Benefits Counselor

Municipal Employees' Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 53,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension plan

Medical insurance

Dental plan

Vision plan

457 savings plan

Job summary

Municipal Employees' Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago seeks a Benefits Counselor I to advise members on pension rules, payments, and refunds. The role involves in-person counseling, calculations, and form assistance within MEABF operations during standard office hours.

Ideal candidates have pension experience, strong math skills, and excellent communication. The position emphasizes confidentiality and data protection with a collaborative team environment.

Qualifications

• Minimum one year of relevant pension experience.
• Bachelor’s degree preferred or at least five years of experience in a business administration or related field.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 platform, specifically Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Teams.

Responsibilities

• Counsel members by phone and in person on the rules and regulations governing the Fund regarding annuities, disability benefits, and refunds.
• Counsel active and retired members in person regarding their future and current benefit payments.
• Advise prospective retirees on various aspects that may affect their annuity benefits, including healthcare coverage, taxability, and possible penalties.
• Prepare calculations and draft letters for retirement and refund requests.
• Verify employment histories and assess eligibility by coordinating with city records.
• Review and calculate pension credits, refunds, and various annuity payments.
• Review retirement and survivor annuity applications for completeness.
• Compute complexities like reciprocal funds and overlapping service adjustments.
• Assist members with completing fund forms and applications.
• Perform other duties as assigned by Benefits Manager and Assistant Managers.

Skills

Confidentiality

Data protection

Verbal communication

Written communication

Math skills

Attention to detail

Deadline pressure

Prioritization

Education

Bachelor’s degree preferred

Five years experience in business administration

Tools

Microsoft 365

Outlook

Excel

Word

PowerPoint

Teams

Job description

Class Title: Benefits Counselor I

Reports to: Assistant Benefits Manager

Characteristics of the Class: Under supervision, provides counseling to Fund members regarding all aspects of their pension benefits. Special projects and duties as assigned by Benefits Manager. Performs a variety of clerical and administrative support duties for all MEABF operational departments. This position’s work schedule is in-office weekly, Monday – Friday during regularly scheduled MEABF office hours depending on operational needs.

Essential duties:

• Provides information to members by phone and in person on the rules and regulations governing the Fund regarding annuities, disability benefits, and refunds.
• Counsels active and retired members in person regarding their future and current benefit payments.
• Advices prospective retirees on various aspects that may affect their annuity benefits, including annuitant health care coverage, taxability of benefits and possible distribution penalties, social security rules and possible offset of social security benefits.
• Prepares calculations and draft letters to be mailed in response to annuity and refund estimate requests received by phone, mail, and email.
• Interacts with City and Board of Education records department to gather work histories and verify employment status for both participants and non-participants.
• Reviews work history and past refunds; calculates the cost to establish pension credit for former service, refund repayments, military service, union service, CHA service, PBC service, CTA service.
• Reviews the applications for retirement annuity and survivor’s annuity for completeness.
• Calculates actual benefit amounts for retirement annuity (including reciprocal fund annuities), “No Spouse” refund, errors in pension deduction, taxability of benefit amounts when member applies for retirement annuity; calculates surviving spouse annuity, child annuity, reversionary annuity, or refund to heirs upon member’s death,
• Consults with reciprocal funds regarding other their service and proportional share of annuity benefit; computes annuity amount after making any adjustment for overlapping of service credit and combined annuities that exceed the maximum.
• Complete verification of deposit forms from mortgage lenders and verification of assets forms for Housing, Social Security, and Unemployment Compensation.
• Assists members with completing fund forms and applications including membership records, retirement applications, survivor’s annuity applications, refund, and refund in lieu applications.
• Performs other duties as may be assigned by Benefits Manager and Assistant Managers.

Knowledge, Abilities & Skill:

Minimum Requirements:

Minimum one year of relevant pension experience. Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university is preferred, or at least five years of experience in a business administration or related field, where strong math skills are required. The MEABF uses the cloud-powered Microsoft 365 platform. Proficiency with this platform is required, specifically Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Teams.

Crucial skills include:

• Ability to maintain MEABF member confidentiality.
• Adherence to MEABF data protection policy.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills.
• Good math and analytical skills with strong attention to detail.
• Ability to work under deadline pressure.
• Ability to pivot to address reprioritized objectives.

Training and Experience:

Skilled, verbal communication, superior customer service ability, clear, concise writing are mandatory. The ability to determine member needs and explain/teach new information to a wide range of personalities is required. The Benefits section works as a team and requires a collegial attitude. Multi-lingual, with strong English-speaking skills, a plus.

Physical Requirements:

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position for extended periods of time.
• Must be able to operate a computer extensively for five (5) or more hours per day.

Comprehensive Benefits:

The MEABF has a generous benefits package including MEABF pension and disability benefits, medical, dental and vision plans and an optional 457 savings plan.

MEABF is an Equal Opportunity Employer. MEABF does not discriminate due to race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender and/or gender identity or expression, marital or parental status, national origin, ethnicity, citizenship status, veteran or military status, age, disability, unemployment status, or any other legally protected basis. Qualified candidates of diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply for any vacant positions.

Salary:

This position’s salary begins at $59,000 – DOQ.