commissioners). Only
full-time service may be purchased.
Military Service
Intervening Military Service
A Purchase of Intervening or Active Military Service (PSRS-1305) application
should be completed to apply for this type of service purchase.
An active contributing member (employee) must have been a school employee
immediately preceding an induction into the armed services or forces and must
have been on a military leave of absence to meet a draft obligation to be eligible to
purchase intervening military service.
The employee must have returned to regular full-time school service within 90
days of release from active military service.
The employee will be billed for employee contributions, based on the salary the
employee would have earned from the employer during the military leave
multiplied by the member's contribution rate, plus interest.
Interest will be charged from the first day of credited service until the application
is received. If the payment is not made in a lump sum within the timeframe
stated on the Statement of Amount Due, additional interest will accrue.
The employer is responsible for the employer's share of retirement contributions.
Non-Intervening Military Service
A Purchase of Non-Intervening Military Service (PSRS-28) application should be
completed to apply for this type of service purchase.
An active contributing member (employee) may purchase non-intervening active
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 160

duty military service credit, provided the employee has three years of credited
school service and salary in PSERS after the military service was rendered.
An employee may purchase up to a maximum of five years of active duty
military service.
An employee may not purchase more military service credit than the employee
has credited PSERS school service.
An employee who is receiving a military pension may be able to purchase up to
five years of non-intervening military service if the military pension is not based
solely on active service.
The employee will be required to pay both the employee and employer normal
contributions. If the payment is not made in a lump sum within the timeframe
stated on the Statement of Amount Due, additional interest continues to accrue
until the entire debt is paid.
Activated Military Service
A Purchase of Intervening or Active Military Service (PSRS-1305) application should
be completed to apply for this type of service purchase.
An employee on activated duty on or after July 1, 1990, may continue to make
contributions to PSERS or may choose not to make contributions to PSERS during
the leave.
If contributions were not made during the leave:
• The employee will have three years after the return from the leave to apply
to PSERS to purchase credit.
• The employee will be billed for employee contributions, based on the salary
the employee would have earned from the employer during the military
leave multiplied by the employee's contribution rate.
• Interest will not be charged until 5 years from the date of the original billing.
Employers are required to continue making employer contributions during period of
leave regardless of whether the employee elects to continue contributions.
Employers CANNOT receive a credit for Employer Contributions made for an
employee on an activated military leave (whether contributing or noncontributing).
This is true even if:
• The employee does not return from the leave.
• Upon returning does not remain in your employ for a period of time at
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 161

least equal to the length of the leave.
• Does not choose to purchase the service time from the leave.
Exception: If the employee voluntarily extends their military duty beyond the
time of the original military obligation, you may receive a credit for any Employer
Contributions you paid during the voluntary extension. Contact PSERS for more
information.
Out-of-State School Service
A Purchase of Out-of-State Service (PSRS-278) application should be completed to
apply for this type of service purchase.
Out-of-state service is public school employment rendered in another state and
covered by that state’s public retirement system. An active member (employee)
may apply to purchase credit for out-of-state school service under certain
conditions. The out-of-state service must be refunded before it can be purchased in
PSERS.
United States Government Service
A Purchase of United States Government Service (PSRS-600) application should be
completed to apply for this type of service purchase.
An active contributing member (employee) may purchase credit for service
rendered outside Pennsylvania under certain conditions.
Service as an administrator, teacher or instructor in the field of public school
education for any agency or department of the United States government, whether
or not such area is under the jurisdiction of the United States, may be purchased.
A maximum of 12 years may be purchased. A combination purchase of out-ofstate
and government service may not exceed a total of 12 years.
The government agency for which the service was performed must complete the
remainder of the application. The personnel officer of the agency must sign the
application and attach a copy of the job description.
The service must be in the field of education as an administrator, teacher, or
instructor teaching school-age children.
A department or agency of the United States Government must have paid the
salary received.
The usual types of service include:
U.S. Overseas dependent schools
Peace Corps (teaching)
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 162

