PERS temporarily suspends guest visits In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi (PERS) is temporarily suspending visitors to the PERS building and will conduct retirement counseling via telephone.
“PERS is working to ensure that our critical tasks of paying benefits and processing retirement applications continues,” said PERS Executive Director Ray Higgins. “We are keenly aware of the more than 335,000 individuals relying on the work that we do. We are conducting that work and handling operations while remembering that the health and well-being of our employees and members is of the utmost importance.”
Effective Monday, March 16, PERS temporarily suspended all walk-in appointments and guest visits, Focus Sessions, group seminars, and activities where large groups are scheduled to meet with PERS representatives either at the office or off-site. All individual retirement counseling sessions are being conducted via telephone. Anyone with a previously scheduled retirement counseling session should not come to PERS.
Representatives will contact individuals with appointments about their session. PERS employees are working to process existing retirement applications as expected but ask that any member who is not waiting on paperwork from PERS or who is not retiring before July 1, 2020, to refrain from calling the office so that staff can focus on meeting critical deadlines of those who are.
“PERS is monitoring this very fluid situation closely and will make adjustments accordingly,” Higgins said.
The PERS website will be updated as new information is available and individuals are encouraged to sign up for PERS eUpdates from www.pers.ms.gov.
PERS Press Release
3/16/2020
Magnolia Tribune
