Employees who have met the requirements to be certified as eligible for retirement coverage with URS may become ineligible for coverage if their work status changes as follows:
» Part-time employees whose hours drop below an average of 20 or more hours per week measured over a year’s time;
» Part-time teachers who teach less than half time;
» Tier 1 elected or appointed officials not earning the monthly minimum eligibility income;
» Tier 2 part-time elected or appointed officials, as designated by their employer;
» Employees who no longer receive benefits normally provided by their employers (as defined by URS);
» Full-time employees whose job classification changes to TIAA participation.
If an employee’s status changes from eligible to ineligible, or from ineligible to eligible, the employer must certify the change in status and effective date of the new status through the online certification process within 30 days of the status change. . In addition, the employee’s future retirement contributions to the defined benefit plan should be changed based on the new status. (Employees don’t need to update deferrals, fund allocations or beneficiary choices for a status change with the same employer.)
If an ineligible employee wants to participate in the URS Savings Plans (401(k), 457(b), traditional or Roth IRA), or if the employer makes contributions on behalf of the employee to these plans, the employee should set up deferral amounts, fund allocations, and beneficiary choices through myURS.
If an employee’s hours drop below full time (2,080 hours annually) in either the Public Safety or Firefighters Retirement System, the employee is no longer eligible for coverage under these systems.