MainePERS Employer Update

March 2024

Employer Training Schedule

MainePERS offers a half day Employer Training Session each month via Zoom. The training can provide the basics to new staff or is an excellent refresher or opportunity to fine tune your understanding of Employer Self-Service (ESS). Topics include Accessing ESS, Understanding Eligibility and Enrollment, Navigating ESS, and Survivor Services and Group Life Insurance (GLI) Highlights. An online registration schedule is available through our website.

You may also request training on specific topics or group training for multiple members of your payroll and human resources staff. To request training on a specific topic, please contact Employer Reporting at 1-800-451-9800 or by email at employer@mainepers.org.

Education Sessions Now Available

to Your Employees Online!

Do you have employees who want to find out more about their MainePERS benefits? We now offer several different planning sessions for State employees, Teachers and Participating Local District (PLD) employees. We have Introductory Educational sessions tailored to new and mid-career members. There are Ready to Retire sessions for our members who have already received an estimate from us and are planning to retire within the next year. Recently, we added a new Special Plan session geared toward mid-to-late career PLD employees who are participating in a Special Plan with their employer.

Since all of these sessions are offered virtually via Zoom, participation is easy and no travel is required. Please encourage your employees to sign up to learn more about their pension plan and how it can fit into long-term retirement planning. Employees can find out more and register to attend one of these 60 minute sessions 24/7 right on our website at the following locations:

State Plan Employees at www.mainepers.org/statesessions

Teacher Plan Employee at www.mainepers.org/teachersessions

PLD Plan Employees, including PLD Special Plans, at www.mainepers.org/pldsessions

GASB 68 & GASB 75 Audits

The June 30, 2023 GASB 68 (defined benefit plans) and GASB 75 (group life insurance) audit reports and schedules are now available on our website.

MainePERS Member Portal Update

Members and retirees may now register for and access the new online Member Portal directly from the MainePERS website. Since the launch in October more than 12,000 individuals have accessed their portal account. Outreach and communication about the Member Portal will continue through various online and printed materials, such as the new member welcome packets and retiree application packets.

Information about the portal and how to register is available at Member Portal webpage. For those who are already registered easy access to the Member Portal Login is now provided at the top of the MainePERS homepage.

While participation in the portal is optional, registering provides secure and convenient access to MainePERS account information, including member statements, tax documentation, and beneficiary and group life insurance selections. It is also a convenient way to update contact information, which has been one of the most popular features.

Providing secure access to member information is important, so multifactor authentication (MFA) is required for user registration and login. As part of that authentication process, access to a cellular or land-line telephone and/or email address is required to receive a unique verification code that members will need to enter for a successful authentication and secure log in to the portal.

For anyone who has not yet registered, instructions are available to help on the Member Portal webpage and additional assistance is available at 207-512-3100.

A large majority of members and retirees have asked for online account access in member satisfaction surveys and MainePERS is excited offer this new service.

Group Life Insurance Level Changes

Now is the time to update your Group Life Insurance (GLI) coverage levels for your employees participating in the program. Coverage levels are updated every April based on the prior years’ earnings. Please submit this information through the Employer Self Service portal using the Upload File function.

To do this, you will need to create a file that meets the requirements of the “Simple Format (CSV) - GLI Level” import.

Create a new Excel file or open your existing file, click file/save as/file type/.csv file. This will be a four column sheet with items for each employee with no header row: Year, Employer location code, SSN and Level. Easily done in Excel – please save file with a title listing your employer code and year and as a .csv file. Here is an example file:

2023	P0999	6100101	59000
2023	P0999	123456789	49000
2023	P0999	987654321	43000

To upload your file, log in to ESS, select your employer code, then Employer Location Details, Details, then select Upload File and click on "GLI Level". Select browse, select your file, and enter an import description which should be your location code and year.
Validate – if validates with exceptions file will process, if it validates with errors STOP and contact MainePERS and we will assist you
Process – Processes the file
Additional step-by-step guidelines in our ESS User Guide beginning on page 39.

How is the level defined? This will typically be your employee's 2023 annual gross wages from their W-2 (these amounts will automatically round up to the next $1,000).

How do I verify my import? The GLI Level Report will be in your Employer Self Service (ESS) Report/Generate Report/select ESS GLI Level Report/Employer Code and Location Code, and leave the Start Date as is.

What is my responsibility once I receive the new level report? Review the report carefully and contact Survivor Services if an employee is missing or you believe something is incorrect.

A Reminder to Keep Your Internet Browser Current

Employers who access Employer Self Service (ESS) should do so with devices that have up-to-date operating systems and browsers. Doing so helps keep your employee data safe.

Internet browsers are constantly being updated so MainePERS recommends periodically checking the status of your internet browsers to be sure you are running the most current version. An ESS Desktop Technical Specifications for employers is available to help you determine if your computers and internet browsers are up-to-date.

Please take a moment to review the specifications with your IT department or IT service provider. If you have questions about the importance or find you are unable to do so, please contact your Employer Reporting account representative for assistance.

Employee Contribution Rates for FY 2025

MainePERS publishes employer contribution rate information on our website. Employer and member contribution rates for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2024 and ends June 30, 2025, are now available on the Employer Rates and Rate Setting page where you can select plan specific information.

Grant funded teacher rate information is included in the Teacher section. The grant funded teacher costs do not include the additional amount due for teacher retiree health. This is established by and paid directly to State Employee Health and Benefits. You will receive a separate notification from Employee Health and Benefits for the amount due to fund retiree health coverage.

Eliminating Autofill May Help Eliminate Errors

Periodically, MainePERS receives ESS form submissions which have incorrect information (name, address, telephone number) due to the autofill feature in some browsers. To help prevent this from occurring, MainePERS recommends that all MainePERS ESS forms be submitted from a browser with the autofill feature disabled or turned off.

Google Chrome (the preferred Web browser for MainePERS Employer Self Service) contains a feature that allows users to autofill forms. The auto-populate feature is a very common feature, which pre-populates the fields based upon previously saved information such as address, email, telephone numbers, etc. While the autofill feature can be very helpful when entering the same individual information in fillable forms, it may lead to inadvertent errors when entering information for multiple individuals. The autofill feature should not be used when using ESS to submit forms to MainePERS.

To disable (turnoff) the Autofill feature:

Navigate to the Chrome menu icon (three round dots) at the top right of the browser.
Select Settings.
In the Autofill section, select and open the addresses and more option.
Toggle the setting to OFF if it is ON. The system will automatically save your settings.

This simple update will make completion of multiple different entries easier and help eliminate inadvertent errors.