Department of Interior - Indian Reservation Schools
Overseas American Sponsored Schools assisted by the
U.S. Department of State
Pennsylvania County Nurse Service
A Purchase of Pennsylvania County Nurse Service (PSRS-708) application should be
completed to apply for this type of service purchase.
An active contributing member (employee) may purchase credit for service
rendered as a nurse employed by a county in Pennsylvania.
Purchase of Service Credit Quick Reference for Employers
Employers’
Employers’
Application
Type of Service
Responsibility for Responsibility for
Required
Forms
Payment
Part-Time Uncredited
Service
Full-Time Uncredited
Service
Non-Qualified
Uncredited Service
Military Service-
Intervening/Activated
Military Service Non-
Intervening
Approved Leave of
Absence
Return of Withdrawn
Contributions
Pennsylvania County
Nurse Service
Maternity Leave of
Absence
Out-of-State Service
PSRS-100 Purchase of
Former Part-Time
Uncredited Service*
PSRS-27 Purchase of
Former Full-Time
Uncredited Service
PSRS-100 Purchase of
Former Part-Time
Uncredited Service
PSRS-1305 Purchase
of Intervening or
Activated Military
Service
PSRS-28 Purchase of
Non-Intervening
Military Service
PSRS-112 Purchase of
Approved Leave of
Absence
PSRS-696 Return of
Withdrawn
Contributions
PSRS-708 Purchase of
Pennsylvania County
Nurse Service
PSRS-1127 Purchase
of Maternity Leave of
Absence
PSRS-278 Purchase of
Out-of-State Service
Part E Employment
Information; Part F
Employer Certification
Part D Employment
Information; Part E
Employer Certification
Part E Employment
Information; Part F
Employer Certification
Part C Employment
Information; Part D
Employer Certification
None
Part C Employment
Information; Part D
Employer Certification
None
Part C Employment
Information; Part D
Employer Certification
None
Out-of-State
employer: Part C
Employment
Information; Part D
Employer Certification
Employer Share of
Contributions plus
interest
Employer Share of
Contributions plus
interest
None
Employer Share of
Contributions plus
interest
None (Member pays
both shares)
Employer Share of
Contributions plus
interest
None (Employer share
was paid at time
service was rendered)
None
None (Member pays
both shares)
None (Member pays
both shares)
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 163

United States
Government Service
PSRS-600 Purchase of
United States
Government Service
Out-of-State
retirement system:
Part E Retirement
Information; Part F
Retirement System
Certification
Part C Employment
Information; Part D
Employer Certification
None
* No application is required to be submitted for qualified Part-Time Uncredited Service provided that all earnings and
service were reported on monthly Work Reports with earnings as WNC and service reported as worked, either hours or
days. PSERS will automatically bill both the member and the employer. The current versions of the applications can be
found on the PSERS website.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 164

This Chapter is currently
under construction!
Chapter
19
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 165

This Chapter is currently
under construction!
Chapter
19
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 174

Chapter
20
This Chapter is under
construction!
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 187

Contacting PSERS
Contacting PSERS through the Online System
You can contact PSERS through the online system as follows:
• Access the Employer Services window in the online system.
Chapter
21
• From the Employer Services window, click “Contact PSERS” in the left-hand
menu. You will see the following window open
You will see a map of Pennsylvania, scroll down to see the names of the
Employer Service Contact for your area, click on their email and send them
your question.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 192

Contacting PSERS by Telephone or Fax
The Employer Service Center can be reached at:
866-353-1844
or…
Contact your Employer Service Center Representative directly.
If you need to fax a form to PSERS, use this fax number:
(717) 783-8760
Contacting PSERS by Mail
You may mail forms and letters to PSERS at this address:
Employer Service Center
Public School Employees’ Retirement System
PO Box 125
Harrisburg, PA 17108-0125
Do NOT use this address for payment by check if you are including a payment
coupon. Instead, see page 182 in Methods of Remittance.
Contacting PSERS by Email
You may email your contact at Employer Service Center via the email addresses
listed on the Web
Please be sure to include your name, phone number and your school district in your
message.
Obtaining PSERS Forms
Forms within the Online System or from the forms page
The most commonly used forms are available directly in the online system.
1. Access the Employer Services window in the online system.
2. From the Employer Services window, click “Forms” in the left-hand menu. You
will see the following window open.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 193

