Large Earning Clarifications

As you may have noticed, OPERS stopped generating large earning clarifications temporarily to review the current process for possible improvements. We have made improvements and the large earning clarifications and e-mails notifying you of any new large earnings resumed as of June 20, 2022.

To avoid large earning clarifications, please follow the reporting guidelines for the following type of payments:

  • If you are reporting a disability payment (for those who have employer sponsored plans), a retroactive pay increase, a settlement agreement, payment for a termed or deceased employee or a conversion payment, you should report those wages on a supplemental report and in the correct earning period(s). For conversion payments, a completed OPERS Conversion Payment Template (CONVDOC) should be mailed, emailed, or faxed to Employer Outreach upon submitting the supplemental report.
  • If you are submitting contributions for a bonus payment on a percentage of an employee's basic rate of pay, it should be reported with your upcoming regular report.
  • If you are paying contributions for a prior earning period, the contributions for the prior earning period should be reported on a regular report for the corresponding earning period.

It is important to properly report large earnings contributions to OPERS correctly. Incorrectly reported contributions could negatively impact your employee's monthly service credit and qualified service for health care eligibility. If you have any scenarios that you are not sure how to report, please contact Employer Outreach.

Pay Period Begin and End Codes

When you have an employee who is new, seasonal or leaving employment, please be aware that you will need to use a Pay Period Begin Code (PPB) or a Pay Period End Code (PPE). In addition, it is important to use the first day the employee is earning wages when the employee is new and the last day of earnings when the employee is leaving employment when completing the Report of Retirement Contributions.

Quick Tips for PPB and PPE codes:

  • Employees should be reported from the first day they begin working, which may not be the same as the date they are hired.
  • The begin date on the Personal History Record/Elected Official Membership (Form A) should be the first day the employee worked and should also be the same date as you provide on the Report of Retirement Contributions. Because an Elected Official can opt into membership at any time in their career, their membership begin date is the date the Elected Official signed the Form A. Contributions should be reported to the retirement system beginning the calendar month of their membership begin date.
  • When an employee is terminating or retiring, the end date on the Report of Retirement Contributions should reflect the last day the employee worked. The end date used on your report should match the final earnable salary date on the employee's Certification of Final Payroll, if applicable.
  • If you submit a report and need to add a PPE code later (this happens frequently with seasonal workers), you can add the PPE code on ECS, under Online Reports, with the Pay Period End Code Management link. Instructions for Pay Period End Code Management are located under the Help menu on ECS.
  • PPE codes are especially important to add in a timely manner, because they impact a member's ability to receive a refund, Health Care/HRA reimbursement, disability benefits, or Service Retirement benefits.

Employer Contact Information

When you need to update your employer contact information (for instance, when you have a new Fiscal Officer, or when a contact is replaced), this can be updated by your Delegated Administrator (DA) on ECS under the Employer Contacts button on the main screen. The DA can add or remove a contact or update the permissions available to any current contact.

Please remember to disable the ECS account for any contact who leaves employment with your entity. This will notify OPERS that we can no longer discuss the entity's account or accept forms from the individual.

If you need assistance with updating your contact information, please contact Employer Outreach.

Employer Credits

An OPERS employer may receive credits on their account for a variety of reasons. Some reasons OPERS may issue a credit include the employer share of an unauthorized refund of contributions, reversal of an employer charge or an adjustment needed due to a division change (such as the move from the OPERS law enforcement division to the local division.) 

It is important to use the credits by deducting them from your next employer liability payment due as required by Ohio Revised Code Section 145.51. The retirement system follows this correction process set forth in theInternal Revenue Services' Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) as contained in Revenue Procedure 2021-30. EPCRS requires the credit be used upon submission of your next employer liability.

We are in the process of reaching out to employers who currently have credit balances on their account by phone or letter. If you have questions regarding a credit on your account, please contact Employer Outreach.

OPERS offers employer-based education opportunities

As an employer, OPERS offers you the opportunity to arrange for education seminars exclusively for your employees. You can schedule an in-person seminar at your location or a private webinar. We offer education on a variety of applicable topics including OPERS pension benefits, the OPERS health care program and financial wellness. In-person or online seminars from the list of choices below can all be presented in about 45 minutes.

For your employees already eligible to retire or will be within five years

  • Ready to Retire Pension
    • Employees will learn about important decisions to be made, the difference between an unreduced and a reduced benefit and the retirement application process and available resources.
  • Ready to Retire Health Care
    • Employees will learn about eligibility and access to the OPERS health care program, the Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) and selecting a Pre-Medicare or Medicare medical plan for retirement.

For your employees further than five years from retirement eligibility

  • OPERS Pension and Health Care
    • Employees will learn about where employer and employee contributions go, the value of those contributions towards a secure retirement, the importance of an unreduced retirement benefit and how to qualify for a health care allowance in retirement.

For all employees

Financial Wellness Series

  • Bridging the GAP to Retirement
    • Employees will learn to identify the "gap" between what they will receive in retirement versus what they will need and ways to close the "gap."
  • Health Care: The Hidden Cost in Retirement
    • Employees will learn how their employer-sponsored health care is different from their health care choices in retirement and how saving money now for future health care costs may factor into retirement timing. The seminar also addresses why health care costs are more affordable once an individual becomes Medicare-eligible.
  • Budgeting
    • Employees will learn how to achieve short and long-term financial goals.

Funding Pension and Health Care

    • Employees will learn about the financial status of the OPERS Pension and Health Care Trust Funds as well as membership statistics and where they can find OPERS annual financial reports.

We do require a minimum of 20 attendees to hold on-site seminars if you are located outside of central Ohio. To schedule a webinar or in-person seminar for your employees, please contact Veronica Mack at vmack@opers.org.

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It is your responsibility to be certain that OPERS has your current physical and e-mail address on file. If OPERS is not made aware of address changes, we cannot guarantee that you will receive important information pertaining to your OPERS account. This publication is written in plain language for use by public employers who are subject to coverage under the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. It is not intended as a substitute for the federal or state law, namely the Ohio Revised Code, the Ohio Administrative Code, or the Internal Revenue Code, nor will its interpretation prevail should a conflict arise between it and the Ohio Revised Code, Ohio Administrative Code, or Internal Revenue Code. Rules governing the retirement system are subject to change periodically either by statute of the Ohio General Assembly, regulation of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement Board, or regulation of the Internal Revenue Code. If you have questions about this material, please contact our office or seek legal advice from your attorney. OPERS is not required to provide health care coverage to retirees or their dependents and will only do so at the discretion of the Board of Trustees.