Washington Administrative Code
Title 415 - Retirement Systems, Department of
Chapter 415-113 - Portability of public employment benefits
CALCULATING YOUR DUAL MEMBER BENEFIT
Section 415-113-200 - SERS and PERS concurrent employment

Universal Citation: WA Admin Code 415-113-200

Current through Register Vol. 24-18, September 15, 2024

For the purposes of this section and pursuant to RCW 41.35.005, 41.35.010, 41.40.010, and 41.54.100, "concurrent employment" refers to simultaneous employment in an eligible SERS Plan 2 or Plan 3 position and an eligible PERS Plan 2 or Plan 3 position.

If a member has been concurrently employed at any time, this section governs the calculation of service credit, average final compensation, and retirement benefits attributable to all periods of PERS employment, SERS employment, and concurrent employment.

(1) Can I participate in SERS and PERS at the same time? Yes, you may participate in SERS and PERS at the same time when employed concurrently in a PERS eligible position and a SERS eligible position. Your SERS employer will report your SERS eligible service in SERS. Your PERS employer will report your PERS eligible service in PERS.

(2) Will the factors used to calculate my defined benefit be different because of concurrent employment in SERS and PERS? No, the department will calculate your service credit and average final compensation as if all of your employment was reported in one system. These two factors are used to calculate your defined benefit.

(3) Will the amount of my benefit be different because of concurrent employment?

(a) If you are concurrently employed in SERS Plan 2 and PERS Plan 2, the amount of your benefit from SERS and PERS combined will be the same as if all of your service had been reported and you received a benefit in one system, because:
(i) SERS Plan 2 and PERS Plan 2 both use identical two-percent benefit formulas; and

(ii) Your total service credit and average final compensation will not be different than if all of your service had been reported in one system pursuant to subsection (2) of this section.

(b) If you are concurrently employed in SERS Plan 3 and PERS Plan 2, the amount of your benefit may be larger or smaller than if all of your service had been reported in one system:
(i) SERS Plan 3 uses a one-percent defined benefit formula and has a defined contribution component. You are responsible for the investment of your defined contribution component, which is subject to investment gains or losses; therefore, the dollar value of your total benefit may be greater or less than what you would have received if all of your service had been reported in one defined benefit system.

(ii) The allocation of your service credit while concurrently employed, as described in subsection (4) of this section, may also affect the dollar value of your benefit.

(4) How is my service credit granted while concurrently employed? As a concurrently employed member, you are entitled to exactly the same amount of service credit for your SERS and PERS service combined that you would have received had all of your service been reported in one system.

To calculate your service credit the department will:

(a) Combine your SERS and PERS service to determine the amount of service credit you would have earned had all of your service been reported in one system.

(b) Calculate and grant service credit in SERS based only on your reported SERS service.

(c) Calculate and grant service credit in PERS by subtracting the amount of service credit granted for SERS in (b) of this subsection from the amount of service credit calculated in (a) of this subsection that you would have earned had all of your service been reported in one system (see example 1):
(i) For any month in which you receive one month of service credit in SERS for a calendar month of employment, you will not receive any PERS service credit in that month.

(ii) The combined service credit in SERS and PERS may not exceed one month of service for a calendar month of employment.

(d) Adjust the SERS service credit at the conclusion of each school year in accordance with the provisions of RCW 41.35.180. This adjustment may cause changes in the combined SERS/PERS service credit and/or changes in the PERS service credit. (See example 2).

Example 1:

Monthly computation of concurrent employment service credit.

Part-time SERS and part-time PERS.

(a) During a month, a member works 80 hours at a school district and 100 hours at a county. If all of the service had been reported in one system, the maximum the member could have earned is one service credit for that month. The member will be granted .5 service credit in SERS based on the 80 hours of service reported in SERS and will receive .5 service credit in PERS based on subtracting the .50 service credit in SERS from the maximum of 1.00 service credit.

(b) During a month, a member works 65 hours at a school district and 30 hours at a county. If all of the service had been reported in one system, the maximum the member could have earned is one service credit for that month. The member will be granted .25 service credit in SERS based on the 65 hours of service reported in SERS and will receive .75 service credit in PERS based on subtracting the .25 service credit in SERS from the maximum of 1.00 service credit.

Full-time SERS and part-time PERS.