From the list of Employer forms, you may:
• View the form on your screen
• Print the form needed
• Complete the form, then print
• Click on Member Forms for POS applications or other member forms
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 194

Introduction of Act 120
Changes to Pension
Benefit Changes General Information
• The benefit reductions contained in this legislation will only impact
individuals who become new members of PSERS on or after July 1, 2011
• Any existing or former members of PSERS who return to service on or after
July 1, 2011 will retain their old membership status
• The current pension benefit that a PSERS retiree receives is also not
impacted by the legislation
Chapter
22
What is a member?
• Any person that is Active, Inactive, Vestee, or Annuitant.
Membership status for an inactive member is retained for two full
school years from the last qualifying year.
A Vestee or annuitant does not have their membership status
expire.
• Once a member qualifies for membership all service earned after the initial
qualification will be considered qualified
• Previously hourly and per diem members had to qualify each year (500 hours
or 80 days for hourly and per diem employees)
Impacts on All Members
• Members who break membership do have to re-qualify to receive retirement
credit for service upon their return. The following constitutes a break in
membership:
terminate and refund their contributions and interest, or
terminate without refunding their contributions and interest and return
to service after a period of two FY years, or are not reported as being
employed by a public school employer for a period of two FY years or
more, regardless of refunding their contributions and interest.
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 195

• So, if a person was a full time employee who has not earned five years of
credited service therefore the member is non-vested, their member status in
FY 09/10 is active. Member goes on unpaid leave September 15, 2009 and
stopped working and was no longer reported by an employer.
FY Ending
Member Status
09/10 Active Member until 9/15/09.
Inac tive as of 9/16/09
10/11 Inactive Member
11/12 Inactive Member
12/13 Non-Member at start of fiscal year
Qualification in a fiscal year is met in one of two ways
• Salaried or FT per diem or FT hourly from the first day of contributing service
• Part time hourly or part time per diem it is rendering the minimum of 500
hours, 80 days or the equivalent combination
• Benefit Plan Changes
• Impacts on All Members
• Determining whether or not a person has qualifying time:
FY Ending
Status
10/11 Qualified (723 hours)
11/12 Qualified (3 hours)
12/13 Qualified (15 hours)
13/14 Qualified (100 hours)
• Any member who works between 11/23/2010 and 06/30/2011 is considered
qualified for FY 2011, regardless of whether or not the member met the
current qualification rules, if the member:
Was vested (meets the 5/10 vesting rules or superannuation rules such
as age 62 and 1 year of service) as of 11/23/2010 or earlier or Qualified
in FY 2009 or 2010
• Benefit Plan Changes
• Impacts on All Members
• Determining whether or not a person has qualifying time for 10/11 fiscal
year:
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 196

FY Ending
Status
08/09 Qualified (700 hours)
09/10 Did Not Qualify (200 hours)
10/11 Qualified even if works only one day on or after
11/23/10
• If a Vestee or superannuated member returns to service on or after
November 23, 2010, that service will be qualifying service, regardless of the
nature of the employment (salary, hourly or per diem, or full time or part
time).
• An annuitant can still work in an emergency return to service capacity or a
return in an extracurricular position.
• If a Vestee or superannuated member returns to service on or after November
23, 2010, that service will be qualifying service, regardless of the nature of
the employment (salary, hourly or per diem, or full time or part time).
• An annuitant can still work in an emergency return to service capacity or a
return in an extracurricular position.
Benefit Cuts for New Members After July 1, 2011
• New Membership Classes
• Two new classes (Class T-E and T-F) for school employees who become new
members of PSERS on or after July 1, 2011
• All new members will automatically become Class T-E members. New
members have a one-time opportunity to elect Class T-F
Failure to elect Class T-F at time of original eligibility will make the
member ineligible for Class T-F forever
Once the election is made either by action or inaction, the election is
permanent
• Pension Multipliers and Contribution Rates
• Class T-E
Pension multiplier is 2%
Contribution base rate is 7.5% with “shared risk” contribution levels
between 7.5% and 9.5%
• Class T-F
Pension multiplier is 2.5%
Contribution base rate is 10.3% with “shared risk” contribution levels
between 10.3% and 12.3%
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 197

