Elected and Governor-appointed officials are exempted from SERS membership unless they elect to join. They may apply at any time during their current term of office."Elected" officials for SERS include:
"Governor Appointed" officials include:
Only an employee of a SERS employer is eligible for SERS membership. Because independent contractors are not employees, they are exempted from SERS membership. DRS applies the common law right of control test to determine if a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. Because of the complexity of the test, it is often difficult to determine if a person is an independent contractor without auditing the working situation. If you have questions about determining if a person is an independent contractor, contact PERS/SERS Retirement Services. [WAC 415-02-110]
If an employee earns less than 50 percent of his or her gross income from the practice of his or her profession from a SERS employer, then the person is exempted from SERS membership. The terms "profession" and "professional services" are not defined in statute or rule, but some occupations that qualify as "professions" include:
If you encounter a person working in some occupation other than those listed above, please contact the legal unit at DRS to discuss whether the occupation qualifies as a profession.
SERS retirees are exempted from SERS membership. Retirees will only reenter membership if they elect to do so. The option may be exercised prospectively. If a SERS retiree reenters membership, benefits stop until the member retires again.