Wash. Admin. Code § 415-113-067

Current through Register Vol. 24-23, December 1, 2024

Section 415-113-067 - As a dual member in a DRS administered retirement plan and a first class city retirement system can I earn service credit in both plans at the same time?

(1) You may earn service credit in a DRS system and in a first class city (FCC) retirement system for the city of Seattle, Spokane, or Tacoma at the same time if:

(a) You work for a DRS employer and an employer covered by an FCC retirement system; and

(b) Your employer cannot report service for the FCC in the DRS system.

(2) If the combined months of service credit exceeds the months of overlapping work, the excess service credit will be removed from the DRS system using the following calculation to bring the total combined service credit to not more than one per month:

(a) DRS will determine the months of FCC service credit by obtaining the total hours worked at the city during the overlapping time period, and dividing those hours by 2,088 hours (the number of working hours in a year), and then multiplying that by 12 months.

(b) DRS will determine the amount of excess service credit, rounding down to the nearest quarter month, by taking the combined total of the months of DRS service credit during overlapping time period and the months of FCC service credit during overlapping time period, and subtracting the number of months in the overlapping period, not to exceed the total number of calendar months in the overlapping period.

Example 1:

A PERS 2 employee works full time between January 2005 and June

2010 for a PERS employer. Between July 2007 and February 2008 they work full time for a FCC, working a total of 1,566 hours during these eight months. The FCC service credit will be calculated as (1,566/2,088) x 12 = 9 months of credit.

The excess service credit would be determined by adding the eight months of DRS credit earned with the nine months of FCC credit earned and subtracting the eight calendar months of overlapping time period. This leaves an excess of nine months of credit; however, since the overlapping time period is only eight months long, eight months of credit will be removed from PERS 2.

Prior to the removal the employee would have had eight months of PERS service credit between July 2007 and February 2008. After the removal they have no PERS service credit for this time period.

Example 2:

A SERS 3 employee works part time between September 2005 and August 2011 for a SERS employer, earning one-half of a month of service credit for each month. Between July 2007 and June 2008 they work full time for a FCC, working a total of 2,088 hours during these 12 months. The FCC service credit will be calculated as (2,088/2,088) x 12 = 12 months of credit.

The excess service credit would be determined by adding the six months of DRS credit earned with the 12 months of FCC credit earned and subtracting the 12 calendar months of overlapping time period. This leaves an excess of six months of credit therefore six months will be removed from SERS 3.

Prior to the removal of the service credit this employee had six months of SERS service credit between July 2007 and June 2008. After the removal of service credit they are left with no SERS during this time period.

Example 3:

A PERS 3 employee works part time between March 2010 and November 2011for a PERS employer, earning 13.5 months of service credit during this period. During the same time period, they work part time for a FCC, working a total of 2,500 hours during these 20 months. The FCC service credit will be calculated as (2,500/2,088) x 12 = 14.368 months of credit.

The excess service credit would be determined by adding the 13.5 months of DRS credit earned with the 14.368 months of FCC credit earned and subtracting the 20 calendar months of overlapping time period. This leaves an excess of 7.868 months of credit therefore 7.75 months (rounding down to the nearest quarter credit) will be removed from PERS 3.

Prior to the removal of service credit this employee had 13.5 months of service credit in PERS between March 2010 and November 2011. After the removal of the excess service credit they will have 5.75 months of service credit for this time period.

Example 4:

A PERS 2 employee leaves their PERS employer on February 14th and begins working with a FCC on February 15th. They had worked 80 hours for their PERS employer and earned one-half of a service credit for February. They worked 80 hours for the FCC in February so they earned .46 months of credit with the city (80/2,088) x 12.

The excess service credit would be determined by adding the .5 months of DRS credit with the .46 months of credit from the FCC. Since this does not exceed one month of credit there is not an excess of service credit.

Example 5:

A PERS 2 employee leaves their PERS employer on March 14th and begins working with a FCC on March 15th. They had worked 80 hours for their PERS employer and earned one-half of a service credit for March. They worked 96 hours for the FCC in February so they earned .55 months of credit with the city (96/2,088) x 12.

The excess service credit would be determined by adding the .5 months of DRS credit with the .55 months of credit from the FCC. The .05 of credit is excess; however, it rounds down to zero since it does not exceed a quarter credit of excess credit.

Example 6:

An FCC employee leaves their FCC employer on July 14th and begins working with a PERS 2 employer on July 15th. They had worked 80 hours for their FCC employer and earned .46 months of a service credit for July. They worked 96 hours for the PERS employer in July so they earned a full month of credit in PERS 2.

The excess service credit would be determined by adding the one months of DRS credit with the .46 months of credit from the FCC. The .46 months of credit is excess and rounds down to a quarter of service credit to be removed from PERS 2.

Wash. Admin. Code § 415-113-067

Adopted by WSR 22-11-041, Filed 5/12/2022, effective 6/12/2022