• Class T-E and T-F Members
Cannot withdraw contributions and interest when retiring
Have a ten year vesting period
For normal retirement, employees must:
• Work until age 65 with minimum of 3 years of service,
or…
• Attain a total combination of age and service that is equal to or
greater than 92 with a minimum of 35 years of service
• One year window for new members to apply for NQPT service (at full
actuarial cost)
• Pension benefit cannot exceed the member’s final average salary
• The cost to purchase most types of non-school or nonstate service credit
(other than military service) will be the full actuarial cost
• No projection of service for determining superannuation age
• Employees starting after July 1, 2011 will contribute based on “shared risk”
rate in effect at date of hire
How to Determine Membership Class
• A contract record should be entered with the first day of paid service as the
start date
• It is not the hire date, but the date in which the member begins performing
work and receiving remuneration for it
• If the employee has never been a member of PSERS and is not actually
providing services until after July 1, then the contract record should have this
employee at a 7.5% contribution rate as a Class T-E member
Class T-F Election Process
• New members will have a one-time opportunity to elect Class T-F within 45
days of receiving written notification from PSERS
• T-F election form only has to be returned if member wants to elect Class T-F
• Decision whether to elect or not is final and binding
• Election of Class T-F
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 198

If a member elects to become Class T-F, the employer will be notified
the following month and should begin withholding at the Class T-F
rate
If member is terminated prior to PSERS processing the election,
member will be responsible for remitting the payment to PSERS
• Employer’s Role In Class T-F Election Process
Collection of owed retirement contributions from the member
• Owed contributions are retroactive to the first day of qualifying
membership in PSERS
Collected through employer so they remain as “pickup or non-taxed”
contributions
Notification to employer will only be based on PSERS’ records
Collection Example: Full time salaried employee, earning $50,000 a
year elects Class T-F. Employer has reported two months of earnings
before the election occurs and PSERS is able to notify employer.
Employer had collected $625 in retirement contributions from member
due to 7.5% rate. At the higher rate of 10.3%, the member owes an
additional $233.34 for the two reported months.
• PSERS will notify employer how much is owed, not including
subsequent pays the employer has provided to the member
• Class T-F Election for Members with Multiple Employers
The money should come from the employer with the current payroll
stream
If the member has multiple current employers:
• If only one employer is full time and the other(s) is part time, it
will be the employer with the FT position
• If more than one employer is full time, it will be the full time
employer who most recently reported the member. This is
defined as the full time employer that most recently submitted a
work report for the member
• If all employers are part time, it will be the employer with the
• hourly Contract Record
• if none; then the employer with a per diem Contract
Record
• if none, then the employer with a salaried contract record
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 199

Shared Risk
• Every 3 years, the System will compare the actual investment rate of return
with the assumed rate of return for the prior 10 year period
• If the investment rate of return (less investment fees) is equal to or exceeds the
assumed rate of return, the member’s contribution rate will decrease by .5%
• If the earnings during the ten-year period are 1.0% or more below the assumed
rate of return, the member’s contribution rate would increase by .5%
If the System is fully funded at the time of the comparison, then the member
contribution rate reverts to the base rate for the Class
The investment return measurement return period will begin on July 1, 2011
The rate could never go below the base rate of 7.5% for T-E and 10.3% for
T-F members, nor above 9.5% for T-E and 12.3% for T-F members
If the employer rate is below the final contribution, the shared risk rate will
revert back to the base
If the employer rate has not increased in the prior 3-year period, then the
shared risk rate will not increase
EMPLOYER’S REFERENCE MANUAL FOR REPORTING 200