Purpose:

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide agencies with the steps required to calculate breaks in service for ORP and VDC members (Plan Type 4Z) who appear on the weekly NBEN742A Control-D report - TIAA/CREF Employees with Active Jobs and No Projected Dates and the NBEN742B Control-D report – VDC Employees with Active Jobs and No Projected Dates.

• The NBEN742 reports list the employees by Department ID who have an Active Job status, and the Projected 366 Day Completion Date and/or the Projected 7 Year Completion Date are missing from the TIAA/CREF Suspense/NRI panel in PayServ. 
• The missing completion date(s) could prevent ORP/VDC members’ employee and employer contributions from being transferred to the ORP/VDC vendor timely when the suspense period has been completed. 
• Breaks in service could also impact the seven-year date, when the employer contribution rate increases. 

Affected Employees:

ORP and VDC members who have a break in service, have not completed the suspense period or 7 year period, and appear on the NBEN742A and NBEN742B respectively are affected.

Background:

A break in service impacts the “continuance in service” provision of Section 392(4) of the Education Law, and therefore cannot be included toward the completion of the 366 day suspense or seven year periods. 

Effective Dates:

This bulletin is effective immediately.

Control-D Reports Available Prior to Processing:

The NBEN742 Control-D reports identify incomplete ORP/VDC Suspense/NRI dates for ORP and VDC members who have an Active payroll status and are missing fields from TIAA/CREF Suspense/NRI panel. 

•  NBEN742A TIAA/CREF Employees with Active Jobs and No Projected Dates
• NBEN742B VDC Employees with Active Jobs and No Projected Dates

Agency Actions: 

Agencies must review the weekly NBEN742 Control-D report to determine which active ORP/VDC employees have missing Suspense dates in PayServ. Agencies are required to calculate a new Adjusted Hire Date, which automatically updates any unmet 366 and/or 7 Year Completion Dates for each ORP/VDC member appearing on the NBEN742. 

Please note that the report is refreshed weekly so agencies should always work from the most recent report.

1. Verify Suspense Page in PayServ: Agencies must verify which dates are missing from the employee’s Suspense Page (PayServ>Main Menu>Benefits>Enroll in Benefits>Suspense Page)
2. Verify the ORP/VDC Retirement Election Date: Agencies must verify the employee’s election date from their ORP/VDC Savings Plans page (PayServ>Main Menu>Benefits>Enroll in Benefits>Savings Plans). This is the date to begin recording the breaks in service. Do not include any breaks in service that occurred prior to the election date. 
3. Identify Breaks in Service: The 366 Completion Date and the 7 Year Completion Date will be removed for ORP/VDC members who have not completed these milestone dates when their Job Status is updated to Terminated. If these employees return to State service and their Job Data status changes to Active, the Suspense Page will have missing fields for all of their unmet milestone dates. 
   The Employee History Inquiry (PayServ>Main Menu>Workforce Administration>Administer Job Change Requests >Employee History Inquiry) page in PayServ summarizes Job Data, providing easy identification of Termination and Rehire transactions. Reviewing the employee’s employment history for Termination (TER) rows followed by Rehire (REH) rows is critical to performing the breaks in service calculation. This relationship of Terminated/Rehire transactions must be captured. The number of calendar days the ORP/VDC member did not have an Active payroll status will determine the new completion dates.
4. Utilize Provided Tools to Calculate Adjusted Hire Date: OSC has developed an ORP/VDC Breaks Calculator and comprehensive ORP/VDC Breaks in Service Job Aid to assist agencies with the breaks in service calculation. The calculator should be used by agencies when calculating breaks in service for all ORP/VDC members appearing on the NBEN742. The Job Aid contains step-by-step instructions for using the calculator and submitting the results to OSC for review. Both tools can be found on the OSC website.
5. Record New Dates and Send to OSC: Agencies must send Suspense Page updates to OSC for processing, as agencies have view-only access to this page.
   
   The ORP-VDC Breaks Calculator will automatically populate the Summary spreadsheet on the first page of the workbook. Each workbook can be used to calculate the new 366/7 Year dates for up to 20 employees. 
   
   Email the spreadsheet with the filename, “New ORP/VDC SUSPENSE Dates – Agency Code (xxxxx)”, to the Payroll Retirement Mailbox.

OSC Actions:

OSC will review the calculations on the spreadsheet, and if discrepancies are discovered, contact the agency for corrections. If no changes are necessary, OSC will update the Suspense Page using the Adjusted Hire Date from the calculator and PayServ will then update any unmet dates. 

Control-D Reports Available After Processing:

Agencies can use the same Control-D reports to verify that dates have been updated in PayServ; if an employee’s name no longer appears on the report, the update is complete.

• NBEN742A TIAA/CREF Employees with Active Jobs and No Projected Dates
• NBEN742B VDC Employees with Active Jobs and No Projected Dates

Questions:

Questions regarding the calculation process can be directed to the Payroll Retirement Mailbox.