The Oregon state employee., July 01, 1947, Page 15, Image 15

13
up any more lunches for me!” he
added.
A worker on one bf the highway
bridge crews thinks that he would
rather stay on but does not* feel, too
badly about abiding by the rules. "The
cold is hard to take anyway and I’d
like; to work in summer and not all
winter,” he added. Another man is glad
to retire because of ill health. A woman
who is leaving voluntarily on July 1
is ^financially independent and has hob­
bies to occupy her time.
Typical of the spirit of the retire-.
ment system is the comment of one
highway department employee. "My
own reaction is favbrable,” he said,
"and I have been looking forward to
retirement since the law Was passed.
We who are now retiring, either vol­
untarily' or otherwise, will not receive
the full benefits "which the system will
eventually afford. But we are thank­
ful for the small help we will receive
and contemplate with satisfaction the
security offered to those who will fol­
low us in the years to come.” H
Employees Retirement Contributions
On New Basis; Changes Explained
The staff is indebted ta Mr.
Jerry Sayler, executive secretary of
the Public Employees’ Retirement
System, for the following explan­
ation of the new basis for em­
ployees^ contributions to the sys- \
tern:
Of special Interest to employes is
the amendment to the Retirement Act
enacted by the 1947 legislature which
requires all members of the retirement
system to contribute on the first $2400
of - salary or wages earned during the
fiscal year from July H to June 30
following. This amendment, among
others, was sponsored by the retirement
board after consultation with many
officials and department heads, as well
as', school clerks and officials, through­
out the state. .
Owing i n the; fact that school em-
P1®yees and especially teachers 'receive
their compensation in a variety of
ways, , there being no uniformity of
pay plan, as between the various schopl
districts of the state, the retirement
board had found ft difficult to apply
the * $2 î Q0 per month provision of the
original retirement act. Some districts
were found to be paying on a 12
months basis, others on a 10 mpnths
basis, some on a 9 months basis, some
for 8*|4. months, some every 28 days,
etc. The original act required the em­
ployer (the school district) ,to match
the employee’s •contributions on $200
per month of earnings. Some districts,
who had previously been paying on a
12 months basis, reverted to the 9
months plan in order that the district
would be required to «Sàtch only the
employee’s I contributions oh $ 18 0 0 per
year or $200 per month foi 9 months.
Thus the teacher earning $2400 per
year and being paid on a 12 months
basis would have been matched; by the
employer on her contributions for the
entire $2400 bu t when the district
changed the payment plan to the 9
months basis, the district then was re­
quired to .match the first $20.0 received
by/t he,jt cacher i-npeach of, the 9 months
only, whiph meant that the district
was matching the teacher’s contribu­
tion on only $1800. Under the amend­
ment this will no longer be the case,,
as regardless of the pay plan the teacher
is ; required to contribute on the first
$2400 per fiscal year of salary and
of salary, the employer will not match
any contributions made thereafter by
the employee during’ the fiscal year.
For those employees .receiving more
than $2400 per year, this will necessi­
tate; on the employer’s part, an ^ac­
cumulation of salary and at some time
the employer is required to match her
contributions on this ’basis. The only