ETF 10.01 Note Note: 2007 Wis. Act 131 deleted the terms “widow or widower” from s. 40.08 (8) (a) 2., Stats., and replaced them with the term “surviving spouse.” This rule (CR 09-057) provides a definition for “surviving spouse.” The Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) has allowed courts to order the division of WRS benefits in the property division associated with a legal separation because a legal separation is a termination of the marriage, at least for property division purposes. This treatment of the beneficiary definition is in conformity with that interpretation.

ETF 10.01(7) (7) “Three continuous years of creditable service” for purposes of s. 40.285, Stats., and s. ETF 20.17 means an uninterrupted period of at least 3 complete, non-overlapping annual earnings periods during each of which the participant earned some creditable current service. A period of continuous creditable service is considered interrupted if the participating employee is terminated from employment covered by the Wisconsin retirement system for a period of more than 90 calendar days. Service associated with contributions which have been debited to fund a benefit may not be applied toward continuous creditable service.

ETF 10.01 History History: Cr. Register, February, 1983, No. 326, eff. 3-1-83.; r. and recr. (intro.), am. (2) (intro.), cr. (3m), Register, June, 1983, No. 330, eff. 7-1-83; cr. (3w), Register, December, 1983, No. 336, eff. 1-1-84; cr. (3h) and (3s), Register, March, 1984, No. 339, eff. 4-1-84; am. (1), Register, April, 1984, No. 340, eff. 5-1-84; emerg. cr. (4m), eff. 1-1-85; cr. (4m), Register, March, 1985, No. 351, eff. 4-1-85; cr. (2m), Register, October, 1985, No. 358, eff. 11-1-85; cr. (1m), Register, May, 1986, No. 365, eff. 6-1-86; am. (1m) (a), Register, August, 1986, No. 368, eff. 9-1-86; r. (1) and (3), Register, September, 1986, No. 369, eff. 10-1-86; r. and recr. (2), Register, January, 1987, No. 373, eff. 2-1-87; cr. (3p), Register, March, 1987, No. 375, eff. 4-1-87; cr. (3), Register, June, 1992, No. 438, eff. 7-1-92; cr. (1g), Register, September, 1992, No. 441, eff. 10-1-92; cr. (3d), Register, October, 1992, No. 442, eff. 11-1-92; cr. (7), Register, June, 1995, No. 474, eff. 7-1-95; cr. (3i), Register, December, 1996, No. 492, eff. 1-1-97; cr. (3t), Register, July, 1997, No. 499, eff. 8-1-97; cr. (8) and (9), (1h) renum. from ETF 11.02 (1), Register, July, 1999, No. 523, eff. 8-1-99; corrections in (3s) made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 6. and 7., Stats., Register, July, 1999, No. 523; CR 00-022: cr. (1k), Register July 2001, No. 547 eff. 8-1-01; correction in (7) made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 7., Stats., Register July 2005 No. 595; corrections in (3d) made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 7., Stats., Register September 2006 No. 609; CR 07-062: am. (7) Register June 2008 No. 630, eff. 7-1-08; CR 09-057: cr. (3o) and (6m) Register May 2010 No. 653, eff. 6-1-10; EmR0938: emerg. cr. (1r), r. and recr. (2), am. (3m), r. (9), eff. 1-1-10; CR 10-004: cr. (1L) and (1r), r. and recr. (2), am. (3m), r. (9) Register July 2010 No. 655, eff. 8-1-10; CR 11-040: am. (2) (b) 2., 3. Register July 2012 No. 679, eff. 8-1-12; CR 13-004: am. (3i) Register August 2013 No. 692, eff. 9-1-13; CR 12-054: am. (3i) Register October 2013 No. 694, eff. 11-1-13; correction in (7) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats., Register October 2013 No. 694; CR 14-055: cr. (3e), am. (3i) Register May 2015 No. 713, eff. 6-1-15; CR 16-034: am. (2) (a) (intro.), r. (2) (a) 1., 2. Register April 2017 No. 736, eff. 5-1-17; cons. (a) (intro.) and 3. and renum. to (a) under ss. 13.92 (4) (b) 1. and 35.17, Stats., Register April 2017 No. 736; CR 19-126: am. (1k), (1L), (2) (a), (b) (intro.), cr. (2g), am. (3m), renum. (3s), (8) to (3r), (3s) and, as renumbered, am. (3s) Register May 2021 No. 785, eff. 6-1-21; CR 23-023: am. (3d) Register May 2024 No. 821, eff. 6-1-24.

ETF 10.03 ETF 10.03 Creditable service.

