RETIREMENT & BENEFIT SERVICES DIVISION MEMORANDUM

June 26, 1997

TO THE HEADS OF ALL STATE AGENCIES

Retirement & Benefit Services Division Memorandum dated June 9, 1997 discussed the requirements that must be met by members of the State Employees Retirement System (SERS) in order to participate in the 1997 Early Retirement Incentive Program (Program). One such requirement is that SERS members must elect to retire on or before August 1, 1997 and their applications must be received by the Division prior to the retirement date selected.

As referenced in such memorandum, the Program contains a special provision for hazardous duty members; their retirements may, with their consent, be deferred by the state on a case by case basis to not later than August 1, 1998. Requests to defer retirement shall be made by the agency in writing to the member with copies to the appropriate bargaining unit. This deferral provision, however, does not excuse such SERS members from the requirement that they be eligible for and elect to retire under the Program on or before August 1, 1997.

Obviously, for hazardous duty members whose effective retirement dates are being deferred, it would be impractical to mandate that all paperwork associated with the retirement application process be submitted to the Division prior to August 1, 1997. Accordingly, the purpose of this communication is to direct that Form CO-1101, a copy of which is attached hereto for agency reproduction and use, be completed for every hazardous duty member whose effective retirement date is being deferred by the state under the Program. These completed forms will be utilized by the Division for the purpose of (1) establishing eligibility to retire under the Program on or before August 1, 1997, and (2) documenting the state's decision to defer such retirements to not later than August 1, 1998.

For each hazardous duty member whose effective retirement date is being deferred under the Program, a completed Form CO-1101 must be submitted to the Division on or before July 31, 1997; absent timely submission of a completed Form CO-1101, benefits will not be paid under the Program.

As detailed on pages seven and eight of the aforementioned June 9, 1997 memorandum, the paperwork required to process a retirement application must be completed and submitted to the Division prior to the date to which the hazardous duty member's effective date of retirement has been deferred; for example, the completed paperwork for a October 1, 1997 retirement must be delivered to the Division no later than the close of business on September 30, 1997. And, for each deferred retirement under the Program, please print "DEFERRED" in red ink across the top of the application itself, Form CO-898.

Finally, remember that for any hazardous duty member whose effective date of retirement is not being deferred under the Program, all paperwork must be on file with the Division prior to either July 1, 1997 or August 1, 1997, whichever date has been selected.

Very truly yours,

STATE EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT COMMISSION
NANCY WYMAN, SECRETARY EX OFFICIO

BY:

Steven Weinberger, Director
Retirement and Benefit Services Division

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