During a month, a member works 172 hours for an educational service district and works 30 hours for a state agency. If all of the service had been reported in one system, the maximum the member could have earned is one service credit for that month. The member will be granted one month of service credit in SERS based on the 172 hours of service reported in SERS and will receive 0.0 service credit in PERS (even though they worked 30 hours) based on subtracting the 1.00 service credit in SERS from the maximum of 1.00 service credit.

Part-time SERS and full-time PERS.

During a month, a member works 40 hours for a school district and 180 hours for a city. If all of the service had been reported in one system, the maximum the member could have earned is one service credit for that month. The member will be granted .25 service credit in SERS based on the 40 hours of service reported in SERS and will receive .75 service credit in PERS based on subtracting the .25 service credit in SERS from the maximum of 1.00 service credit.

Example 2:

Application of the educational service credit rules and the effects on concurrent employment service credit computation.

During September, October, and November a member works 60 hours, 30 hours, and 70 hours in SERS and works 90 hours, 30 hours, and 60 hours in PERS, respectively. Based on these hours, the member would have been granted .25, .25, and .50 service credits in SERS and .75, 0.0, and .50 in PERS. The member's service credit calculated on a monthly basis through November is shown in Table 1 below.

At the end of the school year, the educational service credit rules (RCW 41.35.180) are applied. The application of these rules may cause one or more months of SERS service credit to change. A change in the SERS service credit for any given month may cause the combined SERS/PERS service credit to change. See Table 2, second line. The PERS service credit would then need to be recalculated for any month that the SERS service credit changed.

The members service for the entire school year is shown in Table 2 below. Applying the educational service credit rules, the member is now entitled to six service credit months in SERS for the school year (.50 in each month of September through August) based on working a total of 750 hours for the year. Thus, the service credit in September would be changed to .50 service credit in SERS and .50 credit in PERS. The service credit in October would be changed to .50 service credit in SERS and would remain at 0.0 service credit in PERS. November's service credit calculation is not affected by the application of the educational service credit rules.

Table 1: Month by Month Determination

HOURS

SERVICE CREDIT

Combined PERS/SERS

SERS

PERS

Combined

PERS/SERS

SERS

PERS

Sept

150

60

90

1

0.25

0.75

Oct

60

30

30

.25

.25

0.00

Nov

130

70

60

1

0.50

0.50

Table 2: After RCW 41.35.180 Adjustment

HOURS

SERVICE CREDIT

Combined PERS/SERS

SERS

PERS

Combined

PERS/SERS

SERS

PERS

Sept

150

60

90

1

0.5

0.5

Oct

60

30

30

0.5

0.5

0

Nov

130

70

60

1

0.5

0.5

Dec

120

60

60

1

0.5

0.5

Jan

140

70

70

1

0.5

0.5

Feb

160

90

70

1

0.5

0.5

Mar

130

60

70

1

0.5

0.5

Apr

140

70

70

1

0.5

0.5

May

130

70

60

1

0.5

0.5

Jun

130

70

60

1

0.5

0.5

Jul

80

40

40

0.5

0.5

0

Aug

120

60

60

1

0.5

0.5

750

11

6

5

(5) How is my average final compensation calculated if I have been concurrently employed? Your average final compensation will be calculated by combining all compensation earnable and service credit from all periods of SERS employment, PERS employment, and concurrent employment and then determining your highest consecutive sixty service credit months prior to your retirement, termination, or death. If an authorized leave occurs during the highest consecutive sixty service credit months, amounts earned during the period of leave will not be used in the calculation of average final compensation, except under RCW 41.40.710(2), 41.35.470(2) or 41.35.650(2).

(6) How is my defined benefit in each system calculated? A retirement allowance will be calculated using the appropriate formula for each system and plan as described in chapters 41.40 and 41.35 RCW, except that:

(a) The PERS service credit granted under subsection (4) of this section will be used in the PERS calculation and the SERS service credit granted under subsection (4) of this section will be used in the SERS calculation; and

(b) The average final compensation calculated under subsection (5) of this section will be used as the average final compensation for both PERS and SERS.

Statutory Authority: RCW 41.50.050(5), chapters 41.32, 41.34, 41.35, 41.40, and 41.50 RCW. 02-03-120, §415-113-200, filed 1/23/02, effective 3/1/02. Statutory Authority: Chapters 41.32, 41.34, 41.35, 41.50 RCW. 01-01-059, §415-113-200, filed 12/12/00, effective 1/12/01.

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