Governor Office Building, Room 315

A meeting of the Missouri Commission on Total Compensation held in Jefferson City, Missouri on December 4, 2002 was called to order by Norm Robinson with the following members present: David Downs, Ron Meyer, Bill Shaw and Scott Wiley. Members absent were Chair Steve Mahfood, Carol Fischer, Gary Findlay, Jackie White, Senator Larry Rohrbach, Senator Wayne Goode, Representative Amber (Holly) Boykins, Representative B.J. Marsh, and Karen Touzeau.

The meeting was called to order at 9:10 a.m.

Due to a snow storm there was not a quorum of members present to conduct commission business. Mr. Norm Robinson chaired the following discussions.

Retirees Returning to Work Subcommittee Report – Norm Robinson

The Retirees Returning to Work Subcommittee met on November 22, 2002. Good discussions were held regarding a number of issues related to this subject.

Karen Stohlgren gave Norm Robinson the legislative history regarding retirees returning to work. The subcommittee also discussed management’s staffing needs and objectives and how retirees could assist departments with meeting these staffing requirements. For example, the Department of Revenue needs staff during tax season and the Department of Natural Resources has a need for seasonal employees. Retirees could serve as valuable resources for these activities. Another option discussed was not allowing retirees to return to work under any circumstances. There are many issues and options to be discussed before recommendations can be made.

Mel Fooks asked if an employee could retire under the old plan and be re-hired under the new plan. This issue was discussed at length. The final answer was that members of the Highway and Transportation Employees and Highway Patrol Retirement System (HTEHPRS) could retire under the old plan and return to work in a position covered by MOSERS.

Currently each department tracks and reports their own retirees to ensure they do not exceed the maximum allowable working hours. An agency may not know if one of their employees is also working for another state agency. The subcommittee could ask the Office of Administration to generate a report that tells an agency if an employee is already working for another agency before they hire them into a part-time position. Reporting structure will also be addressed by the subcommittee in the future.

Norm stated as an example, under present law, a retiree covered by MOSERS who is employed on or after August 28, 2001 in a position covered by HTEHPRS does not receive retirement benefits or additional creditable service from MOSERS. However, under the closed plan a HTEHPRS does not receive retirement benefits or additional creditable service from MOSERS. However, under the closed plan a HTEHPRS retiree could come to work for the state and continue to collect his/her retirement benefit from Highways. Under the new plan under both systems, a retiree would be prohibited from receiving a retirement benefit and additional creditable service. There is an inconsistency in how retirees returning to work are managed depending on which retirement plan they retire from. This issue will be addressed and a recommendation made to pursue consistency in application of policy across departments.

Gary Fogelbach stated there were about 850 retirees out of about 60,000 state employees. Half of these are in judiciary and the Department of Mental Health. The current number of retirees returning to work is small but that number could grow.

Proposed Legislation for 2003 for Department of Transportation Employee Association – Steve Cox and Larry Thompson

Larry Thompson and Steve Cox from the Department of Transportation Employee Association presented proposed legislation for the Department of Transportation for 2003.

Larry started the presentation saying they know it will again be a lean budget year. Layoffs could happen in some organizations.

Expungement of Annual Leave - The Department of Transportation Employee Association would like to do is to reset the clock regarding expungement of annual leave. Currently annual leave is expunged on October 31 of each calendar year. The association would like to see that date changed to January 1 of each calendar year. This would allow employees to use their annual leave during the holidays and/or deer season. Last year there were 438 people who lost 4,000 hours in MoDOT.

Eighty and Out - The association is proposing to remove the age requirement. There is no fiscal impact due to no contribution level. Eliminating the age requirement would affect a minimal number of employees and would have a modest fiscal impact.

Flexible Benefit – Allow employees the option to use a portion of their accrued annual leave, as share leave contribution, retirement credit, put in deferred compensation or taken as cash. They are recommending that an employee be required to have a minimum of 160 hours of annual leave before these options would be available. This ensures employees would maintain a leave balance to meet unexpected needs. If an employee had 160 hours they could direct 80 hours into the retirement system, deferred compensation, shareleave, or possibly cash. Cash payout may not be an option under current budget conditions.

Steve Cox continued the presentation.

Sick Leave Conversion – Change from the current formula of 1/12 of a calendar year of creditable service for each 168 hours to a day of creditable service for every eight hours of accrued sick leave. If the employee had a balance of 1680 hours, then 10 months could be added to the employee’s retirement Under the current plan only full months of accrued sick leave are converted upon retiring. The association would like to see the employee credited for all unused sick leave at retirement.

Post Employment Health Care Plan (PEHP) – Establish a new optional benefit package that would allow all state employees to redirect their existing $10/month into an approved Post Employment Health Care Plan. The PEHP Plan would be used to offset retirees health care costs. There would be no cost to the state, except for administrative costs.

Salary and Deferred Compensation, Health Care Costs

The association is also interested in salaries for employees, as well as increasing the contribution to deferred compensation. Health insurance subsidy paid for employees with over 30 years of service is also being discussed.

The association would like to see an increase in annual leave accrued be increased to two days of annual leave per month after 25 years.

Mel Fooks asked if there had been any thought put into using sick leave conversion as an incentive for employees. The State of Colorado used a plan where an employee who took four or less days of sick leave per year, employees were allowed to convert five days of sick leave to three days of annual leave. Morale was very high and sick leave plummeted. The time was expunged if it was not taken within a predetermined time.

No other items were brought up by the members of the commission.

Available meeting dates will be sent out to the members and a date will be chosen that works for the majority of the commission members.

Jason Heldenbrand will no longer be handling the legislation to report to the commission. Gary Heimericks will speak to Jackie White about replacing Jason to work with the commission.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:15 a.m.