by Genevieve McBride, Employer Relations
Retirement season is upon us! While the majority of our members have been in contact with the ASRS and planning their retirement for a few months, if not a few years, there are still a good number of members who may suddenly decide to retire out of necessity or impulse without much planning.
Members are strongly encouraged to learn about what is needed to initiate retirement and the timeframe involved as soon as they start thinking about retirement, and there are a number of ways they can do that. A member’s best resource for retirement, whether immediately or in the distant future, is Retirement Central. On this webpage, members have access to tools to help them determine what they can expect in retirement, what annuity options are best for them, a timeline of when to submit documents, and much more. For married members, we encourage them to use these tools and view our eLearning videos with their spouses so they are both better informed when it comes time to apply.
Another great resource is a member’s own secure account, myASRS. Members can generate benefit estimates and also submit their online application for retirement. Once submitted, members can track the progress of their application through their secure account, and if they have any questions about the process or status of their application, members submit a question 24/7 via a secure message or call the Member Advisory Center during business hours.
How can employers help?
• Direct employees to the ASRS to apply for retirement once they’ve informed you of their intent to retire. Some employees believe the retirement process starts with the employer, but it really starts when they submit an application to the ASRS.
• If a member has informed you of their intent to retire, please advise them of the termination date you will use. A member’s retirement date cannot be before their termination date with you. This applies mainly to school districts where employees sometimes confuse the termination date with the last day of instruction rather than the last date of their contract. If an employee is contracted to be paid until a certain date (i.e., June 30), please remind your employee of that date so they are aware their effective retirement date cannot be earlier than the day after (i.e., July 1.).
• Check for pending Ending Payroll Verification (EPV) requests regularly and submit them as soon as your payroll process allows, as the actual retirement calculation process cannot begin until the EPV is submitted.
• Details are important, especially regarding the Other Compensation section of the EPV. This helps avoid a back and forth exchange of questions in ESMs that delays processing. Details allow the ASRS to determine whether any contributions are eligible compensation for benefit calculation purposes.
