By C1 Staff
WASECA COUNTY, Minn. — Corrections officers in Waseca County will soon be voting to correct a 1999 system change that will decide whether or not Social Security is deducted from their paychecks.
The PERA Local Government Correctional Service Employees Retirement Plan, created in 1999, allowed those who were on a Coordinated Plan to be enrolled in a Correctional Plan and also receive Social Security coverage, according to the Waseca County News.
But it was only recently discovered that those who enrolled after 1999 were not meant to be eligible to be covered by Social Security. Even so, they were still getting Social Security deducted from their paychecks.
To fix the problem, PERA will have to sanction Social Security coverage for those who were not in the Coordinated Plan before 1999. This will require one of two methods of voting.
The first is a majority vote, where either everyone gets Social Security or no one does.
The other is a divided vote in which each correctional officer will vote for him or herself as to whether or not to continue coverage.
Employees who have been enrolled for longer in the program could lose money if a majority vote occurs and Social Security is voted down. Those who are newer to the system would be refunded what money they’ve paid.
Counties have until Aug. 20 to decide on a voting preference.