2008 CAFR - Achievements by Division

WE ACHIEVE!
LACERA was created by the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (CERL) to administer the retirement plan benefits for the employees of Los Angeles County and participating districts. Our purpose is two-fold: to achieve long-term growth and security for the retirement fund and to assure our members achieve the lifetime benefits promised by their LACERA defined benefit retirement plans.

At LACERA, we achieve! We go beyond what's required and aspire to be a world-class organization. We create and put into practice fiscal-year goals to strengthen our customer service efforts, stay current with technology and best business practices, and improve accuracy and efficiency. We also like to innovate. We challenge our ideas, work hard and smart, are budget- and security-minded, and through our collaborative strengths, we achieve success.

Below are highlights of fiscal year 2007-2008 achievements:

ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DIVISION
Our Administrative Services Division remained focused on providing vital daily support services to our organization, including procurement, budget administration, facilities management, document processing, and mail distribution. The division also oversees special programs, such as Health & Safety, Risk Management, Records Management, and Business Continuity.

Fiscal Year Achievements:

Administrative Services' Document Processing Center (DPC) scanned, indexed, and provided same-day processing on approximately 200,000 documents, which amounted to over 500,000 pages of member information.
DPC processed approximately 365,000 mail pieces, including more than 100,000 responses to member inquiries.
LACERA's Records Management team developed a new records retention policy incorporating the latest governing mandates and industry best practices.
Our Facilities Management team completed renovation of the Robert J. Hermann Memorial Board Room. The updated setting features new technology and furnishings designed to improve safety and access for members attending Board meetings.

CLAIMS PROCESSING DIVISION
LACERA's Claims Processing Division serves active and retired members and their survivors by efficiently processing retirement plan benefits and providing exceptional member service.

Fiscal Year Achievements:

Processed 97.77 percent of active member requests within 30 days and 100 percent within 60 days.
Processed average monthly retiree payroll of $171 million for 51,392 retirees.
Processed 2,392 new retirees; 99.22 percent were paid in one payroll cycle.
Reviewed 1,600 member accounts and identified accounts owing back contributions due to birth date discrepancies; accounts were billed and forwarded to the Financial and Accounting Services Division for collections.
Eight new staff members successfully completed an intensive six-month Claims Business Processes training program conducted by Quality Assurance & Metrics.
Updated membership dates and service credit accruals of Plan E members who entered County service between 1982-1991; this is Phase 1 of a Board of Retirement-approved project to assure LACERA's entry date policy is consistently applied on all member accounts.

COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION
The Communications Division employs a multi-media approach to provide timely retirement, policy, and service information to members, staff, and LACERA's strategic partners. In the course of operations, the division creates web sites, newsletters, brochures, annual reports, special mailings, videos, and presentations.

Fiscal Year Achievements:

Created a New General Member Interactive Workshop on lacera.com which utilizes videos, quizzes, and written content to assist new hires with the selection of a retirement plan.
Contributed to the development of the Staying Healthy Together: Focus on Wellness, the retiree health improvement program with newsletter and web site.
Collaborated with Member Services, Claims Processing, Disability, and Human Resources (HR) to present the fourth annual Countywide LACERA Resource Conference for HR Professionals.
Partnered with Systems Division in the creation of the Retirement Benefit Estimate feature in My LACERA, member's 24/7 access to personal data, on lacera.com.
Created quarterly newsletters, Spotlight on Retirement and PostScript .
Developed specialized mailings regarding the L.A. County Fire Department Association of Chiefs Judgment, tax issues on heart presumption service-connected disability retirements, the Bugh Judgment, and Pension Protection Act of 2006 tax issues affecting retired Public Safety Officers.
Continued to expand and update the association's web sites: lacera.com, employee intranet, board web site, HR Professionals site, and KBase internal online knowledge source.
Partnered with the Financial and Accounting Services Division to create LACERA's 2006-2007 annual report. The report earned awards from the Government Finance Officers Association and the Public Pension Coordinating Council.
Collaborated with Quality Assurance and Member Services to create member surveys on Call Center and Public Counter services.

DISABILITY DIVISION
Disability Retirement Services continued to investigate and process disability retirement applications in a timely and efficient manner.

Fiscal Year Achievements:

Processed and presented 269 disability applications to the Board of Retirement (BOR).
Assisted County departments in placing disability retirement applicants in permanently modified assignments and presented three Salary Supplement Allowance disability retirement applications to the BOR.
Participated in 32 interactive meetings between County return-to-work coordinators and their disabled employees.
Presented disability retirement material at 17 County educational and training seminars.
Served as presenters at LACERA's Resource Conference for County HR professionals.
Provided disability retirement information to 301 members at LACERA's Public Counter.

HUMAN RESOURCES
Human Resources staff continued to recruit new employees and provide support and training to all LACERA employees.

