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Employment Certification

Employment Certification is the process by which employers provide detailed appointment and payroll data to be used during the review of Service Credit Purchase requests and membership reviews for potential arrears.

The process to submit an employment certification is completed electronically through myCalPERS. The electronic employment certification replaces the previous PERS-MEM-1344 paper process.

Employers can manually enter or upload payroll information via myCalPERS through the submission of a CalPERS Review File. This functionality is similar to payroll reporting and requires the creation of an XML or CSV file upload to myCalPERS.

Note: For more information regarding the CalPERS Review File, refer to the CalPERS Review Reports section on the Employer Technical Resources page.

Arrears Process

CalPERS will send a Request for Employment Information letter (myCalPERS 2783) to the Arrears Administrator primary contact, requesting the electronic employment certification be completed within 30 calendar days. Employers will enter the employment certification information in myCalPERS. Timely submission of this data will ensure the member is receiving the correct service credit.

We will perform a review of payroll and appointment data to:

  • Verify the member appointment properly reflects the employee’s membership enrollment date and benefit level.
  • Identify cases where the member was not timely enrolled into CalPERS membership (arrears).

Service Credit Purchase

CalPERS offers a variety of service credit purchase options. Employees may be eligible to purchase service credit online by logging into their myCalPERS account.

If the member is eligible and completes all required information, they will immediately receive their estimated cost details online. If they choose to submit their request by mail, along with the required documentation and certification, their cost will be calculated and details will be available for review in their myCalPERS account.

Employees who request to purchase service credit for employment periods prior to membership such as Service Prior to Membership (SPM), Comprehensive Employment & Training Act (CETA), Fellowship, Optional Member, and prior service will need to obtain certification from their employer. If certification is needed, employers are notified by email to complete the certification online. All service credit requests that require employer certification must be certified by an authorized payroll, personnel, or human resources representative within 30 days. If the certification is not completed within the allotted time, the employee’s request will be closed, and a new request must be submitted.

myCalPERS System Access Roles

Your agency’s System Access Administrator is responsible for granting user access roles. It is important the user roles are correctly established in myCalPERS to provide the necessary access to complete the required tasks.

To process employment certification information, the Business Partner Arrears role is required, with at least one of the following:

  • Business Partner Payroll
  • Business Partner Payroll RO
  • Business Partner Retirement Enrollment
  • Business Partner Retirement Enrollment RO

Note: The combination of the system access roles will depend on the individual’s role at your agency. For more information, visit the System Access Administrators page.

Resources for Employment Certification

The following resources are available to help you become familiar with the new employment certification process:

Contact Information

For additional assistance, call 888 CalPERS (or 888-225-7377).

Policies & Procedures