Retirement (PSERS) Report

Use the Retirement PSERS (Public School Employees Retirement System) page to generate state-required reports. This process will create five, fixed-length ASCII files which will contain the Demographic File, Contract File, Work Report File, Work Report Adjustment File, and Defined Contribution File. When complete, these files will be uploaded by the district to the PSERS website.

Menu Path: Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS)

Prerequisites

Before reports can be generated, the following pages must be complete and up to date:

• Human Resources Profile – State Window

• Employee Information - User Defined Window, Page 2000

Procedural Overview

Users should complete procedures in the following order:

1. Load Demographic and Contract, Work Information, and Defined Contribution records. For more information, refer to Load PSERS Records.

2. Add Deduction and Pay Code reference information. For more information, refer to Set up Reference Information for PSERS.

3. If needed, manually add or update Work, Demographic, Contract, and Defined Contribution records. For more information, refer to PSERS Manual Entry.

4. If needed, adjust or split Work Information records. For more information, refer to Adjust Work or Split Pay.

5. Generate and submit reports to PSERS. For more information, refer to Reports.

File Layouts and Data Mapping

The following are the record layout requirements for the various PSERS files to be sent to the state. The software creates the files as required by the state. These files should not be edited or modified.
In order to transmit a file to the system, all information in the file must be in the correct format, as follows:

• When created, the file is a plain text (ASCII) file that contains only Demographic Information, Contract Records, Work Reports, Defined Contribution, or Work History Adjustments. You cannot combine Demographic Information, Contract Records, Work Report Records, Defined Contribution, and/or Work Report Adjustment Records into one file.

• The first line in the file is the header line.

• Each individual record must appear on its own record line.

• All record lines must be in the fixed‐record (fixed-width) format.

• All numeric (non‐decimal) fields must be right justified, zero‐padded left. If the field is optional and will not be populated with data, zero‐fill it; don't leave it blank. Blank fields will corrupt the data fields that follow and you will receive an error in your file upload.

• Date fields are considered numeric. If a date field is optional and will not be populated with data, zero‐fill it; don't leave it blank. Blank fields will corrupt the data fields that follow and you will receive an error in your file upload.

• Implied decimals cannot be used, but when an example shows a numeric value with a decimal point, zero‐value fields must include this decimal point in that place.

• All header and record lines must be Carriage Return, Line Feed (CRLF Hexadecimal 0D25) delimited.

Action Bar Items

The following items display on the Action Bar:

Set up Reference Information for PSERS

Use the Deductions page and Pay Codes page to set up reference information required for PSERS Retirement records. These pages are used to identify user-defined deductions and pay codes, and then translate them into types defined by PSERS.

On each page, users can add, update, delete, and generate reports on the respective reference information.

Menu Path: Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) > Click Deductions OR Click Pay Codes

Adding deduction reference information

1. Select Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) to display the Retirement PSERS page.

2. Click Deductions on the Action Bar to display the Deductions page.

3. Click Add New.

4. In the Retirement Deductions Information section, select the Deduction Code and Deduction Type. Deduction codes are set up in the Deduction Table.
   The Deduction type has the following options:

   • B - Defined Benefit Retirement Code

   • C - Defined Contribution Retirement Code

   • P - Purchase of Service

   • S- Sabbatical

   • L - Last Fiscal Year Retro

   • R - Prior Fiscal Year Retro

   • V - Voluntary Deduction

     

     Select V - Voluntary Deduction if you are setting up a PSERS after-tax deduction.

5. When finished, click OK.

Adding pay code reference information

1. Select Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) to display the Retirement PSERS page.

2. Click Pay Codes on the Action Bar to display the Pay Codes page.

3. Click Add New.

4. In the Retirement Pay Code Information section, select the Pay Code and Pay Type.
   Pay Codes are set up in the Pay Codes table. The Pay Type has the following options:
   U - Unpaid Compensation
   H - Non-Hours
   C - Current Fiscal Year Retro
   L - Last Fiscal Year Retro
   P - Prior Fiscal Year Retro
   N - Non-Retire Compensation
   O - Overtime

5. When finished, click OK.

Load PSERS Records

Use the Load pages to load the separate records into the PSERS Retirement file. This option will create the Demographic records, Contract records, Work Information records, and Defined Contribution records if no previous record has been sent to PSERS.

