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Committee passes bill allowing workers’ compensation checks to be applied to retirement service credit
Summary
House Bill 13 41 passed the committee. The bill codifies a practice allowing members receiving workers’ compensation to direct those payments to their employer so the member receives service credit in the retirement system, without changing member pay.
House Bill 13 41 passed the joint Public Retirement & Social Security Programs committee after sponsors described it as a technical codification of current practice. Representative Les Warren told the committee the bill allows a member who receives workers’ compensation checks to have those payments routed to the employer so the member can receive service credit for retirement calculation purposes.
“We're just codifying the process that they can put their disability or their workers comp payment into the system and get credit for it,” Representative Les Warren said. The bill does not change the member’s pay; it preserves credited service toward final average compensation calculations.
David Clark, identified in testimony as executive director of LOPFAPE (as recorded in the transcript), told the committee that taxability and payroll withholding for such remitted checks remain matters between employer and employee and are outside the retirement system’s purview. The bill, sponsors said, is optional for members and will not force members to participate.
The committee had no public opposition and passed the bill on a voice vote.
Ending: Sponsors described the measure as a clarifying statute that puts an existing practice into code so members who choose to route workers’ compensation payments to employers can preserve service credit.
