Benefits are overpaid for many reasons (late notice of death, other income is received while receiving disability benefits, etc.). Under Wis. Stat. § 40.08, ETF must recover overpaid benefits. In the past, we used several different methods to recover disability benefits:

  • Deductions from current WRS benefits
  • Wage actions
  • Life insurance
  • Death benefits
  • Referral to the Department of Justice, etc.

Beginning April 1, 2011, we also use the Department of Revenue’s Tax Intercept and Collection programs and widened our recovery efforts to all benefits administered by ETF.

What does this mean for you as a state WRS employer? If an individual is working for you, we may contact you to start a wage action if other recovery methods are unavailable to us. Please note that most overpayments are not for individuals currently working for WRS employers.