Any employee with an active primary pay rate and a complete User Defined Page 2000 will be included in the load. When PSERS notifies you an employee is eligible, deductions must be added to the employee. An employee can be skipped by entering "N" in the eligibility field on the User Defined Page 2000. Additional Override options may be added on the User Defined Page.

If an employee is terminated in a prior month, then the current month's submission will include this terminated employee if the termination date is within one year of the date of the load.

Menu Path: Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) > Click Load

Records

Demographic

Demographic records must be loaded if field entries have changed since the last submission.

Contract

Contract records must be loaded if the following fields have changed since the last submission:

• Social Security Number

• Name

• Birth Date

• Job Title

• Employee Type

• Wage Type

• Voting Status

Contract records should never have an end date. PSERS will complete this information. When an employee is terminated, a contract record will be sent with a start date of one of the following:

• The termination date

• The contract start date on the Page 2000 record

• The date one day after the termination date

Work

Work records will be loaded with the salary allocated to the appropriate fields as described in the State Window. All hours and days will be loaded for part-time employees and full-time hourly employees. For full-time salary employees, regular days worked are reported once a year, usually on the last month that they are paid in the fiscal year (May or June). Supplemental and overtime hours for full-time salaried employees are reported as worked. Reporting of these extra hours or days is determined by pay type in the pay code table or the pay method in the pay rate that matches the Classify field as entered on the time card record.

Work records will also be loaded with a Split Pay Indicator to split pay between the current fiscal year and the last fiscal year (during July and August) if needed.

Must be loaded every pay period.

Defined Contribution

Must be loaded every pay period on the same day as the pay run pay date containing its deductions.

Submission Order

1. Demographic and Contract

2. Work Information

3. Defined Contribution

Demographic and Contract Reports must be submitted for new and updated employees two days before Defined Contribution reports can be submitted. Users should regularly make submissions on a scheduled basis in line with their pay cycles.

Special End of Year and Split Pay Process

PSERS requires that all salary and time be reported in the fiscal year it is earned, not in the fiscal year it is paid. Use the following three processes for reporting requirements:

Process summer payouts in June

Summer payouts are processed in separate pay runs in the month of June with checks dated in July and August. To process June PSERS using this method, include pay runs with check dates outside of June 1 through June 30 by entering them in the Include Pay Run section in the Split Pay Runs tab on the Load Work Information page. For details, refer to the Load Work Information Records Procedure below. This will combine all data from checks dated June 1 through June 30 with the data from the Included Pay Runs into the PSERS Work Information records. Once loaded, records are processed as normal months. The included pay runs must be entered in the Exclude Pay Runs section when processing the month the pay run checks were dated. For example, exclude pay runs with checks for the month of July when loading July data and exclude pay runs with checks for August when loading August data.

Pay Code Split Pay

To use this method, users must have entered time card pay code data during July pay runs using special pay codes for the Old Fiscal Year (time worked in June but paid in July) and normal pay codes for the New Fiscal Year (time worked in July and paid in July). Users select Old Fiscal Year pay codes in the Old Fiscal Year - Regular Pay Codes fields in the Split Pay Code Tab on the Load Work Information page, and Old Fiscal Year overtime pay codes in the Old Fiscal Year - Overtime Pay Codes fields on the same page. The data loaded from paychecks dated July 1 through July 31 will be split between separate PSERS Work Information records using the Split Pay field on the Retirement (PSERS) page. Old Fiscal Year data will be loaded into PSERS Work Information records with the Split Pay field selected and other pay codes (New or Current Fiscal Year) will be loaded into the PSERS Work Information records when it is not.

Pay Class Split Pay

To use this method, users must have entered time card pay classes data during July pay runs using special pay classes to enter pay data for the Old Fiscal Year (time worked in June but paid in July) and normal pay classes for the New Fiscal Year (time worked in July and paid in July). Users must set up the Old Fiscal Year pay classes on the user-defined screen table code 'XY'. Do this by using the User-Defined Table. Enter XY for the Table Code, the pay class for the Code, and a meaningful description for the Title. The data loaded from paychecks dated July 1 through July 31 will be split between PSERS Work Information records as signified by the Split Pay field on the Retirement (PSERS) page. Data entered with classes on the User Defined 'XY' table will be loaded into the PSERS Work Information records with the Split Pay field is selected and the other pay classes (New or Current Fiscal Year) will be loaded into the PSERS Work Information records when it is not.

