We wanted to share some benefit information that we hope you will never have to use, but may provide you with some peace of mind in the upcoming months.

We want to call members attention once again to the limited durable power of attorney form which can be found at the Comptroller’s website.  Pre-Retirement POA.

The POA is intended to address the situation in which a living member may wish to make a change concerning his/her SERS retirement  — e.g. apply for disability or choose a particular spouse option  – but as a result of illness or accident is physically or mentally unable to do so.  We strongly recommend that every member covered by SERS(including Hybrid) complete this form.

Thanks to the work of SEBAC, there are now three ways members can sign POAs during the crisis;

(1) As always, with a live notary and two witnesses. Those POA’s last indefinitely as always;

(2) Using an online notary or attorney process, pursuant to Executive Order 7Q.  (attached)  That process basically uses Zoom or the equivalent to create a recording of the electronic signature, and doesn’t need witnesses or any live contact. These POA’s too last indefinitely as always;

(3)  With no notary or witnesses, emailed in with a digital photo or other legible copy of a valid photo ID of the member.    This is the special exception the State agreed to, but these POAs will be valid until 60 days beyond the end of the crisis.   Members will get notification from the Retirement Division that the will need to replace the POAs with properly signed ones within 60 days of when the emergency ends.  Please see agreement.   

All three options incorporate the other request you all made that members could include only the last 4 digits of their social on the form instead of the full number for security purposes. You can find the most recent memorandum here.

We hope this helps and clarifies the process.

Kind regards and stay safe!

Cindy