December 2025

MainePERS Pension Administration System Update

As announced earlier this year, MainePERS has begun a multi-year project to update our pension administration system (PAS). As part of this process, we convened an Employer Advisory Panel to help guide and assist with this effort. This is an update on the Employer Advisory Panel activities.

Employer Advisory Panel Activities

In July, the Employer Advisory Panel had its initial meeting with an overview of the PAS project. Included was information on the Panel’s role to share challenges with the current system, provide insight into possible improvements, and feedback on communication and training needs of employers.
During the October meeting, Panel members received an overview of some anticipated opportunities the PAS will provide to improve the employer experience, such as an employer portal dashboard, online messaging, and simplified reporting. Also, Panel members shared feedback on the pain points of reporting Earnable Compensation.

Information Request

At various points in this process, all employers may be asked to provide information and feedback to help facilitate the transition to the new PAS and to assist the Employer Advisory Panel in its efforts. Toward that end, we will be sending all employers a brief survey in the coming weeks seeking the following:

Information about your current payroll providers or payroll system. We will be reaching out to payroll providers to advise of our new pending system and seek their participation in the Employer Advisory Panel meetings.
Your biggest challenges with the current ESS. We are aware of your concerns from our day-to-day interactions with you and our annual employer surveys have identified many of your pain points. This will help confirm our perceptions and the data will be shared in aggregate with the Employer Advisory Panel.

Periodic updates of the Employer Advisory Panel activities will be provided via the Employer Update or in email communications, as appropriate.

New Instructional Video on Wage Averaging

MainePERS is pleased to provide a new instructional video on Wage Averaging. This video outlines the steps required to properly report wage averaged time and wages for employees who are eligible for this option under the Teacher retirement plan. The video covers the What, When, Who, Why and How to properly report wage averaged employees’ earnings.

Some payroll software systems can make this calculation automatically, while others require calculation prior to manually entering the information. The video includes instructions for both instances with easy-to-follow instructions and helpful tips and reminders.

This video can be accessed whenever needed by staff who report payroll to MainePERS. The MainePERS Wage Averaging Video is available on the MainePERS website and on the homepage of ESS for easy access.

Also available for viewing is the MainePERS Membership Application video. This video was introduced last year and provides step-by-step instructions on completing a membership application for those employees seeking to join MainePERS.

FY27 Employer Contribution Rates

Employer and member contribution rates for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2026 and ends June 30, 2027, are now available on the Employer Rates and Rate Setting page where you will find 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.

GASB 68 & GASB 75 Audit Reports and Schedules

The GASB 68 (defined benefit plans) and GASB 75 (group life insurance) audit reports and schedules should be available on the MainePERS website on or around January 31, 2026.

MaineSTART Defined Contribution Plan

The MaineSTART 457 Deferred Compensation Plan is available to Public School Teachers. By joining this program, employers can provide their teachers with an opportunity to participate in another MainePERS offered retirement savings plan. MaineSTART offers both Traditional (pre-tax) and Roth (after-tax) accounts. These voluntary programs can help your employees save money to fund their retirement and help secure their financial future. Please contact Gary Emery at (207) 512-3116 or via email at gary.emery@mainepers.org to explore adding MaineSTART as a benefit program for your employees. Additional information is available at www.mainestart.org.

Updated SSA-1945 Form now available for use by Employers

The Social Security Administration has issued a new version of SSA-1945, Statement Concerning Your Employment in a Job Not Covered by Social Security. State and local governmental employers are required to provide this federal form to new hires not covered by Social Security, and to provide a signed copy to the pension paying agency. The originals should be kept with your employee records and signed copies of the form should be mailed to MainePERS at PO Box 349, Augusta ME 04332.

The form previously provided information on the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Offset Program (GPO). With the repeal of these offset provisions in January 2025, the new version of the form now notifies the employee of the lack of Social Security coverage. This form is available on the MainePERS website, as well as the Social Security Administration webpages.

Employer Training

MainePERS offers a half day Employer Training Session each month via Zoom. The training can provide the basics for new staff or 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. Register online today.

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.

2026 Printable Employer Calendar Now Available
Handy Reference for MainePERS Filing and Reporting Deadlines

The 2026 printable Employer Calendar with important filing or reporting dates is now available on the MainePERS website and on Employer Self-Service (ESS). Easily printed and posted, this handy reference item includes color-coded dates to help keep track of when monthly payroll and group life insurance (GLI) submissions are due, the effective date of changes to pension contribution rates and GLI premium rate changes, and when to submit GLI coverage level updates. Introduced last year, this quickly became a favorite print and post reference.

Employer Payroll Report and Payment Due Dates

Employer payroll reports and payments are due no later than 15 days after the end of each month. The due date is advanced to the next business day in instances when the 15th of the month falls on a weekend or holiday. In order to be in compliance with Internal Revenue Service regulations, on-time reporting and payment are required.

Proposal to Simplify Group Life Insurance Annual Coverage Level Increases

During the next session of the Maine Legislature, MainePERS will be seeking a law change to allow us to simplify the determination and reporting of Group Life Insurance coverage when a member begins employment, as well as the annual coverage level increases during their employment. The bill, LD 2022, An Act to Clarify the Setting of Group Life Insurance Coverage Levels Under the Maine Public Employees Retirement System, if passed by the Maine Legislature, would base coverage levels on earnable compensation. This would eliminate the need for most employers to provide compensation level changes each April.

The Maine Legislature will convene in January 2026. Should the proposed bill be enacted, the changes would affect coverage levels beginning in April of 2027. Therefore, the Group Life Insurance coverage levels will continue to be reported in April 2026 as in prior years.

Reminder: Group Life Insurance Level Changes Are Due Soon

GLI coverage levels get updated every April based on the prior years’ gross earnings. You do not have to wait until April; you can submit this information as soon as you have the data available. You can upload the file 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 must be .csv. The file will be 4 columns with no header row. The columns should contain Year, Employer location code, SSN and Level in that order. Please save the file with the name of your employer code and year (P0999 2025). Here is an example file:

To Upload your file: log into ESS:

Navigate to the Account tab
Click Upload File
Select GLI Level
Click browse - find your file
Enter an import description of your location code and year (P0999 2024)
Validate:
Validates with exceptions - OK, the file will process
Validates with errors - STOP and contact MainePERS for assistance
Process - Processes the file

Step-by-step guidelines are in our ESS User Guide beginning on page 39.

(https://www.mainepers.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/ESS-guides/ESS-User-Guide.pdf).

How is the level defined? This will typically be your employees’ 2025 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.