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Welcome to
Employer Digest, your monthly source for IMRF news and
information to help you stay connected with IMRF.
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IMRF's Response to the COVID-19 Coronavirus
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IMRF wants all stakeholders to know the organization is making changes that prioritize the health and safety of its members, employers, and staff, in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
- In-person workshops suspended. All in-person workshops are temporarily suspended. At a minimum, this suspension is through the end of March, but could extend beyond that date. This includes all Authorized Agent Workshops. Please see the story below for more information.
- Leveraging email-based communication. For the foreseeable future, the best way to communicate with IMRF is by sending us a Secure Message within Employer Access. To protect all stakeholders, we are reducing the number of team members present in our call center, and limiting hours to between 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM. Alternatively, employers may call 1-800-728-7971.
- Hosting Employer Rate Meetings by webinar. We will be offering three webinars. Please see the story below for more information.
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Important IMRF Documents in Employer Access
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Available Now
IMRF's SOC-1 Type 2 Report is available in the "Display Annual Documents" section of
Employer Access
. This report is needed by some IMRF employers for financial reporting purposes. In the report, independent auditors examined and verified the adequacy of IMRF's internal controls.
Available April 1
Your employer's 2021 Preliminary Contribution Rate Notice will be available in
Employer Access
in the "Display Annual Documents" section beginning Wednesday, April 1, 2020. This notice provides your employer's estimated 2021 annual contribution rate for its IMRF plans, and is necessary for financial planning, accounting, and reporting purposes.
IMRF will also release your employer's 2019 Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) 50 Footnote Disclosure Statement on Wednesday, April 1.
Please provide these important documents to your employer's chief financial officer.
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Register for Employer Rate Meeting Webinars
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In light of the developing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, IMRF has decided that we will not host in-person Employer Rate Meetings this year. Instead, we will be expanding our webinar program to include sessions in April and May. The three webinars dates are:
Click on your preferred date to register for the webinar.
The Rate Meeting webinars will review the impact of year-end financial and actuarial data on IMRF, and the data's estimated impact on individual employers. IMRF Executive Director Brian Collins and Chief Financial Officer Mark Nannini will conduct the meetings.
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Reporting Workers' Compensation to IMRF
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Did you know that the basic workers' compensation payments may be considered IMRF earnings?
When should Workers' Compensation payments be reported?
If an employer pays an employee while that employee is also receiving workers' compensation, all payments, including workers' compensation payments, become reportable if the employer's payments to the employee are:
1. Paid after the date of injury
and
2. Paid as a result of the employee being on workers' compensation
Note that any payment by an employer that meets these guidelines can result in the reporting of workers' compensation payments, even if the employer is not making the employee's salary "whole." As a general rule, wages must be reported the month that they are paid to the employee.
For example, if an employer supplements the workers' compensation by 33.33% allowing the employee to be paid 100% of salary (33.33% by the employer and 66.67% by the insurance carrier), the entire 100% is reported to IMRF. This allows the member's account to be credited with 100% of wages and not just the 33.33% provided by the employer. In this case, the member would continue to have regular wages reported and earn service credit in the months that he or she is receiving workers' compensation.
How to report a lump sum payment
If, however, an employer pays an employee a lump sum which is intended to make the employee whole during the workers' compensation period, then those payments will be attributed to each month of the workers' compensation period.
Different rules for IMRF disability benefits
Remember that employees are not allowed to receive any earnings from their IMRF employer while receiving disability benefits.
For more information
See the 3.96R Workers' Compensation section of the Authorized Agent's manual
for more information on this topic. Or if you have specific questions on reporting workers' compensation, call the employer-only phone number, 1-800-728-7971.
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2020 Authorized Agent Workshops
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All Authorized Agent workshops are cancelled through March due to the developing COVID-19 coronavirus situation. Check the IMRF website for updates regarding when workshops will be held again.
Field Representatives will be in contact with employers where we have meetings scheduled to offer alternate services.
If you would like to review the workshop presentation, visit our
Employer Workshops page, and click the link on the right side of the page.
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February Board Meeting Highlights
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On Friday, February 28, 2020, at the IMRF Board of Trustees meeting, the following occurred:
- Staff provided an update on 2020-2022 Strategic Plan. IMRF staff delivered an update on activities and metrics supporting the 2020-2022 IMRF Strategic Plan.
- Board approved the 2021 death and disability benefit rates. The 2021 average death benefit rate will change from 0.12% to 0.16% of employer payroll. The 2021 disability benefit rate remains at 0.09% of employer payroll.
- Staff projected the 2020 "13th Payment" to remain steady at 27%. Each July, eligible retirees and surviving spouses receive a Supplemental Benefit Payment, also known as the "13th Payment." IMRF staff estimated that the 2020 13th Payment will be 27% of a retiree's June benefit payment. This is the same percentage as in 2019.
The next regularly scheduled Board meeting will be held Friday, March 20 at 9 AM at IMRF's Oak Brook office. See the full 2020 IMRF Board of Trustees meeting calendar
here.
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New Board Resolutions Affecting Employers
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The Board passed the following resolutions:
Follow the links to
see the full Board Resolutions on the IMRF website.
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