Wednesday, March 25, 2009

IMPORTANT INFO FOR SERGEANTS

From the PB&PA site

Proposed Post Retirement Medical Savings Plan
The City of Chicago has proposed a VEBA (Voluntary Employee Benefit Association) Plan for all Active Sergeants, henceforth, referred to as the "Plan". The purpose of this Plan is to provide members an opportunity to pre-fund the costs of their health care during retirement. This proposed Plan is exactly the same plan that has been presented to the Captain's and Lieutenant's for their consideration.

In order for this Plan to be implemented it will require the approval of the active membership. Each active sergeant will have the opportunity to cast their vote to either approve or reject the Plan. Ballots will be mailed to each member's residence. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT ISSUE AND YOUR VOTE IS VERY IMPORTANT. This Plan will either be approved or rejected based on the majority of votes cast from the ballots that are returned. This Plan, if approved will make it mandatory that all active sergeants participate. IF APPROVED, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO OPT OUT OF THIS PLAN. This Plan has financial requirements and each active sergeant needs to evaluate how it will affect them and their families.

Please review the attached files carefully so that you will be able to make an informed decision. If you are not able to download the documents or would prefer a hard copy, please contact any elected representative of the Chicago Police Sergeants' Association. You can also contact the C.P.S.A. at 773-376-7272 and request a copy.

I have outlined some key points of this proposed Plan. Please refer to the attached documents for more detailed information.

The City's Benefits Committee has selected Nationwide Retirement Solutions as the vendor to provide recordkeeping, investment, claim payment and related services to the VEBA.


The City will not be making an employer contribution at this time.


The proposed Plan is entirely funded by the employee.


Contributions go in on a tax-free basis and are disbursed for qualifying expenditures on a tax-free basis.


If the Plan is accepted, participation is mandatory. In other words, everyone is required to be in the plan year after year.


The proposed Plan has three major components.
A mandatory payroll deduction equal to 1.5% of the employee's annual base salary will be deducted on a pre-tax basis each pay period.
Beginning 01 January 2010 each employee will contribute an amount equal to the value of the first forty (40) hours of accumulated non-FLSA compensatory time that the employee earned during the prior calendar year at the employee's hourly rate at the end of the prior calendar year. Additional restrictions apply. Please refer to attached PDF titled "Final Second Amended Memorandum of Understanding", Section 5 (ii).
The hourly equivalent of ten percent (10%) of the employee's accumulated non-FLSA compensatory time as of 31 December 2008 shall be frozen and moved into the VEBA account in two equal amounts. This is a one time provision at the time the Plan is implemented. Additional restrictions apply. Please refer to attached PDF titled "Final Second Amended Memorandum of Understanding", Section 5 (iii).



Upon the member's termination of employment or retirement, the member may use his/her account assets to pay for qualified health care expenses incurred by the member or his/her dependents. If a member dies without legal dependents, the assets in the account will be treated as investment earnings that shall be allocated to the accounts of all other participants in a non-discriminatory manner. You cannot designate a beneficiary under the Plan. The City will provide all members with the option of purchasing additional group term life insurance separate from the Plan on an employee-pay-all basis. This term life insurance will be provided through Prudential Life Insurance Company.
In the upcoming weeks we will hold informational sessions at the C.P.S.A Office located at 1616 W. Pershing Road. The times of these sessions will be staggered with morning, afternoon and early evening hours so as to provide an opportunity for any member to obtain answers to questions they may have. I will post the dates and times of these sessions on this site as soon as they are scheduled. I will also post a notification when the ballots are mailed out.Once again, please take the time to evaluate this proposed Plan and how it will impact your financial future.

Sincerely,

John Pallohusky
President - CPSA



Please read the above info carefully and make an informed decision.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fuck that shit

Anonymous said...

That Mike Shields is incredible, he is going heads up with Mayor Daley now. I bet Mike Shields will hand deliver the subpoenaed records to the Inspector General and the FBI himself.

Many officers and detectives are outraged by the investment, which they view as a political favor to Daley's family. Officer Mike Shields was recently elected as a trustee on a platform criticizing the deal.

God Bless Mike Shields!

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/1496799,CST-NWS-refuse26.article

Anonymous said...

vote no
if you die the money goes to fund
city doesn't contribute
it's a way to take 10% of your time due
vote no

Anonymous said...

Somewhere in the small print you also agree to spread disbursement of accrued hours at retirement over a three year period. Do you really want to leave money you earned on the books and trust them to pay it out 2 years later.

Anonymous said...

thanks for the post.. keep posting

Anonymous said...

Somewhere in the small print you also agree to spread disbursement of accrued hours at retirement over a three year period. Do you really want to leave money you earned on the books and trust them to pay it out 2 years later.

Thu Mar 26, 11:43:00 AM

No-that's not true- the three year comp time disbursement is in regard to agreeing to the retirement at 55 with the now at 60 medical benefit. You're confusing two seperate contract issues.

The VEBA vote will be a seperate issue from ok-ing the contract. The request/right to establish a VEBA is already in the contract we work under already. The city's pulled a fast one on selecting who manages it-Nationwide-no surprise!

Despite the shannigans- the VEBA is not a bad idea- however- there are serious questions about how the city chose the vendor and why did the PBPA not have any input.

Hey-did that Vanecko kid get a gigat Nationwide?

Anonymous said...

PBPA board voted 12-2 to oppose the agreement. 'nuff said.

Anonymous said...

Vote NO!!!!!! City administered - No
No city contribution: NO
City to hold your time: NO
Nationwide: NO
NOt part of your assets: NO
You die, the city (nationwide gets the money:) NO

More bullshit from the city. Fuck them
Vote no and save yourselves some money.

Anonymous said...

Why would the PBPA even bring this nonsense to the members. How about you get us a contract and maybe even make the city follow the contract instead of helping to dream this stuff up?

Anonymous said...

if the city wants it, it can't be good.

Anonymous said...

A big fat NO from me. Sounds like the kind of "plan" that will change once everyone is locked in. Too many unknowns and I don't trust this "city of ours".

Anonymous said...

HMMMMM, NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

The CITY proposed this as part of the last contract, and MUST be put to the members for a vote. IF YOU DONT VOTE AGAINST IT, you may have to participate anyways. If the majority of votes say yes, IT'S YOURS TOO. Pass the word if you don't want it. By not voting, you let other people decide how to spend YOUR money. Not you.

If you die without a spouse or child, you lose the money.

"Make the city follow the contract?" What contract?

Anonymous said...

Why would I vote for a plan, where it is going to cost me my comp time? Why should I lose 200 hours of my comp time and someone else will lose only 40 hours of theirs. I plan on use my wife's health benefits when I retire (Cheaper and better benefits)

Anonymous said...

Don't be STUPID:
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Please keep in mind that this is an open blog
that can and is read by people other than Chicago Police Officers.