On May 8, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ruled the pension reform law from 2013 as unconstitutional. The law did not apply to current IMRF members - active or inactive - or to IMRF retirees, only to members of the state-funded systems.

There were some minor provisions of the overturned law that did apply to future members of IMRF:

• Future members would have been unable to:

• Apply unused, unpaid sick leave or vacation time toward pensionable salary at retirement.
• Convert unused, unpaid sick leave to service credit at retirement

• Future individuals who began employment with certain IMRF-participating instrumentalities would have no longer been eligible for participation in IMRF.

The entirety of the pension reform law was declared unconstitutional, including the provisions involving future IMRF members noted above.

IMRF will continue to monitor and report on any proposed legislation that involves the fund.

IMRF concluded its 2015 Employer Rate Meeting series with an Employer Rate Meeting webinar, held Tuesday, May 5.

Presented by Louis W. Kosiba, Executive Director, and Mark Nannini, Chief Financial Officer, the 60-minute webinar provided an in-depth review of the impact of year-end financial and actuarial data on IMRF, and the data's estimated impact on individual IMRF employers. During the presentation, attendees were invited to submit real-time questions, which were addressed during and after the program to clarify the data presented. A transcript of the questions and answers will be posted on IMRF's website.

The complete 2015 Employer Rate Meeting webinar program and the accompanying PowerPoint presentation are both available for reference on IMRF's website. Viewers can click the Employer Rate Meeting Webinar link to easily access the broadcast, or view and download the slides.

The 2015 Employer Rate Meeting webinar was the first in a series of three online programs IMRF has scheduled for the year. The remaining webinars will take place in August, addressing IMRF small employers, and in October, covering Employer Contribution Rates. Registration information will be announced in advance of each event.  

Authorized Agents and any staff member who assists with day-to-day IMRF processes - including enrollment, wage reporting, benefit applications, and various member inquiries - are encouraged to attend an Authorized Agent Certification Workshop. The complete workshop calendar is available on IMRF's website, www.imrf.org, on the Employer Workshops page.

Each streamlined, one-day training workshop provides attendees an opportunity to learn more about IMRF procedures, changes to the Illinois Pension Code, and other topics that impact member benefits. Attendees will become familiar with newly enhanced or adjusted practices that may help administer daily IMRF processes more quickly and accurately.

Authorized Agents and staff members who assist with IMRF duties are encouraged to register online for an Authorized Agent Certification Workshop using Employer Access. For assisting staff members, create a "Web Assistant" account for them through Employer Access so they may self-register for a workshop.