Recoupment of Pension Benefit Overpayments Policy
Background
While there are a number of checks and balances to prevent them, occasionally members or beneficiaries owe the system money. These can occur for two reasons; overpayments or under-collection.Overpayments
Erroneous payments to members can be attributed to the following:
- Incorrect information provided to the Systems by the employing entity
- Flawed benefit calculations based on incorrect information
- Undetected automated system irregularities
- Failure to correctly and timely apply adjustments to the pension benefits
In addition to overpayments, members could owe the system money because the paid less than required for prior service credit.
Purpose
The policy and accompanying procedures provide benefit overpayment recoupment and waiver guidance in the event a member has been:- paid more than they should have been
or - has under contributed
Policy
The Fairfax County Retirement Systems Boards of Trustees authorize the Executive Director to negotiate and compromise with a member with respect to amounts which the board determines have been paid to a member in excess of amounts to which the member is entitled. This may include waiver of recoupment of benefit overpayments from retirees/beneficiaries (member) as a result of administrative errors in the calculation of benefit payments. The recoupment waiver must be based on a finding that collection would be against equity and good conscience and would cause financial hardship. The Executive Director will develop procedures for the determination of the waiver.Scope
The policy and accompanying procedures apply to the Fairfax County Retirement plans (Systems) and is administered by the Executive Director.The detailed steps to follow are outlined in the Recoupment of Pension Benefit Overpayments Procedure.