 JUNE 2018 | VOLUME #153
 Employers must take the following steps for new
employees hired into the Public Employees' or Teachers' Retirement Systems on
or after July 1, 2006.
1. New employees on or
after July 1, 2006, as well as existing employees who have elected to convert
to the new plans, will be automatically enrolled in an age-based target fund
managed by T. Rowe Price. As the employer, you are required to provide the
employee with:
- a copy of the Target Fund Default Fact Sheet,
- the Reality Investing Overview brochure,
- general plan summary documents for each state-administered
plan you, as the employer, offer your employees,
- a required viewing of the new employee orientation
video,
- required new employee notifications, and
-
plan contact information.
You can find this information on the Division's website on the Employer
Services/New Employee Orientation page.
2. Employees who do not
wish to be enrolled into the Target Funds may opt out by telephone or via the
website once they receive their Welcome Letter.
3. Employees new to the
PERS/TRS DCR Plan will receive their Welcome Letter and Personal Identification
Number from Empower Retirement within two weeks of their reported payroll.
4. Employees new to the
PERS/TRS DCR Plan who have questions regarding their plan provisions prior to
receiving the Welcome Letter may contact the Division's Member Services Contact
Center toll-free at (800) 821-2251 or in Juneau at (907) 465-4460 Monday-Thursday
from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. or Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
5. Employees new to the
PERS/TRS DCR Plan must complete a beneficiary designation and submit the
original to the Division’s record-keeper, Empower Retirement Services. Upon
death of the employee, payments from the employee account will be paid
according to the last beneficiary designation held by the Division’s record-keeper.
For more information and resources on New Employee Enrollment, click here.
 On-behalf funding for
PERS and TRS employers for Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) is provided by House Bill (HB) 286 (Section 25). HB 286
passed during the 2018 legislative session and was recently signed into law. This
bill provides a set amount of funding to reduce the PERS Employer Effective
Rate to 22% and the TRS Employer Effective Rate to 12.56% for FY19.
This funding is applied with the processing of
each employer payroll. Employer on-behalf funding statements will be sent via
email to payroll and finance contacts. For PERS on-behalf funding questions or
statement copies, please email Tamara Criddle at tamara.criddle@alaska.gov or call (907) 465-2279. For TRS
on-behalf funding questions or statement copies, please email Walter Agne
at walter.agne@alaska.gov or call (907) 465-5711.
For PERS and TRS employer on-behalf funding
provided in HB 286, the Division of Retirement and Benefits will apply payroll payments
through pay period end date June 30, 2019. Fiscal year 2019 (July 1, 2018 to
June 30, 2019) payrolls must be received in our office by July 15, 2019, to be
processed with HB 286 employer on-behalf funding.
For other questions, please contact:
Christina Maiquis
(907) 465-1845
christina.maiquis@alaska.gov
 The Division of Retirement and Benefits will be holding its
biannual Employer Conference October 3 through 5, 2018.
The
Historic Westmark Baranof Hotel in Juneau will host the conference once again,
with seminars and workshops to be held both at the hotel and at Division
offices.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
7-8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast
8:30-8:45 a.m. Welcome/Announcements
8:45-10 a.m. Keynote Speaker - Financially Fit
10:15-11 a.m. Better Together
11 a.m.-12 p.m. Regional Group Discussion
12-1:15 p.m. Hosted Lunch/Commissioner's Office Speaker
1:15-2:30 p.m. Teacher Certification
2:30-3:30 p.m. DCR Plan Presentation-ER Perspective
3:45-4:45 p.m. Marketing the DCR Plan to Attract and Retain Employees
Breakout Sessions-Employer Services Hands-On
10:15-11:45 a.m. & 12:45-2:15 p.m. Annex Training Room
Thursday, October 4, 2018
7-8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast
8:30-9 a.m. Welcome/Announcements
9-10:15 a.m. Deferred Compensation-Join the State Plan
10:30-11:30 a.m. Developing an Employee Financial Wellness Program
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Lunch on your own
1-2:15 p.m. Financial Wellness Reviews and Services
2:15-3:15 p.m. GASB Updates
3:30-4 p.m. Compensation and Contribution Limits
4-4:30 p.m. Importance of Correct Reporting
Breakout Sessions-Employer Services Hands-On
10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. & 1-2 p.m. Annex Training Room
Friday, October 5, 2018
8-9 a.m. Continental Breakfast
9-10:15 a.m. Highlights of Audit Findings
10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. 2018 Most Common Audit Issues
12-1 p.m. Lunch on your own
1-2:30 p.m. IRS Presentation
2:30-3:30 p.m. SSA Presentation
3:45-4:30 p.m. Audit Round-table
Plan ahead—registration for EmCon 2018 begins in
August!
The Division of Retirement and Benefits is negotiating for discounts on airfare for conference attendees, please look for more information in next month's Employer News.
We invite employers to contact us regarding topics they would
like to see presented. Contact Kathy Lea, Chief Pension Officer, at kathy.lea@alaska.gov
or (907) 465-3226.
 A notification
email was recently sent to all employers regarding the Defined Contribution
Retirement (DCR) plan Employer forfeiture balance and its usage on future
payrolls.
The
DCR plans include PERS Tier IV and TRS Tier III. DCR employer forfeiture funds are created when a non-vested
or partially-vested DCR employee terminates employment from the Public
Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) or Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) and
refunds a portion or all their DCR account. The
percentage the employee is vested in the DCR employer contribution is
determined by the years of service worked by the employee for all participating
employers in the system. The time worked is not combined for the PERS and
TRS systems. The percentage vested is
determined by Alaska Statute. The portion the employee is not vested in is forfeited upon
refund of the participant account. The Division tracks forfeiture balances by
employer.
The
vesting statute reads as follows:
Sec. 39.35.790 and 14.25.390 Vesting
(b) A member shall be fully vested in the
employer contributions made on that member’s behalf, and related earnings,
after five years of service. A member is partially vested in the employer
contributions made on that member’s behalf, and the related earnings, in the
ratio of
(1) 25 percent with two
years of service;
(2) 50 percent with three
years of service; and
(3) 75 percent with four years of service.
The
proper handling and usage of these funds by employers has been awaiting guidance.
We have received approval to move forward with the usage of the funds to offset
future payroll related DCR employer match contributions. Use of the forfeiture balance
to cover the DCR employer match contribution will be mandatory and utilized on
each payroll until the balance is exhausted. Employers can start using these funds for submitted payrolls beginning
July 1, 2018.
The
Division of Retirement and Benefits will be sending out monthly notifications
to employers of their forfeited funds balance.
Instructions
for processing the DCR employer forfeiture in eReporting can be found here.
If you have payroll questions, please contact your payroll
contact at (907) 465-3363 or by email at doa.drb.activepayroll@alaska.gov. Please send all
forfeiture balance questions to doa.drb.accountants@alaska.gov.
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