MainePERS Employer Update

September 2024

GASB 68 & 75 Audits

The GASB 68 (defined benefit plans) and GASB 75 (group life insurance) audits will be conducted this fall. Audit reports and schedules should be available by January 31, 2025. BerryDunn, our external audit firm, will reach our to selected employers for "census testing" as part of this process. Census testing is a standard auditing activity in which BerryDunn will request payroll data from you to ensure that it agrees with what is recorded at MainePERS. this data is used for service credit calculations, average final compensation determinations, etc., and ensuring the accuracy of data stored at MainePERS is a key component of the audits. MainePERS notifies employers who have been selected for this audit work prior to contact by BerryDunn.

Reminder: Payroll Filing Dates

Payroll filings are due to MainePERS by the fifteenth day of the month following the payroll-filing period being reported. You can upload your payroll file as early as the next day after your last pay date for the payroll month being reported. We encourage you to complete this upload as soon as possible after that last pay date so that we have time to work with you to correct any issues before the filing deadline.

Payroll Filing Deadlines for 2024

August	September 16, 2024
September	October 15, 2024
October	November 15, 2024
November	December 16, 2024
December	January 15, 2025

Group Life Insurance

Premium Rates for FY25

There will be no change to Group Life Insurance Premium Rates for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024. Current rates are available on Group Life Insurance webpages. If you have any questions please contact Survivor Services at survivor.services@mainepers.org.

Insurance Levels

Life insurance levels have been updated for the coming year. Please review your invoice. If you have any changes or corrections, please contact Survivor Services.

Reduce your contributrion payments by applying CTE Contribution and Interest Credits on your account

If you see transactions on your account in the Employer Self-Service Portal titled “CTE Credit” or “CTE Interest” you have an opportunity to reduce your contribution payments by applying these credits and interest. MainePERS occasionally receives contributions from employers based on salaries and compensation payments that are not considered “earnable” for pension purposes. This results in employer and employee contribution overpayments. When this happens in the current calendar year the result is a work report adjustment credit. You can use these credits to reduce your future contributions. Additionally, your employees’ portion of the contribution should be refunded to them and reflected on their W-2 form at the end of the year.

If the overpayment occurred in a previous calendar year, often discovered when a member retires, MainePERS will process a “CTE Refund” to refund employee contributions taken in error directly to the individual. MainePERS reports the refund to the employee (or retiree) and to the Internal Revenue Service on a form 1099-R the following January.

Since employer contributions were collected in error on the same wages or compensation, as of 2022, MainePERS began issuing a credit for overpaid employer contributions (with interest), when we issue a CTE refund to an employee (or retiree). Employers receive a letter from MainePERS detailing this adjustment and will see the transactions (CTE Credit and CTE Interest) on their accounts.

MainePERS is not permitted to issue a refund for these credits, however, employers can, and should, apply these credits to future contributions to the Plan. To apply these credits and thereby reduce the payment on a future month’s payroll work report, all you need to do is notify Employer Services of your intent to use the credit so that it can be applied to the payroll you choose. We will not make this adjustment without your authorization.

If you have questions about these credits, please contact your Employer Services account representative for assistance.

Do you offer Group Life Insurance to your Employees?

New ESS feature now makes exporting invoice details a breeze!

MainePERS is pleased to announce that it recently added a feature to the Employer Self Service portal that allows employers to export their Group Life Insurance (GLI) invoice details to Excel. This has been a highly requested feature that will make reconciling your invoice details easier. The Quick Reference Guides on the ESS homepage provides instructions on how to export invoice details.

And as always, please contact your Employer Reporting Account Associate with any questions.

Changes in who to call with Group Life Insurance Invoice questions

MainePERS has implemented an organizational change in how we support employers who provide Group Life Insurance (GLI) to their employees. Effective August 1, 2024 all questions surrounding GLI Invoices and transactions have transitioned to your Employer Reporting Account Associate. Account Associates will now assist you with your payroll file submissions, pension contribution payments and reconciliations, adjustments, and your GLI invoice adjustments. This will provide “one stop service” when addressing your accounts receivable related activity with us. The Survivor Services team will still be a resource for programmatic and eligibility questions, including evidence of insurability and portability.

Your assigned Account Associate is on the “ESS Assignments” tab when you log in to the employer portal.

New process to report terminated employees in MaineSTART (DC)

The process for reporting terminated employees on your MaineSTART (DC) file has changed. You no longer have to leave the terminated employee on your MaineSTART file until the end of the calendar year. Now, we only require the termination date with the employee’s last deduction filing. Once done, please remove the terminated employee from your file.

If you are currently reporting terminated employees with no compensation and no deductions, please remove them from your next DC file.

If you are reporting a member with a termination date and a rehire date, please remove the termination date and replace the hire date with the rehire date.

Should you have any questions about this change, please contact your Employer Reporting Account Associate for assistance.

PLD Annual Limited Period Open Enrollment

MainePERS PLD Limited Period Open Enrollment runs annually from September 1stthrough November 1st for employers who offer this provision. PLD employers who adopt this provision provide eligible employees who previously declined to participate in MainePERS with additional opportunities to join.

Open enrollment is limited to eligible but non-participating PLD employees who: 1) have optional membership; 2) are within their first five years of employment and 3) are employed by a PLD who adopted the provision. Details and sample notices that can be provided to your employees are available on our website.

If your District has not adopted the provision and would like to explore doing so, please contact PLD Plan Administration at pldadministrator@mainepers.org for more information.

Employer Training

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.

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.

New menu options improve telephone response rates

Employers may now transfer directly to Employer Reporting by selecting Option 3

New telephone menu options will greet you the next time you call MainePERS. This summer the automated menu has been updated to provide clearer, more descriptive choices based on commonly requested information. This includes an option (press 3) specifically for employers that transfers them directly to Employer Reporting, eliminating the call transfer by Reception.

Initial feedback and data show that wait times have been reduced, fewer callers need to wait on hold, fewer callers need to leave a voice mail requesting a return call, and callers are reaching their intended destination more quickly and more directly.

With this new menu, MainePERS answers 95 percent of calls, and, when a caller does need to hold, the average wait time is now just over one minute.

We welcome your feedback on this new menu the next time you call.

Secure email upgrade

In early July, MainePERS upgraded its secure email messaging platform to Mimecast. As with the prior secure email, Mimecast allows MainePERS representatives to securely send emails that contain confidential or sensitive information to you and allows you to generate secure emails to send to MainePERS.

Those using Mimecast for the first time will need to register and set up a user name and password in order to use the secure email application. Access to Mimecast and an easy to follow user guide may be found on the MainePERS website (www.mainepers.org/contact).