Reviewing the WRS Lookback Process in HRS

Overview

This document outlines the WRS Lookback Process, the criteria used to determine eligibility, process outputs, and Institution Benefit Administrator's actions related to the process. The WRS Lookback Process inserts a Job Data row for employees who meet the Lookback criteria to drive WRS eligibility. It is important for Benefit Administrators to verify the results, counsel their employees, and to make additional changes to Job Data if needed to ensure the employee will charged the appropriate premiums.

Process Considerations:

The WRS Lookback process identifies potential WRS eligible employees at the 12-month point from their original date of hire, and on a rolling 12-month lookback basis thereafter, to determine whether or not the WRS Eligible Hours threshold has been met or exceeded based on the previously confirmed payroll. If the criteria has been met, the Lookback Process will add an effective dated Job row (equal to the first day of the next pay period), set the Eligibility Exception Field to 'Lookback', and trigger a Benefits Administration Miscellaneous (MSC) Event which will appear on the MSC Event Evaluation report with a message of either "Grad Eligible for WRS" or "LMT Eligible for WRS." The WRS Lookback Process will run after each successful payroll confirm and after the WRS Accumulator Load process which loads data to each employee's WRS Accumulator Table.

To be included in this process, employees must be in a WRS eligible Employee Class (Empl_Class = FA, AS, LI, CP, CJ, CL, or OT1), and have a Job Data Benefits Eligibility Field 1 value equal to "N" (not WRS eligible) on the Job Data Benefit Program Participation page. They will not already have a Job Eligibility Exception Field value equal to 'Lookback' on the Benefits Tab in Job Data, or be a Rehired Annuitant with a value equal to "Rehired Annuitant Post 7/1/2013 No WRS" value.

To qualify, the employee must also meet or exceed the 1/3 hours threshold for their respective Employee Class and 'WRS Service Prior to 7/1/2011' status. If the employee does not have service prior to this date, OR if the employee is a Rehired Annuitant who retired after 7/1/2013, they must meet or exceed the 2/3 equivalent hours threshold for their respective Employee Class. For more information regarding hours thresholds and eligibility for the WRS, go to the UW System Employee Benefits website > Retirement > Plans > Wisconsin Retirement System.

You may click on the links below to navigate directly to a section:

Instructions

1. Review all historical Job Data to identify the Date of Hire, Employee Class (Empl_Class), and FTE and any job changes that have occurred for the employee relevant to WRS eligibility.

2. Verify that the employee was employed 12 months back in a WRS eligible Empl_Class (FA, AS, LI, CP, CJ, CL, or OT1).

NOTE: For rehired annuitants who retired after 7/1/2013, the Lookback period does not begin until the date of rehire subsequent to the retirement. See Running the WRS Rehired Annuitant Lookback Report in HRS for more information on Rehired Annuitants and the Lookback Process.

3. Verify if the employee had WRS Service prior to or after 7/1/2011 in order to establish the WRS lookback hours threshold. For information on WRS Lookback eligibility requirements, go to the UW System Employee Benefits website > Retirement > Plans > Wisconsin Retirement System. Additional information is also available in the WRS Administrative Manual.

4. Check the WRS Accumulator for qualifying hours. Add up the hours over the preceding 12 months.

a) Navigate to Benefits > Reports > Regulatory and Compliance > WRS Accumulator.
b) Enter the Employee's Empl_ID
c) Click the Search button
d) Verify on the WRS Accumulator Table that the Benefit Plan is equal to "NON"
e) Export to Excel by clicking the download button
f) Calculate the total Service Hours within the last 12 months. If there are multiple rows, add the hours to determine the total. For Rehired Annuitants who retired after 7/1/2013 only count the hours accrued from the Date of Rehire subsequent to the retirement.

5. If the WRS Lookback outcome IS correct:

a) Update the Benefits Service Date (Job Data Benefits tab) to reflect the WRS Lookback effective date.
b) Verify the Health Rate Field reflects the correct value (it will always default to Full Employer Share). If the employee should pay the less the than half time rates for State Group Health and the value on Job Data is incorrect, add a row on Job Data to Update the UW Benefits Tab.
c) If the employee is University Staff, update the Adjusted Continuous Service Date located on Benefits Personal Data to the date the employee came under WRS Lookback to ensure they receive the appropriate amount of paid time off. If you are unable to update this value, contact your AG Group for assistance.
d) Verify and update the Rehired Annuitant Field if needed.
e) Verify and update the WRS Service Prior to July 1, 2011 Field if needed.
f) If you have updated any values on Job Data, run the Eligibility Config Pop Process ad hoc. (reference: [Link for document 57008 is unavailable at this time.] ) and reprocess the MSC Event back to Assign Benefit Program to pick up those eligibility changes. (reference: Reprocessing Events Using On Demand Event Maintenance in HRS )
g) Finalize the MSC Event using On Demand Event Maintenance. (Reference Reviewing the MSC Event Evaluation Report in HRS )

NOTE: If you are unable to add a row on Job Data or Modify a Person, or you need additional assistance, please contact your AG Group.

6. If the WRS Lookback outcome is NOT correct: Create a ticket to have the UWSS Service Operations override the Lookback Job Row.

Warning! Verify that any lump sums reflected in the WRS Accumulator reflect the correct number of converted hours. There was a known issue, corrected in December 2014, where the incorrect hourly rate could have been used to convert lump sum payments. Verify that if an employee's historical hourly rate was used in the conversion and that the Empl_Class for the corresponding job was potentially WRS eligible. A list of all historical WRS Lump Sum rates can be found by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page to the UWSHR website.

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Additional Resources

Related KBs:

Running the WRS Rehired Annuitant Lookback Report in HRS
Reviewing the MSC Event Evaluation Report in HRS
Updating the UW Benefits Tab on Job Data in HRS
Entering an Adjusted Continuous Service Date in HRS
Reprocessing Events Using On Demand Event Maintenance in HRS
[Link for document 57008 is unavailable at this time.]
[Link for document 16988 is unavailable at this time.]
[Link for document 16903 is unavailable at this time.]

Related Links:

Get Help

Click HERE to contact UW Shared Services - Service Operations Department or HERE for the UWSS IT HelpDesk if you have any issues with these instructions.

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