For both Pay Code Split Pay and Pay Class Split Pay, the Fiscal Year of the split pay records is calculated by subtracting 1 from the Fiscal Year entered on the Load Work Information page. Contribution dollars will be prorated and split based on the split of gross dollars. After loading this data, the user can create a Split Pay report on the Reports page. Split reports will be sorted by fiscal year giving totals for each fiscal year and total Split Pay totals. When all records are correct, users can create electronic files of the Work Information records for PSERS submissions.

Loading PSERS demographic and contract records

1. Select Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) to display the Retirement PSERS page.

2. Click Load on the Action Bar, and then select Load Demographic and Contract to display the Load Demographic and Contract page.

3. In the Load Criteria section, enter the Created Date.

4. When finished, click OK to load the demographic and contract records.

Loading PSERS work information records

1. Select Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) to display the Retirement PSERS page.

2. Click Load on the Action Bar, and then select Load Work Information to display the Load Work Information page.

3. Complete the criteria fields in the Monthly Process, Split Pay Code, and Split Pay Runs tabs. For details, refer to the Fields section below.

4. When finished, click OK to load the work information records.

Loading PSERS defined contributions records

1. Select Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) to display the Retirement PSERS page.

2. Click Load on the Action Bar, and then select Load Defined Contributions to display the Load Defined Contributions page.

3. Enter the Pay Date to load for and any Pay Runs to Include.

4. When finished, click OK to load the defined contributions records.

Fields

Load Work Information Page

Monthly Process Tab

Split Pay Code Tab

Split Pay Runs Tab

PSERS Manual Entry

Use the following pages to manually enter and update records for PSERS Reporting:

Additionally, these pages can be used to purge records. This is optional and not required for accurate PSERS reporting. Users can also access the Reports page from these pages.

Adding work information records

1. Select Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) to display the Retirement PSERS page.

2. Click Add New.

3. In the Work Data section, complete the fields. For details, refer to the Fields section below.

4. When finished, click OK.

Adding demographic records

1. Select Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) to display the Retirement PSERS page.

2. Click Demographic on the Action Bar to display the Demographic page.

3. Click Add New.

4. Complete the fields in the Demographic Data section. For details, refer to the Fields section below.

5. When finished, click OK.

Adding contract records

1. Select Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) to display the Retirement PSERS page.

2. Click Contract on the Action Bar to display the Contract page.

3. Click Add New.

4. Complete the fields in the Contract Data section. For details, refer to the Fields section below.

5. When finished, click OK.

Adding defined contribution records

1. Select Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) to display the Retirement PSERS page.

2. Click Defined Contribution on the Action Bar to display the Defined Contribution page.

3. Click Add New.

4. Complete the fields in the Defined Contribution Information section. For details, refer to the Fields section below.

5. When finished, click OK.

Fields

Retirement (PSERS) Page

Work Data Section

Demographic Page

Contract Page

Defined Contributions Page

Adjust Work or Split Pay

As needed, you can record work adjustments for retroactive pay or split work and adjustments into two fiscal years.

To create and load records reporting retroactive pay, use the Work Adjustment page. Information for retroactive pays will be loaded into the pa_psers_wadj table. This page contains Report and Purge Action Buttons.

Menu Path: Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) > Click Adjustment

To split the work and adjustment records into two fiscal years by percentages, use the Split page. The percentage Split Pay is done after data is loaded into PSERS Work records.

Menu Path: Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) > Click Split

Percentage Split Pay Process

To split pay, users process the July data by entering the Report Month, Report Year, and Fiscal Year as normal (ie. 07, 2017, 2018). After the load process is complete, the user will access the EOY Split Pay page.

On the EOY Split Pay page, the user will enter a percentage for the Old Fiscal Year and a percentage for the New Fiscal Year. The percentages must total 100%. These are monthly percentages, not pay run percentages. If there are two bi-weekly pay runs in July, the employees to be split were paid for 20 days. The user must determine how many days were paid in June (the Old Fiscal Year) and then calculate the percentages for the two fiscal years. The Split Pay process will use the Old Fiscal Year percentage and move the calculated amounts into a separate Work Information record with the Split Pay field selected. The remainder will be in the original PSERS Work Information record. Refer to the Procedures section below.

The user can run this process multiple times using Pay Groups and Primary Classes. However, the user must be careful to make sure each employee's record is only processed one time.

