Employee Matters

This column is prepared by staff of the Employee Compensation and Benefits Services office. You may e-mail us at Employee@bussvc.wisc.edu, or call Employee Services at 263-7556 or 262-5650.

Understanding Continuous Service and WRS Creditable Service
Have you heard fellow employees talking about “Continuous Service (Seniority) Date” or “Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) Creditable Service” and wondered what these terms mean? These terms are frequently misunderstood, and because they impact your benefits, it is important that you know the difference between them.

What is seniority?
Seniority, also known as Continuous State Service, is the number of years of service you have in a State of Wisconsin position (this includes university service). Your years of seniority are not prorated if your position is or was part time. If you have a break in your state service, your seniority date is adjusted. If you leave covered state service and do not return within a specified time limit, you may lose your original seniority date.

How does seniority affect my benefits?
For classified employees (paid on a biweekly basis), years of seniority determine how much vacation you earn each year and when you are eligible to put unused vacation into a sabbatical account.

For unclassified employees (paid on a monthly basis), years of seniority determine when you are eligible to put unused vacation into an Annual Leave Reserve Account (ALRA).

For both classified and unclassified employees, years of seniority determine whether you will be eligible for the matching sick-leave hours under the State Health Insurance Conversion Credit program at the time of termination, retirement or disability.

What is WRS Creditable Service?
WRS Creditable Service is earned when you work for any public employer covered by the WRS. WRS Creditable Service is based on the number of hours you work each year. If you are or were part time, your WRS Creditable Service is prorated. A classified employee must work 1,904 hours in a calendar year to be granted one year of WRS creditable service, and an unclassified employee must work 1,320 hours in a fiscal year.

How does WRS Creditable Service affect my retirement benefits?
Creditable service is one of the factors used in computing a formula retirement benefit. In a formula-benefit calculation, the more years of WRS Creditable Service you have at retirement, the larger your WRS retirement check will be. If you leave State of Wisconsin service and take your money out of the WRS, you will forfeit your years of WRS Creditable Service. If you return to state service, you may be eligible to buy back the years of creditable service that you forfeited.

Buying back WRS Creditable Service does not entitle you to reinstatement of your original seniority date, however.

In the next article, we will discuss how you may be able to purchase WRS years of creditable service, how much it costs, the best time to purchase such service, how to pay for this purchase and how much it will increase your benefits at retirement.

For more information, visit the Employee Compensation and Benefits Services Web site. The benefits booklet and information about buying creditable service can be found at http://www.bussvc.wisc.edu/ecbs/emp-retirement-menu.html.

You also can contact a specialist at employee@bussvc.wisc.edu.