AK PERS - Reporting Scattered Leave Without Pay

Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) Employers are required to report Scattered LWOP to the Alaska Division of Retirement and Benefits (DRB) beginning January 2025.  How do we pull this information?

• Payroll

• Alaska

PERS Employers are required to report scattered hours of LWOP taken consecutively or through intermittent hours throughout the year.

Since employers do not have the ability to report scattered LWOP through eReporting, the Division is formalizing the process for how and when scattered LWOP should be reported.

Employers are required to prepare annual reports for all employees who had taken scattered LWOP throughout the prior calendar year. Beginning January 2025, these reports will be due by January 31 of every year.

The scattered leave report should include the following:

• Employee's name

• Last 4 digits of employee's Social Security number (SSN)

• Total number of scattered hours per calendar year

This can be reported using the Verification of Service form (02-1883) or as a separate report. Employers must send this report to their payroll contact within the Division.

Tyler recommends the Detail Check History Report program for the data you need to meet this requirement.

1. Open the Detail Check History Report program. 

2. Select Define

3. Populate as follows:

   1. Report Dates: Enter the beginning and ending date of the reporting year. 

   2.  Report Option:  Select Detail. 

   3. Show/hide SSN: Select Show last 4 of SSN Only

   4. Single Employee: Make sure it is not check marked. 

   5. Employee Number / Location / Org: Leave blank, or blank to Zs.

   6. Print Earnings: Click to checkmark. 

   7. Pay Type: Enter the range of EERP Pay code(s) you use to track LWOP hours in the payroll.

   8. Print Deductions: Make sure it is not check marked.

   9. Deduction: Leave blank to blank. 

   10. Employer Share Only: Make sure it is not check marked. 

4. Select Accept.

5. Select Excel.

6. Select Accept.

7. Open the Excel file and use Excel functionality such as PivotTables or Subtotal to get totals, and finalize reporting details.

Email Copy - 

From: Alaska Division of Retirement and Benefits <Alaska.DOA.DRB@public.govdelivery.com>
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2024 6:30 PM
Subject: Reporting Scattered Leave Without Pay

Memorandum

To:       Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) Employers               

Date:   October 4, 2024

From:   Brandon Roomsburg

            Division Auditor

            Division of Retirement and Benefits             

Phone: (907) 465-5707

Subject: Reporting Scattered Leave Without Pay

This memorandum is to serve as guidance for all PERS employers when reporting Leave Without Pay (LWOP) for employees.

BACKGROUND

When status events (like LWOP) are not reported to the Division, vesting dates and retirement eligibility dates are miscalculated resulting in possible serious consequences to the member due to service being credited that the member did not render.

For a full-time employee, LWOP that does not exceed 10 accumulated days in any calendar year is not considered an interruption or break in service. However, if the LWOP exceeds 10 accumulated days, whether taken consecutively or through intermittent hours scattered throughout the calendar year, their service credit for that year will be reduced by the equivalent number of days they were on LWOP, including the 10 days. (AS 39.35.330)

For example, a full-time employee scheduled to work a 40-hour work week (eight hours a day) could accumulate up to 80 hours of LWOP each calendar year and still receive a full year of service credit. However, once the accumulated LWOP exceeds 80 hours in the calendar year, the entire period of LWOP will not be credited PERS service.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Continuous periods of LWOP for full-time members should be reported to the PERS with each payroll processing. The employer will be required to verify all hours of LWOP for full-time members when completing the Verification of Service form (02-1883). If an employee disagrees with the employer’s verification of salaries or service, he/she will be referred to the employer to resolve the discrepancy.

• Verification of Service form (02-1883): alaska.gov/docs/forms/02-1883.pdf

Employers are required to report scattered hours of LWOP taken consecutively or through intermittent hours throughout the year. Since employers do not have the ability to report scattered LWOP through eReporting, the Division is formalizing the process for how and when scattered LWOP should be reported. Employers are required to prepare annual reports for all employees who had taken scattered LWOP throughout the prior calendar year. Beginning January 2025, these reports will be due by January 31 of every year.

The scattered leave report should include the following:

• Employee's name

• Last 4 digits of employee's Social Security number (SSN)

• Total number of scattered hours per calendar year

This can be reported using the Verification of Service form (02-1883) or as a separate report. Employers must send this report to their payroll contact within the Division.

EFFECTIVE DATE

This memorandum is effective immediately and includes calendar year 2023. Because notice was not provided prior to the end of 2023, the Division requests that all PERS employers complete and submit an annual report covering calendar year 2023 in addition to the 2024 report due in January 2025.

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this letter is based on the specific facts and circumstances presented and cannot be applied to other facts and circumstances. This letter may contain a summary description of benefits, costs, rates, valuations, other calculations, policies or procedures for one or more pension or benefit plans administered by the Division of Retirement and Benefits, including but not limited to, the Public Employees’ Retirement System, the Teachers’ Retirement System, the Judicial Retirement System, the Supplemental Annuity Plan, the Deferred Compensation Plan, the AlaskaCare Employee Health Plan, or the AlaskaCare Retiree Benefit Plan. The Division of Retirement and Benefits has made every effort to ensure, but does not guarantee, that the information provided is accurate and up to date. Where this letter conflicts with the relevant Plan Document, the Plan Document controls.