Glossary of Terms
Account Status:
See Member Account Status..
Active Member:
A member who is actively working and contributing to the retirement plan.
Beneficiary:
A person designated by a member to receive a cash payment of a deceased member's account or monthly benefit payments from NPERS.
COBRA
A federal law that allows an employee losing his/her medical coverage
to purchase from their employer, at full cost and for up to 18 months, the same coverage
offered to active employees.
Contingent Beneficiary:
A contingent beneficiary is identified by a member and receives the member's benefits upon the death of the member and all primary beneficiaries.
Contributions:
Money withheld from a member's paycheck to contribute towards the member's retirement.
The amount that is contributed is based upon a percentage of the member's salary (excluding fringe benefits).
Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA):
A cost of living increase may be granted to retired members,
depending on which plan the member belongs.
Creditable Service: See Service Credit.
Death Benefit:
Deferred Retirement Benefit
Eligible Wages:
Employee Contributions:
Employer Contributions:
Employer Reported Wages:
Final Average Compensation:
Inactive Member:
Member:
Member Account:
Member Account Status:
Member Agency:
Optional Service Credit:
PDF (Portable Document Format):
Position Code:
Primary Beneficiary:
Public Employee:
Purchased Service Credit:
QDRO:
Recipient:
Report Begin Date:
Report End Date:
Retiree:
Retiree Account:
Retirement Benefit:
Retirement Eligibility:
Nebraska Statutes:
Service Credit:
Status Date:
Vested:
Wage & Contribution Report:
Wage & Contribution Report Status:
Your contributions on account and any benefits due under the plan
will be distributed according to your most recent Beneficiary Designation form.
A member who ceases employment prior to retirement age may elect
to leave contributions within the system and begin collecting a retirement
benefit once retirement age is reached. Refer to plan booklets for
specific details.
The wages earned by the member while working for an
employer within the plan that are
used to calculate the member's contributions.
The contributions that are withheld from an employee's paycheck
and contributed to the plan.
The contributions that are made by employers on behalf of the employee
and contributed to the plan.
Same as Eligible Wages.
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The average of the three highest 12 month periods of compensation,
regardless of when they occur.
A member who is no longer employed in a public position (by a
member agency) but has not withdrawn contributions.
A person who is or has been employed by an NPERS member agency
and has retirement contributions on account. See Active Member and Inactive Member.
An account with NPERS that keeps track of the contributions for a member.
This is an indication of your membership status with NPERS. An account Status may be
"Active", "Inactive", "Refunded", "Service retired" or "Disability retired".
A public agency which has joined the retirement system by a
legally binding agreement with The State of Nebraska.
Service credit that a member can purchase.
PDF is short for Portable Document Format, a file format developed by Adobe Systems. PDF captures formatting
information from a variety of desktop publishing applications, making it possible to send formatted documents and have them
appear on the recipient's monitor or printer as they were intended. To view a file in PDF format, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader,
a free application distributed by Adobe Systems.
The code used by NPERS for an employee's current position.
A primary beneficiary is identified by a member and receives the member's benefits upon his/her death.
An employee of a member agency.
Service credit purchased to increase retirement income or allow earlier retirement.
A QDRO (Qualified Domestic Relations Order) is a divorce order that provides instructions to NPERS as to how to pay benefits awarded by the court to an ex-spouse.
An NPERS member, the survivor of a member, or a person on disability retirement who is receiving monthly benefits from NPERS. Also called benefit recipient.
The beginning date of the payroll period being reported or corrected.
The ending date of the payroll period being reported or corrected.
One who has retired from active working life and is collecting retirement benefits.
An account that a retiree holds with NPERS. The
account keeps track of the contributions that person as a member paid into the system and the benefit payments
made to the person as a retiree.
A payment made to a retiree of the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement System.
The laws governing your retirement differ according to your status
as a state employee, public school employee, county employee, state patrol employee,
or a judge. Refer to the member handbook
for your particular plan.
State laws that, among other things, govern the
Nebraska Public Employees Retirement System.
The amount of service earned by a member of the School, Judges,
or State Patrol plans while working for that employer and contributing to retirement.
Service credit counts toward the calculation of the member's benefit amount upon retirement.
The date the employee's status became effective.
The number of years a member must contribute to a plan to be eligible
to retain the employer matching contributions or to be eligible to apply for a benefit;
depending on the plan they belong. Refer to the member handbook
for your particular plan.
The manner in which employee information is reported to NPERS. A Wage
& Contribution Report includes wages earned, contributions paid, and time worked.
This is an indication of the status of a Wage and Contribution report.