Hennepin County Jail, pre-dawn

Walking into work, 5:35 AM, November 3rd, 2014

Steward Nominations

I will be hanging up the sheet for Steward Nominations when I'm back at work Saturday. If you are interested in being a Union Steward you must Self Nominate. The sheet will be posted until Dec. 5th.

This is your chance to be involved. Negotiate the contract, file grievances, represent members.

Public Safety and Judiciary Board meeting. Nov. 4, 2014

Highlight is the County Commissioners grilling about overtime use in the first 5 minutes.

More info on the Social Security vote, a Q and A

THIS POST WAS UPDATED 11/10/14

I emailed Lisa Underhill a couple more questions and asked her to read over this post for accuracy. The items in red were clarified by Lisa and updated. The questions in red at the end of the post are new questions.

As I previously wrote about last August in my post, Big Change in Correctional Pension, The members in the Correctional Pension must choose to stay in Social Security or opt out.

There are major ramifications for Corrections Officers/Detention Deputies if they opt out.

Jeremy Zajicek and Lisa Underhill from Hennepin County’s Benefits Division were here today to answer questions.  I asked a few and these were their answers.

Q. If the CO's opt out of Social Security what happens to previous contributions? 

A. The money and credits stay in Social Security but future contributions stop.

Q. If one requests a refund does it go back only three years (member contribution only, not employer portion)?

A. Yes, requests for refunds can only go back 3 years (2011-2014) which is what the Social Security Administration’s statute of limitation is set at.  You will lose Social Security credit for any years that are refunded and Hennepin County also receives a refund of its contributions for those years.

Q. What about survivor benefits for spouses or children? Will they be able to collect if we opt out?

A. It depends on how much was paid in before you opt out. You have to have paid in enough quarters and it will be greatly reduced.

Q. What about Social Security disability?

A. If you get hurt outside of work, currently SSI Disability pays more than PERA Disability. You might not get anything, it will depend on how much you paid in and if you had enough quarters to qualify.

Q. How do us older employees who don't have to vote know we are still going to be participating in Social Security?

A. Historically Social Security has grandfathered those in. :  Those employees who are in the non-voting group had their Social Security participation approved by the Social Security Administration on 7/1/1999 when they were moved from PERA’s Coordinated Plan into the Correctional Plan.  Their Social Security participation continues regardless of the outcome of the vote.

Someone asked why we were being asked to vote to be in Social Security now.

Lisa answered, There is no guarantee government employees participate in Social Security.  There must be a 218 Agreement to be in it. Sometimes it's voted on, sometimes it's legislated. The PERA Coordinated Pension voted to be in, in the 60's. Police and Fire were legislated out. The Correctional Pension should have voted in 1999, but it was assumed they were still in like the Coordinated Pension, but Social Security says they must decide. 

The way the vote goes will be County by County. For example, the CO's in Hennepin could vote to be in, CO's in other counties can vote to be out.

You must vote Yes to be in Social Security. If you don't return a ballot it counts as a NO vote. If a Majority Vote of 50% plus 1 is not reached everyone's vote counts as NO and you will be out of Social Security.

Some things to consider: 

You will get an increase in your take home pay equivalent to your employee contribution (6.2%). It will be taxed, and you will NOT get the employer portion. Hennepin County will keep it. If you think you can invest that 6.2% increase in your take home and do better than Social Security remember this: You will have to make a 100% return on your investment just to make up for the lost employer contribution! Plus if you live to be 95 your investment might run out, whereas Social Security will still be paying you.

Also, when you retire whatever reduced Social Security benefits you do qualify for will be further reduced by the WEP tax (windfall profit). You see, if you opted out of Social Security because of another pension it is considered a windfall profit. That pension is supposed to be your main retirement. The Police and Fire pension pays twice as much as our Correctional Pension, and they contribute twice as much to it. Ours was designed with the idea that we'd also have Social Security in addition to it.

No, PERA is not going to double our pension!

I hope this helps. Even though this doesn't affect me, it will affect your future retirement and your spouse's and children's survivor benefits and possibly your future disability payment, or lack thereof.

Choose wisely this January.

Responses to Your Questions:

1. Will this affect detention deputies who have left? If so, will they be voting? 

1.  No, this does not affect detention deputies who have left employment with the county and they will not be voting.  To be able to vote, you must be an active employee participating in the Correctional Plan as of 10/30/2014 and as of 1/30/2015; hired/rehired into a position that participates in the Correctional Plan after 7/1 1999; and/or had a break in Correctional Plan service after 7/1/1999 . 

2. Why doesn't the County have ING or other deferred comp plans talk to us about alternatiive investments?

2. Unfortunately, Wade, due to the 10/30/14 deadline to distribute the referendum information we were unable to have our deferred compensation plan representatives at these meetings.  During the 90 day period between the distribution deadline and the last day of the voting period (1/30/15) employees can call one of our vendors (Fidelity, MNDCP or VOYA) and talk directly to one of their representatives.  Here are their phone numbers: 

Fidelity – Paul Knigge 612-590-6054

MNDCP (State Plan) – David Wright 612-964-8094

VOYA (previously ING) – 612-492-0202

We are currently working out details with one of our vendors for use of their brand new, simple retirement calculator tool which uses Social Security in the calculation.  I’m hopeful we can do a demonstration of the tool at the meetings on Tuesday.