When completed, Split Pay records must be submitted to PSERS. The Split report will be sorted by fiscal year giving totals for each fiscal year and total Split Pay totals. For details on generating reports, refer to Reports.

Adding adjustment records

1. Select Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) to display the Retirement PSERS page.

2. Click Adjustment on the Action Bar to display the Work Adjustment page.

3. Click Add New.

4. Complete the fields in the Work Data section. For details, refer to the Fields section below.

5. When finished, click OK.

Splitting records

1. Select Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) to display the Retirement PSERS page.

2. Click Split on the Action Bar to display the EOY Split Pay page.

3. Complete the fields in the Split Pay Criteria section. For details, refer to the Fields section below.

4. When finished, click OK.

Fields

Work Adjustment Page

EOY Split Pay Page

Voluntary Pay Deductions Reporting

Pennsylvania Retirement (PSERS) can calculate a PSERS voluntary deduction based on the retirement gross minus any regular employee retirement contributions.

Setting Up Voluntary Deductions

Follow these steps to set up a voluntary deduction code for use in PSERS reporting:

1. Use the Deductions Reference Table page (Human Resources > Reference Tables > Payroll > Deductions) to set up the Voluntary pay deduction code. For the Method field, you must select 'M - % Plus Additional Amount'.

2. After the deduction code is created, use the Deductions page on PSERS (Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) > click Deductions). Select the newly voluntary deduction code and then for Deduction Type, select V - Voluntary Deduction.

Assigning Voluntary Deductions to Employees

Employees can only have one deduction assigned with a Method type = 'M'. If an employee already has a deduction assigned that has a Method = 'M', the software will not allow the Voluntary Deduction code to be assigned to the employee.

The Voluntary Deduction code must also be entered to occur last prior to net pay on the Employee Information page.

Processing

Note: The processing will be done automatically by the software.

When the payroll is pre-calculated or calculated, the Additional Gross field on Employee Information will be cleared for the voluntary deductions. It is then re-calculated by adding the deduction employee contribution amounts for deductions in the PSERS Retirement Deductions option that have a type of Defined Benefit (B), Defined Contribution (C), or Sabbatical (S) as a negative amount. The Additional Gross field will reflect the actual deduction amounts, including any reductions for insufficient pay.

Once the additional gross amounts are set for the M type voluntary deduction, the payroll calculation will automatically calculate the correct retirement gross and the gross will be reflected in the check history and detailed distribution.

You should not report PSERS Retirement work records as negative amounts. Use work adjustment records to report information about negative amounts. If there is a negative amount, the following message is displayed on the hard copy of the Work report:

** EMPLOYEE CONTAINS NEGATIVE VALUES, WHICH WILL BE CONVERTED TO POSITIVE VALUES ON THE ELECTRONIC FILE - REVIEW BEFORE FILING **

If there is a negative gross and deduction amount, you must add an adjustment record and remove the Work report containing negative amounts. If you manually report the negative amounts in the PSERS system, the work record is unnecessary. You do not have to re-report the adjustment. Only historical information is retained.

Reports

Use the Report page to generate the following types of PSERS reports in Hard Copy and Electronic File format for submission:

• Work

• Work Adjustment

• Demographic

• Contract

• Split

• Defined Contribution

Menu Path: Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) > Click Reports

Generating PSERS reports

1. Select Human Resources > State > State > PA Retirement (PSERS) to display the Retirement PSERS page.

2. Click Reports on the Action Bar to display the Report page.

3. Select the Report Type and Report Name.

4. For Work, Work Adjustment, and Split reports, enter the Report Month and Report Year in the Report Criteria section, and the click OK.
   For Demographic, Contract, and Defined Contribution reports, enter the Pay Date in the Report Criteria section, and then click OK

5. In the dialog, click Yes to print employee social security numbers. Otherwise, click No.

6. In the Print window, specify how you want to generate the report, and then click OK. The report's default file names are as follows:

   Report Name:	Hard Copy:	Electronic File (* stands for the first four characters of the State Employer ID):
   Work	psers_work.rpt	wrpt00*YYYYMM.v3d
   Work Adjustment	psers_wadj.rpt	wadj00*YYYYMM.v3d
   Demographic	psers_demo.rpt	mdem00*YYYYMM.v3d
   Contract	psers_cont.rpt	cont00*YYYYMM.v3d
   Split	psers_split.rpt	N/A
   Defined Contribution	psers_defcont.rpt	voya00*YYYYMMDD.txt