Fiscal Year Accomplishments:

Arranged mandatory training sessions on sexual harassment and privacy for 293 staff members.
Researched, coordinated, and managed enrollment for offsite skill-building workshops for 245 staff members.
Contracted for and managed enrollment on onsite training workshops for more than 200 staff members.
Orchestrated Mentoring Program—a series of voluntary one-on-one sessions whereby seasoned LACERA professionals coach less experienced staff on professional development and other topics.
Developed, implemented, and managed a variety of compensation and employee programs to ensure adherence to applicable laws and established rules and regulations.
Managed and monitored return-to-work, reasonable accommodations, and disability and leave management in compliance with State and Federal laws and established rules and regulations.
Developed and implemented an Employee Commute Reduction Plan in compliance with South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) Rule 2202.
Planned, created, and supported a new Rideshare Program, including the introduction of six new employee vanpools. Earned 2008 Metro Rideshare Diamond Award from L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

INTERNAL AUDIT
Internal Audit continued to partner with and provide recommendations to staff and the Boards to enhance LACERA's internal controls.

Fiscal Year Achievements:

Oversaw the successful completion of an external Fiduciary Review of LACERA.
Completed revised organization-wide risk assessment of LACERA.
Completed 25 audits and 10 consulting plans, along with other projects within the fiscal year 2007-2008 Audit Plan.

LEGAL OFFICE
In accordance with the Board of Investments' (BOI) 2001 Securities Litigation Policy, our Legal Office maintained its commitment to monitor securities fraud class actions and aggressively pursue recovery of losses suffered by LACERA as a result of incidents involving corporate corruption and fraud.

Fiscal Year Achievements:

Recognized by the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys as an institution at the forefront of shareholder litigation.
Recovered more than $40 million in securities litigation for the retirement fund since the adoption of the BOI Securities Litigation Policy.

MEMBER SERVICES DIVISION
The Member Services Division served LACERA members with increased accuracy, efficiency, and professionalism.

Fiscal Year Achievements:

Served 12,979 members at our public counter.
Answered approximately 127,000 telephone inquiries from members.
Presented more than 750 workshops serving over 14,000 people at 138 different locations throughout Los Angeles County.
Introduced new Call Center and revised Public Counter surveys to elicit valuable member feedback.
Launched a Secret Shopper program to monitor service quality in Outreach workshops.
Worked with Communications Division to revise the Pre-Retirement Guide and workshop presentation.
Participated in multi-divisional project to design and implement the online Retirement Benefit Estimate feature on My LACERA; lacera.com.
Enhanced member counseling through the development of standardized checklists to ensure all important points are addressed during individual counseling at the Public Counter and on the phone.
Improved member communication by partnering with our Claims Processing and Financial and Accounting Services divisions on letters to members.

QUALITY ASSURANCE & METRICS DIVISION
The Quality Assurance & Metrics Division (QA) continued to create strategies and policies to promote accuracy, productivity, and compliance.

Fiscal Year Achievements:

Audit of 12,091 Claims Processing and Members Services Divisions transactions to monitor accuracy, timeliness, and volume of services provided to members.
To assist staff with consistency and regulatory compliance, QA added one business process procedure and updated other existing procedures posted on the LACERA intranet.
Provided staff with 780 total hours of classroom and computer instruction on LACERA business practices and changes in the retirement law.

RETIREE HEALTH CARE DIVISION
Under an agreement with the County of Los Angeles, LACERA administers a Health Care Benefits Program that provides medical and dental/vision benefits for more than 40,000 retirees/survivors and their eligible dependents. Additionally, LACERA sponsors a Long-Term Care Program for that population.

Fiscal Year Achievements:

Mailed the annual letter and insurance rate booklet, along with Notice of Creditable Coverage to more than 40,000 members.
Continued facilitation of the Medicare Part D Retiree Drug Subsidy (RDS) for the LACERA-administered Health Care Benefits Program, including the completion of applications and reconciliation with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Developed Staying Healthy Together: Focus on Wellness, LACERA's new retiree health improvement program. Staying Healthy Together replaced the annual LACERA Retiree Health Fair with a broader program (newsletter, web, workshops) designed to reach all of our retired members.
Implemented 2008 plan year premium rate changes for the Local 1014 medical plan.
Continued actuarial reporting of post-employment benefits within the LACERA-administered Health Care Benefits Program, in accordance with the Governmental Accounting Standard Board (GASB) Statements No. 43 and 45.

SYSTEMS DIVISION
The Systems Division remained focused on implementing program updates to increase the security of sensitive member information, enhance procedural efficiency, and augment member services.

Fiscal Year Achievements:

Developed an online Plan E additional retirement credit (ARC) calculator for use as a planning tool for members and a counseling tool for staff.
Built and launched the online Retirement Benefit Estimate feature on My LACERA; several LACERA divisions contributed to the development of this tool.
Created Member Locator Program to assist LACERA in maintaining contact with members with undeliverable addresses. The program creates a monthly file of such members for forwarding to a commercial locator service specializing in locating difficult-to-find pension plan participants.
Modified retiree disbursement program to calculate federal and state withholding tax solely on the taxable portions of service-connected disability retirement allowances.
Created a program to update member records utilized for GASB reporting and sent the updated data files to the actuary.
Modified the e-file program to create two 1099-Rs for post-1997 heart presumption service-connected disability retirements with benefits exceeding 50 percent of final compensation.
Implemented new actuarial tables.