Montana Public Employee Retirement Administration

Termination and Final Payout Information

You will terminate all employees leaving employment.  Leaving employment could mean an employee is retiring, resigning, was terminated, or deceased while working.

When an employee terminates employment for any reason, you will add termination information to the employee’s final payroll record in the Employer Reporting and Information Center (ERIC).

Termination information includes:

  • Employment status
  • Employment status date
  • Termination of employment date
  • Last day worked
  • Final pay

When terminating an employee, it is important the last day worked is accurate as it starts the 30 day leave from employment required for retirement and refund eligibility.

To learn more about terminating an employee, view the termination instructional video.

Contact MPERA Employer Support

For information about contributions, reporting, employer agreements, or other employer questions call 1-844-304-5452 or 406-444-3994.

Reporting Final Payouts

Report final payouts for any employee leaving employment permanently. Final payouts are to be reported on the employee’s final payroll detail record in ERIC by selecting the final pay check box.

Additionally, we ask you to include individual payroll detail records reflecting payouts for sick leave, annual leave, and compensatory time.  This information allows us to accurately calculate a member’s highest average compensation at retirement.

For information regarding pay types, visit the pay type spreadsheet.

 

Employee Transfers

At times you may have an employee who transitions to a new position in your organization that requires enrollment in a new retirement plan, or they have exceeded hours limitations in their existing plan and must become a contributing member.

We ask when an employee moves from one of our defined job codes to a new job code, you terminate their enrollment in the initial job code and re-enroll them in their new job code.

For more information regarding job codes, visit the job classifications pay types guide.

 

Deceased Employees

Please submit all contributions and termination information on the deceased employee’s final payroll record in ERIC. Please have beneficiaries contact MPERA.  

 

Resources for Employees Who are Terminated

Employees who are terminating employment have several options, depending on their situation. These options may include leaving their money on account, applying for retirement if eligible, or taking a refund/rollover of their account balance.

Please direct terminating employees to the Leaving Employment page, MPERA Education page and the appropriate Retirement Plan Handbook for more information about their options.