As a newly hired employee, you may be eligible for retirement benefits as you begin your career and most certainly when you end your career, as well as at other times during your career as you make changes in the types of positions and type of service you hold in our district. Florida Retirement System currently provides three options for retirement benefits for eligible employees.
Contributions are made to eligible retirement accounts, while some are self-contributory and some contributions are made by the employer. Contribution rates change every year and change as your employee classification might change.
Members become eligible for normal retirement or unreduced retirement based on their age and /or service when they first meet one of the minimum requirements listed in the following section. Early retirement or reduced retirement may be taken after a member is vested and within 20 years of the normal retirement age; however, there is a 5 percent benefit reduction for each year remaining from a member’s retirement age to the normal retirement age.
Regular Class, Elected Officers’ Class, and Senior Management Service Class
Vested with six years of service and age 62;
The age after 62 that the member becomes vested; or
30 years of service, regardless of age
Special Risk Class
Vested with six years of special risk service and age 55;
The age after 55 that the member becomes vested;
25 years of service consisting of both special risk service and up to four years of wartime military service and age 52;
25 years of special risk service, regardless of age; or
30 years of any creditable service, regardless of age
Regular Class, Elected Officers’ Class, and Senior Management Service Class
Vested with six years of service and age 65;
The age after 65 that the member becomes vested; or
33 years of service, regardless of age
Special Risk Class
Vested with eight years of special risk service and age 60;
The age after 60 that the member becomes vested;
30 years of special risk service, regardless of age; or
33 years of any creditable service, regardless of age
Employees who retire from the Putnam County School District are welcome to remain on the group health, dental/vision, and life insurance. However, retirees are financially responsible for the full monthly premium.
Retirees who are age 65 are eligible for Medicare; Medicare is divided into separate parts: Medicare A (hospitalization), Part B (physicians), and Part D (prescription coverage). These three (3) components together will safely replace the school board’s group health insurance plan and, in most cases, will cost the retiree much less.
The Florida Retirement System (FRS) provides to qualified retirees a Health Insurance Subsidy (H.I.S) in the amount of $5 for each year of service with an FRS employer (minimum benefits of $30 and maximum of $150). The H.I.S paperwork is sent to new retirees around the time their first retirement check is received. Once the H.I.S. paperwork has been submitted to FRS and the subsidy begins, the H.I.S. will remain in effect regardless of where health insurance is held. If an employee retires, maintains the PCSD group health insurance, and later changes to another carrier, the H.I.S. will remain in effect. The H.I.S. benefit will remain active until the State of Florida initiates a change in this benefit.
PMA Management, TPA
1.888.476.2669
Putnam County School District's third-party administrator
The ONLY approved medical facility is:
Express Urgent Care Center (formerly MedEx)
6500 Crill Avenue
Palatka, FL 32177
386-326-0575
It is your responsibility to notify your supervisor immediately of any workplace injury.
Communicate with those key people who help make this process simple and effective (supervisors, adjusters, physicians, and the coordinator in Human Resources, Deborah Crowley 386.312.4933)
Risk Management must have received the “First Report of Injury” prior to the receipt of the completed leave of absence form for in-line-of-duty ("ILOD") leave to be approved.
ILOD may be up to a maximum of ten (10) days within any fiscal year. A doctor’s statement with specific dates and a copy of the First Report of Injury must be attached to the request for leave.
The ten (10) days of ILOD leave are applicable only to the fiscal year in which the illness or injury occurs.
The term "injury" is defined as the result of an event, which causes an employee to suffer an initial injury, a re-injury, or an aggravation of an injury for which the employee had previously been granted injury in line-of-duty leave.
You must also notify Human Resources upon return to work. This is critical for uninterrupted pay status.
NO EMPLOYEE IS AUTHORIZED TO SEEK MEDICAL CARE WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION Florida Statute 440.134(17) Treatment received outside the workers’ compensation managed care arrangement is not compensable, regardless of the purpose of the treatment, including, but not limited to, evaluations, examinations, or diagnostic studies to determine causation between medical findings and a compensable accident, the existence or extent of impairments or disabilities, and whether the injured employee has reached maximum medical improvement, unless authorized by the carrier prior to the treatment date.
You are encouraged to contact the Putnam County School District if you have questions or concerns.
Deborah Crowley, Personnel Specialist
Risk Management, Worker's Compensation, Retirement, Accidents, Safe School Compliance
dcrowley@my.putnamschools.org
386-312-4933