Friday, September 13, 2019
Welcome to Employer Digest, your monthly source for IMRF news and information to help you stay connected with IMRF.
2019 Employee Trustee Election
In November, active members of IMRF will elect one Employee Trustee for a five-year term of office, from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2024.

Eligible voters
All IMRF members actively enrolled as of September 2019 are eligible to vote. To ensure that all eligible members receive ballots, employers should make sure to process any new member enrollments for September as soon as possible.

Keep member addresses up to date
To ensure that all eligible members receive a ballot packet, all employers are asked to use Employer Access to update members’ information promptly.

Distribution of ballots
Members will receive their ballots and a postage-paid return envelope with a special election edition of IMRF’s Fundamentals newsletter. This packet will be mailed to eligible IMRF members on October 30, 2019. The newsletter includes candidate biographies and instructions for completing and returning the ballots.

Completed ballots must be received at IMRF’s Oak Brook or Springfield office no later than 4:30 PM on December 6, 2019. Election results will be certified at the Board of Trustees meeting on December 20, 2019.

For more information
Please see the dedicated 2019 Board Elections page with additional details and candidate information.
August 2019 Board Meeting Highlights
On Friday, August 23, 2019, the IMRF Board of Trustees:

  • Reviewed new strategic objectives and key strategies
  • Received an update on new legislative bills affecting IMRF (details below)
  • Passed four Board Resolutions relating to military wages, harassment, guardianship, and removing obsolete and outdated resolutions

You can read the full report in the August 2019 Board Meeting Highlights.

The next regularly scheduled Board meeting will be held Friday, November 22, at 9 AM at IMRF's Oak Brook office. You can view the 2019 IMRF Board of Trustees meeting calendar here.
New Legislation Signed into Law
Six bills affecting IMRF passed the General Assembly during the spring session. None of the bills were opposed by IMRF. No bills related to pension fund consolidation progressed during the spring session.

  • Public Act 101-0151 (House Bill 3446) allows members to retain disability eligibility if they have up to a three-month gap in employment prior to disability, and return to participation with a different employer. Prior to this law, the member had to return to the same employer to retain eligibility. This bill was part of the IMRF Board’s 2019 Legislative Agenda.
  • Public Act 101-0473 (House Bill 2460) requires all public agencies and units of government in Illinois to consider specific sustainability goals.
  • Public Act 101-0492 (House Bill 2884) extends to members participating with certain educational employers the ability to roll over unused, unpaid sick leave between multiple employers. Currently, this ability only applies to members participating with school districts.
  • Public Act 101-0504 (House Bill 3263) requires IMRF to post certain employer cost and participation information on its website.
  • Public Act 101-0544 (Senate Bill 1236) prohibits an elected official who is receiving an IMRF pension based on service in the same position from also receiving a salary for that position. If the official was receiving an IMRF pension on August 23, 2019, effective at the beginning of their next term of office they must either suspend their IMRF pension or their salary will be reduced to zero.
  • Public Act 101-0546 (Senate Bill 1264) requires all pension systems to send an annual report to the State Treasurer’s Office regarding unclaimed assets.

For more information on these and other bills that may affect IMRF, see IMRF’s 101st General Assembly Bills page.
New Board Resolution Affecting Employers
The IMRF Board of Trustees passed four Board Resolutions at their meeting on August 23, 2019, including 2019-08-10(b): Definition of Earnings – Military Wages.

Federal and state legislation protect the pension rights of military service members who leave their employment for military service. Most recently, additional protections have been enacted by the Illinois Legislature in ISERRA (330 ILCS 61/1-1, et seq.). As a result, the IMRF Board of Trustees enacted Resolution 2019-08-10(b), which amends the IMRF definition of reportable earnings to include certain military pay received by a member.

Both the military earnings and any differential pay paid by the employer are considered reportable earnings. When the military wages exceed the member’s regular wages, the reportable amount is capped at the amount of the member’s regular wages. This allows a member’s wages and service credit to remain constant during certain instances of military leave. Whether the differential compensation statute is applicable remains up to the employer and their legal counsel. This ensures that a member’s pension benefits will not be decreased as prohibited by ISERRA.

You can read the full Board Resolution on the IMRF website.
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