SSRA and PCRA Plan Funding

Every employee makes pre-tax contributions to their retirement plans. Most employees have at least a Social Security Retirement Account (SSRA) and a Pension Compensation Retirement Account (PCRA). There are other investment plans which an employee may decide to have such as a 401K or an IRA to save for retirement as well. The contributions are deposited into trust funds and the actuary of each employee is calculated quarterly and accrue to the current balance of the previous quarter using the Compensation Credits percent which is derived from points of service before performing the calculation.

Plan eligibility

This plan is available to all employees working and have met defined eligibility requirements which are normally discussed by their Human Resource Coordinators or Directors when they become eligible for the plan. Your employment classification determines eligibility to participate in the plan. Regular and part-time employee are eligible to participate in the plan. Flexible employees are not eligible to participate in the plan if they are not able to work 30 hours or more as regular employees or 17.7 to 29 hours per week as part-time employees.

Flexible employees work on a flexible schedule. For example, they may work any number of hours on a given projects, fill in when needed regardless of hours, remain on call, or work only certain times of the month or year.

Eligible Employees

As a general rule, an employee becomes eligible to actively participate in the Plan if he/she satisfies all three of the following conditions:

• Completed one year of service with the same employment.
• Were classified as a regular or part-time employee, and
• Were employed by a participating (affiliated) employer

When your Contribution becomes Vested

If you were employed and maintain an active employment status, you will become fully (100%) vested in your benefit the earlier of either:
• The date you complete three full years of Vesting Service
• The date you attain Normal Retirement Age, which is age 65. In addition, your account will become fully (100%) vested if you become disabled or die while actively employed.
For purposes of this Plan, “disability” means:
• You are eligible to receive long-term disability benefits under a long-term disability plan maintained by the company, unless you are actively working a partial schedule while receiving long-term disability benefits, or
• You are determined to be eligible for Social Security disability benefits, or
• The Plan Administrator determines, based on satisfactory medical evidence, that you have become unable, due to injury or illness, to perform the duties of any occupation for which you are qualified and such condition is expected to last for at least 12 months or to result in death.
If you terminate employment before you are fully (100%) vested, neither you nor your spouse or other beneficiary will be entitled to any benefits from the Plan. Your entire benefit will be forfeited as of the date of your termination of employment.
After fully vested, your compensation benefits amount continues to grow steadily through retirement till when you decide to start withdrawing from your pension benefits.
See how to calculate retirement benefits for details, and sample calculations base on service points after fully vested either actively working or not.