LAGERS BLOGGERS

Enrolling new employees is one of the main job duties of a LAGERS plan administrator. Getting the process right from the start reduces errors and ensures a smooth process when an employee is ready to retire.

Besides basic details about the new employee, there are three important pieces of information you’ll want to make sure are correct when you enter it on ECLIPSE (LAGERS’ employer web portal):

1. The employee’s eligibility for LAGERS.
2. The employee’s hire date.
3. The employee’s actuarial department.

Is the Employee Eligible for LAGERS Benefits?

When an employee is hired in a covered position—meaning they may one day be eligible for a LAGERS benefit—they are required to become a member of the LAGERS system.

To be eligible for a LAGERS benefit, an employee must work the minimum annual hours required for coverage in LAGERS. When your employer joined LAGERS, they elected either 1,500, 1,250, or 1,000 hours. Employees working below the chosen threshold are not eligible for LAGERS coverage. Employees working above the threshold must be enrolled.

The Employee’s Hire Date

When a new covered employee is hired, it’s important that you enroll them in ECLIPSE immediately. The hire date should always be their first day of work. If an employee is transitioning from a position that required below the annual hours for coverage to a position requiring at or above the annual hours for coverage, the hire date should be the first day they begin working in a position requiring the additional hours.

Timely enrollment matters because the system automatically assigns the employee a LAGERS number and begins tracking the six-month service credit waiting period. During this period, no employee or employer contributions are paid, but the employee still receives service credit for the full six months.

Actuarial Departments

Correctly classifying employees is one of the most important tasks you’ll perform as a LAGERS administrator. Every LAGERS member is placed into one of four departments: General, Police, Fire, or Public Safety. Getting this right ensures employees receive the benefits they are entitled to and can retire at the correct age.

When your organization joined LAGERS, it elected which departments would be covered. Every employer must cover a General Department at a minimum, and for most organizations, the majority of employees fall here. The General Department includes anyone working at or above the required annual hours who is not a police officer, firefighter, or covered as public safety personnel. If you do not currently have a police or fire department, do not enroll police officers or firefighters in your general department. If your employer wishes to cover these employees, they must elect to add those departments.

Civilian employees working in police or fire departments (such as administrative staff) are also considered general employees for LAGERS purposes.

Read more about classifying police, firefighters, and public safety personnel.

Steps to Enrolling New Employees

To enroll a new employee, log on to ECLIPSE and follow the steps below.

1. Navigate to “Monthly Reporting.”
2. Click “Enrollment.”
3. ECLIPSE displays the “Enrollment Lookup” screen.
4. Enter the “SSN” in the field provided in the “Search Criteria” panel.
5. Click “Search.” It is important to search to avoid creating duplicate enrollments within your agency.
6. If no search results are displayed, click the “New” button.
7. ECLIPSE displays the “Enrollment Maintenance” screen.
8. Enter all required fields. This will also be where you select the department for the employee (General, Police, Firefighter, Public Safety etc.)
   1. Enter all other information including previous employment history and beneficiary information. To add lines for more beneficiaries, click the “New Row” button. This is the only time an employer can enter beneficiaries on ECLIPSE.
9. Click the “Save & Validate” button.
10. Reference the “Validation Info” panel to ensure no errors exist.
11. Click the “Submit to LAGERS” button.
12. Click “OK” in the confirmation message box.

LAGERS does not require you to submit paper copies of the enrollment forms. You only need to print a paper form if you wish to retain it for your records. If you have questions during the enrollment process, it is always best practice to contact your employer services specialist to ensure the process is completed correctly.