Joining the Retired Chapter: Take these steps to ensure a smooth transition

If you are considering retirement in the near future, the following guidelines will help you to make an informed decision, as the transfer from active duty CCPOA membership to Retired Chapter membership is NOT AUTOMATIC. Upon retirement, you will need to decide whether or not to sign up for CCPOA's Retired Chapter so that you may continue to be a CCPOA member into retirement.

Staff members at CCPOA headquarters, while working with the staff of the CCPOA Benefit Trust Fund, have discovered that some critical information may not always make it to our recent retirees, or our soon-to-be-retiring members, until certain deadlines have passed.

As such, the information that follows is designed to make you aware of the CCPOA Retired Chapter and the benefits associated with being a CCPOA Retired Chapter member.

GENERAL INFORMATION

As you plan for retirement, you will be exiting the state controller's payroll system and commencing the CalPERS payroll system. The deductions you have chosen during active service will not be transferred to the CalPERS system upon retiring (including CCPOA membership). There is no need to cancel or drop your active membership in CCPOA, as all payments and your membership will cease automatically when you leave active state service.

DUES

CCPOA Retired Chapter dues are currently set at $5 per month. Completion of a Retired Chapter membership application is required in order to continue union membership into retirement. This application gives CCPOA the authority to have CalPERS automatically deduct your dues from your monthly retired warrant. The dues are collected by the Benefit Trust Fund and pays for the $20,000 membership life insurance policy. CCPOA SOP and Bylaws prohibit a dues change without the vote of the Retired Chapter members.

MEMBERSHIP

A Bargaining Unit Six employee who is going to retire or has retired may enroll for membership in the Retired Chapter at any time.

However, applying more than 90 days past your effective date of retirement will result in a one-year wait for the life insurance benefit to become active.

BENEFITS

Retired Chapter members are entitled to the following benefits:

Life insurance policies:

$20,000 life insurance policy for the member.*

$10,000 life insurance policy for the spouse.*

* Please note: At age 70 the life insurance policy for the member decreases to $1,000 and the life insurance policy for the spouse is eliminated.

Remember, should your membership application be submitted 90 days or more after retiring there will be a one-year wait for the life insurance to become effective.

Enrolment in the folowing voluntary programs:

CCPOA Health Plan

Retiree Piggyback-Supplemental Dental, Vision, Hearing Aid

Senior Term-Life Insurance

Family Legal Plan for Retired Members

Retiree Accidental Death and Dismemberment

Supplemental Term Life.**

** Please note: Effective June 1, 2007, active members already participating in this program may roll it over into retirement as Retired Chapter members.

PROCESSING and TIME FRAME

Once your Retired Chapter membership application is received by CCPOA the data will be entered and processing will commence with CalPERS. CalPERS accepts data on the eighth of each month (unless the eighth falls on a weekend or a holiday, in which case the date may move up a few days). If your application is received prior to the eighth of the month, then your first Retired Chapter dues should be deducted on the first of the following month-provided everything progresses smoothly with your retirement. The date of the first dues deduction is also the start of your Retired Chapter membership.

PREFERRED TIMING - BE AHEAD of the GAME

It is best to be preemptive and submit an application roughly four weeks prior to your effective retirement date. As you can see from the processing and time frame information above, a lot of the 90-day window is used up during processing. Additional time is needed for mailing to and from the retiree. Also, the whole process may not even start until the state controller's office informs CCPOA Membership of a retirement (that can be six to eight weeks), which is the first time Membership would know of your retirement. There is the potential for a lot of time lost, and 90 days will pass quickly.

EXCEPTIONS for DIRECT PAYMENT OPTIONS DURING PROCESSING

Sometimes timing may be critical and a recent retiree may need to establish dues payments quicker than the time frame needed for the standard processing to start automatic dues deductions. In such a case, an applying member may wish to pay one or two months dues directly by check while the application is processing. Examples where such an option might apply:

The application for Retired Chapter membership was not submitted or will not process until the end of the 90-day window and concerns about continuity of insurance arise.

Applying at the end of open enrollment or in response to an insurance audit.

Remember, these are exceptions and need to be approved on a case-by-case basis. Should your situation be similar to one of the examples above, contact CCPOA's Membership Department at headquarters or the Benefit Trust Fund to see if direct payment options might apply to you.

Please feel free to call the CCPOA Membership Department in West Sacramento with any questions you may have regarding your active or retired membership. We are here to ensure a smooth application process-for our new members as well as our retiring members. A visit to our recently redesigned website at ccpoa.org can also provide you with information in many different areas, such as upcoming events and recent news about your profession. And don't forget to let us know if your address changes.

For further information regarding your benefits as a CCPOA member, active or retired, please contact the CCPOA Benefit Trust Fund at 800-IN-UNIT-6 or (916) 779-6300, or visit the BTF website at www.ccpoabtf.org.

• volume 25 issue 2