Retirement Planning Seminar Schedule (DRS) & Retirement Outlook

The 2019 Retirement Planning Seminar Schedule is now available from the Department of Retirement Systems. If you are a member of the Washington State Retirement Systems (LEOFF, PERS, PSERS, SERS, TRS, WSPRS) and within five years of retirement, we encourage you to review the seminar information overview, and register online at your convenience. Other options for registering are:

• E-mail DRS at Register@drs.wa.gov or
• Call (360) 664-7300 or 1-888-711-6676

If you do not find a seminar near your location or on a date that is convenient for you, you may be interested in viewing our seminar videos online. 

The Education page provides useful information to help you with your retirement planning regardless of how close or far away it is. You can also sign up for online account access. This access will allow you to review your service credit, contributions, beneficiary information, and much more. You can also create a benefit estimate that is based on the data in your account, and when you’re ready, retire online.

The Winter 2018-2019 Edition of the DRS Retirement Outlook newsletter is available. You can access current and past issues at the Department of Retirement Systems website.

Click on this Retirement Outlook link that will take you to all of the DRS Outlook issues.

Please note:  Due to space limitations, registration for DRS seminars is limited to members of the Washington State Retirement Systems. We are not able to accommodate reservation requests for members of other retirement systems.

Paid Family & Medical Leave Benefits

Beginning in 2020, Washington will be the fifth state in the nation to offer paid family and medical leave benefits. This benefit offers partially paid leave to care for yourself or a loved one in times of serious illness or injury, to bond with a new child joining your home through birth, adoption or foster placement, and for certain military-connected events if you have a family member in active duty service.

As a worker in Washington, you will experience a few changes in 2019. In your first paycheck of 2019, you will notice a new deduction. For example, if your pre-tax wages are $50,000 per year, you may pay up to about $2.44 from each paycheck. Employers contribute to this program too, so we’re in this together.

In 2020, you will be able to apply for leave when you experience a qualifying event and have worked 820 hours (about 16 hours a week, on average) in the year leading up to your date of leave.

This isn’t like paid sick leave; you will file your claim with the Employment Security Department (ESD), and your payment will come from ESD. Typically, you’ll have access to up to 12 weeks of paid leave. You can learn more at www.paidleave.wa.gov/workers.

Do you have questions? Ask your HR or Payroll representative or ask your questions directly to the Paid Family and Medical Leave program at paidleave@esd.wa.gov. You can also find them on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @PaidLeaveWA.

Department of Retirement Plan 3 Transfer Opportunity in January

Just a quick reminder, that if you are a Plan 2 member, that is eligible to transfer to Plan 3, January is the month to do so. 

You must sign, date and turn in the Member Transfer Form to Payroll by January 31st. For more information about who can transfer in January, please go to the Plan 3 January Transfer Opportunity page on the DRS website. 

If you have questions, please call the Department of Retirement Employer Support Services at 360-664-7200, option 2, or 800-547-6657, option 6, option 2.

ANNUAL SICK LEAVE BUY BACK OPPORTUNITY

It's that time of year again when you may have the opportunity to buy back your 2018 unused sick leave.  

To be eligible to buy back your unused sick leave you must:

·     Have a balance of at least 60 days of sick leave as of 12/31/18

·     And have not used all of the sick leave that you earned in 2018

Here are ”Sick Leave Buy Back Commonly Asked Questions” that may be helpful in making your decision.  

If you are eligible, and choose to take advantage of this benefit, please sign and return this Annual Sick Leave Buyback Application.

This application must be received in Payroll no later than January 31, 2019. 

This policy is in accordance with WAC 392-136-015.