ETF 10.03(1) (1) For annual earnings periods beginning on or after January 1, 1985, each participating employer shall determine and report service in hours for each participating employee in the manner prescribed in this section. Earnings which are paid to a teacher, as defined in s. 40.02 (55), Stats., an educational support personnel employee, as defined in s. 40.02 (22m), Stats., or a technical college educational support personnel employee, as defined in s. 40.02 (55g), Stats., who has contracted to receive such payments on either a 9 or 10 month contract basis, and which are paid after the beginning of a school year, as defined in s. ETF 10.01 (4m), for services rendered in the preceding school year, are deemed to be received by the employee on June 30 of the preceding school year for purposes of reporting service to the department.

ETF 10.03(2) (2) The full-time equivalent of one day of service is 8 hours. If an employer has established workdays of other than 8 hours as full-time employment for some or all of its employees, the number of hours to be reported within a reporting period is determined by the participating employer by dividing the number of hours for which earnings are paid to the employee in the reporting period by the number of hours which would have been worked in that reporting period by a regular full-time employee of that employer in the same kind of employment and multiplying the result by 40 times the number of weeks and fractions of a week in the reporting period.

ETF 10.03(3) (3) For purposes of s. 40.02 (17), Stats., the full-time equivalent of one year of creditable service for a teacher, as defined in s. 40.02 (55), Stats., who is not an executive participating employee, as defined in s. 40.02 (30), Stats., is 1,320 hours and for all other participating employees the full-time equivalent of one year of creditable service is 1,904 hours.

ETF 10.03(4) (4) When a participating employee receives earnings from the same participating employer for employment in more than one of the categories under s. 40.23 (2) (b), Stats., then the following tests shall be applied by the participating employer when service and earnings are reported:

ETF 10.03(4)(a) (a) If employment in each of the categories meets the requirements of s. 40.22, Stats., by itself then the earnings and service shall be reported separately for each category.

ETF 10.03(4)(b) (b) If employment in any one category meets the requirements of s. 40.22, Stats., and all other employment does not, then earnings and service shall be added to and reported under the one category which meets the eligibility requirements of s. 40.22, Stats.

ETF 10.03(4)(c) (c) If employment in more than one category meets the qualifying requirements of s. 40.22, Stats., and all other employment does not, then earnings and service for employment in those categories which do not meet the qualifying requirements of s. 40.22, Stats., shall be added to and reported under:

ETF 10.03(4)(c)1. 1. That qualifying category in which the greatest number of hours is worked, or

ETF 10.03(4)(c)2. 2. The lowest numbered subdivision under sub. (5) (b) if the greatest number of hours worked is equal in 2 or more qualifying categories.

ETF 10.03(4)(d) (d) If employment in none of the categories meets the requirements of s. 40.22, Stats., separately, but those requirements are met when the employment is added together then earnings and service shall be added to and reported under:

ETF 10.03(4)(d)1. 1. That category in which the greatest number of hours is worked, or

ETF 10.03(4)(d)2. 2. The lowest numbered subd. under sub. (5) (b) if the greatest number of hours worked is equal in 2 or more categories.

ETF 10.03(5) (5) 

ETF 10.03(5)(a) (a) Fractions of an hour shall be rounded to the nearest hour prior to crediting and if the fraction is one-half hour then the hours credited shall be rounded up to the next whole number.

ETF 10.03(5)(b) (b) If the total number of hours reported for an employee within an annual earnings period exceeds the applicable number specified in sub. (3) service shall be allocated and credited in the following sequence:

ETF 10.03(5)(b)1. 1. Service as a protective occupation participant not subject to Titles II and XVIII of the federal social security act whose formula rate is determined under s. 40.23 (2m) (e) 4., Stats.

ETF 10.03(5)(b)2. 2. Service as a protective occupation participant subject to Titles II and XVIII of the federal social security act whose formula rate is determined under s. 40.23 (2m) (e) 3., Stats.

ETF 10.03(5)(b)3. 3. Service as an executive participating employee whose formula rate is determined under s. 40.23 (2m) (e) 2., Stats.

ETF 10.03(5)(b)4. 4. Service as an elected official whose formula rate is determined under s. 40.23 (2m) (e) 2., Stats.

ETF 10.03(5)(b)5. 5. Service as a teacher whose formula rate is determined under s. 40.23 (2m) (e) 1., Stats.

ETF 10.03(5)(b)6. 6. Service of a type not covered under subds. 1. to 5.

ETF 10.03(5)(c) (c) The earnings shall be reported and credited in full without regard to any allocation of creditable service under par. (b).

ETF 10.03(6) (6) 

ETF 10.03(6)(a) (a) For local elected officials who are participating employees, but serving in positions not considered full-time by the local unit of government, the amount of service shall be determined and reported by the employer as follows:

ETF 10.03(6)(a)1. 1. For employment which is essentially ministerial in nature, the number of hours reported shall be the actual number of hours for which the employee is paid if a regular work schedule has been established. If there is no regular work schedule, the number of hours reported may not be greater than the quotient derived from dividing the compensation paid during the reporting period by 2 times the minimum hourly wage rate established by the federal fair labor standards act for non-agricultural employment.