DRSN Notice 09-005 New Process for Annual Statements Distribution

DRS Notice

Notice No.: 09-005
Date: February 23, 2009
Applies to: Employers
Subject: New Process for Annual Statements Distribution

Department of Retirement Systems (DRS) would like to thank you for all of your support and hard work over the years distributing the Annual Statements to members. In addition, we have some exciting news to share. As an ongoing effort to provide expanded services to our members, DRS will be providing online access to members to view their annual statement information. Members will be able to access their own account information at their convenience, 24 hours a day, seven days a week! This new service will be available by the end of this year.

During this transition, DRS will mail the 2008 Annual Statements directly to each member’s home in March. This will be the last time paper statements will be distributed. An insert will be included explaining that the new online service will replace their paper statement.

Annual Statements will be mailed to active members of the following retirement systems:

Law Enforcement Officers’ and Fire Fighters’ (LEOFF)
Judicial (JRS)
Public Employees’ (PERS)
Public Safety Employees’ (PSERS)
Washington State Patrol (WSPRS)

It’s a good time to remind your employees to make sure their address information is correct and up to date. It’s also important to ensure that you have provided DRS with separation dates for any employees who no longer work for you. Any address changes/separation dates submitted through the transmittal process by February 27, 2009 will be included.

The following account information appears on the annual statement:

Service credit information for 2008;
Total service credit;
Member’s retirement contributions posted by DRS from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2008, (which generally corresponds to contributions for the transmittal reporting periods from December 2007 through November 2008);
Total contributions and accumulated interest in the member’s account as of December 31, 2008;
Plan 3 members will receive service credit information only. The Plan 3 members’ contribution information is reported to them quarterly by the ICMA Retirement Corporation.
Beneficiary information (LEOFF 2 only)
Annual Salary (LEOFF 2 only)

Refer members who have not received a statement to the DRS customer service line at (360) 664-7000 or 1-800-547-6657.

Questions?

If you have any questions regarding this DRS Notice, please contact Employer Support Services at (360) 664-7200, option 2, or 1-800-547-6657, option 6, option 2; or email us.

George Pickett
Assistant Director of Administrative Services