PERAC Memo #23 - 2021: 91A PROSPER TASKS

Memorandum Memorandum #23: 91A PROSPER TASKS Date: 07/23/2021 Referenced Sources: PERAC Website PERAC Memo #23, 2021

To All Retirement Boards: TO: All Retirement Boards

FROM: John W. Parsons, Esq., Executive Director

RE: 91A PROSPER TASKS

DATE: July 23, 2021

Many of you have recently received a 91A task in PROSPER. If your board has a disability retiree who has failed to meet the filing requirements of the 2020 Annual Statement of Earned Income (91A form), pursuant to GL c. 32 §91A, or if your board has a member that has reported earnings in an amount that may require an adjustment to their disability retirement, you have received such notice.

PERAC has already mailed a letter along with another 91A form to be completed by the retiree if they have not complied with the filing requirements for submitting the 2020 91A form.

It is now the responsibility of the retirement board to provide such member with written notice and an opportunity tobe heard by the retirement board. In the event of termination of benefits following such hearing, the member shall have the right to appeal such action to the Contributory Retirement Appeal Board (“CRAB”).

PROSPER will prompt you to take Termination Action, and will keep sending you task alerts every 30 days if no response is indicated. Once a member complies, or if their status changes, you will be able to view the update in PROSPER, but you will not receive a notification.

Also, you will soon start to receive tasks titled Salary Verification which will be visible in PROSPER under the Task tab. At this time, we are asking your board to obtain the annual 2020 current salary, as well as retirement allowance figures.

Once figures are obtained you will be required to respond to the PROSPER task. In order to do this, you must click on each retiree, or export the list to a CSV file, and enter the 2020 annual pension, annuity and current salary amounts, as well as the dependency and workers compensation offset amount, if applicable. The Veterans and COLA amounts should be included in the annual pension amount. Once you are finished with the exported file, you should save it so it may be uploaded back into Prosper.

Once all the figures are entered, click on the submit button, and PROSPER will do the calculation to determine if the retiree is within their allowable earnings. If, after you hit submit and learn that the figures are incorrect, you must contact Sandra King to make any changes.

If the retiree has exceeded their allowable earnings PERAC will send the retiree an Excess Earnings letter. Once PERAC generates the Excess Earnings letter your board will receive a task through PROSPER notifying you of the excess. The boards will also need to provide notice to the retiree that they have exceeded their allowable earnings. If a hearing is requested by said member(s), the process should be completed so that refunds would commence with the next pension benefit. All documents needed for hearings are now viewable to the boards through PROSPER.

Your board must reply to the PROSPER task of the action taken with regard to the member having excess earnings. You will also be given the option to upload a copy of the notification that your board will send your member.

Thank you for your cooperation regarding this process. If you have questions or need any assistance in entering the figures into PROSPER, please contact Sandra King at SEKing@per.state.ma.us.