Employer newsletter [Spring 2016]

E RSGA
Employees' Retirement System of Georgia
Serving those who serve Georgia

Employer Newsletter

spring 2016

www.ers.ga.gov

Contents
1 Changing Vendors
2 GASB 68 Reminder New Member Enrollment
3 Pension Compliance Training Metlife Retirewise Seminars Is Your Data Correct?
4 Ad Hoc Termination Member Education Employer Contribution Rates
5 2016 Enacted Legislation Member Statements

Changing Your Payroll Vendor?
With over 900 employers reporting to the plan every month, inevitably, we receive employer files that we cannot process in PARIS (Pension and Retirement Administration System). Financial Management Staff work through the file issues with the employer and/or their technical staff. While we are generally able to resolve file issues, in many cases, these can be prevented by contacting ERS when you have decided on a new payroll vendor. Note: Employers may be billed for changes to their internal systems or processes that affect Peach State Reserves (PSR) administration. This will reduce the impact of third party administrator (TPA) fees on the PSR plan.
ERS file creation and reporting should be included in the requirements process when a new payroll vendor is being evaluated. Employer reporting supervisors and managers are available to answer vendor questions regarding the ERS File layout and uploading process. Unfortunately, some employers have discovered after hiring a new vendor that they cannot successfully create the pension data file. The testing schedule below allows ERS and vendors to work through any issues while in a pre-production environment. If you upload a file, the following procedure should be followed when changing your payroll vendor:
Ensure that the vendor has a copy of the latest file layout from ERS
Ensure that the vendor can create the file for your employees
Once the vendor has been selected, schedule a conference call with ERS to review the layout, address questions and provide your payroll vendor contact information for our records
Discuss the testing schedule
Agree on a production date

GASB 68
Reminder: Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions
We are now in our second year of accounting for and reporting pension information under GASB 68. As our employers know by now, GASB 68 requires that governmental employers recognize their proportionate share of the collective pension amounts for all benefits provided though our plans. Per GASB 68, these pension amounts include the net pension liability, deferred inflows of resources, deferred outflows of resources and pension expense.
While GASB 68 does not specify which party, plans, or employers is responsible for calculating the pension amounts, the state's GASB 68 steering committee recommended that ERSGA provide all the required data to employers. To that end, ERSGA has engaged its actuary to calculate the pension amounts for all plans. This information was captured for all employers that prepare standalone financial statements in individual employer packets and sent on May 25, 2016 with the required disclosures and supplementary information. Please contact Renita Watts at Renita.Watts@ers.ga.gov or Deanna Holliday at Deanna.Holliday@trsga.com if you have not received your employer packet or required note disclosure.
Note: Each year employers will be selected by our auditor KPMG for attestation that payroll and census data has been accurately and completely reported to the plan for the prior year. Your auditor should be testing your payroll and census data each year as part of your annual audit. If your agency or department has been selected or is selected in the future, please comply by the provided deadline.
As noted above, GASB 68 does not require the pension plans to provide the proportionate pension liability, deferrals or pension expense for your financial reporting. This is provided to employers without costs. Therefore, we need all employers' cooperation when selected for the attestation process by our auditor. The entire process represents cooperative government at work and we need your cooperation for successful compliance.

New Member Enrollment and Reporting

All new or rehired public employees should be enrolled in a pension plan immediately upon hire. ERSGA covered pension plans include the Employees' Retirement System, the Legislative Retirement System, the Judicial Retirement System, the Public School Employees Retirement System, and Georgia Defined Contribution Plan. Employers are responsible for determining the plan to which employees are to be enrolled. For more information on the criteria for plan eligibility, download a copy of the Employer Manual available by Plan at www.ers.ga.gov.

Failure to accurately and completely report eligible employees has significant impact to the plan, employee, and employer:

missed market gains, inaccurate service accrual, and enrollment penalties. Depending on the plan, IRS plan correction

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procedures require an employer to contribute up to 50% of employee contributions for missed enrollments and contributions.

For impacted GSEPS members, employers may be required to contribute additional funds to the 401(k) plan to account for

missed market gains, in addition to missing employer matching funds and employee contributions.

If you have discovered a missed enrollment, immediately contact the plan, begin the enrollment process to establish membership, and calculate and remit missing contributions to ERS. If you have discovered an incorrect enrollment, immediately contact the plan, submit prior period adjustments to enroll member to the correct plan/group, and remit payment for positive differences in contributions. Corrections for GSEPS enrollments impact the Peach State Reserves 401(k) plan and must be coordinated with GaBreeze Payroll Support in addition to ERS by emailing GaBreeze at PSRpayrollsupport@ aonhewwit.com or calling 1-800-698-7719.

We encourage you to respond quickly to resolve these reporting issues and avoid expensive enrollment penalties.

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Training on Pension Compliance Reporting - July 2016
In July 2016, training for Pension Compliance Reporting will be provided via webinar for all employers reporting active members of ERS, PSERS, JRS, LRS and GDCP. Pension Compliance Reporting was initiated in 2015 as one of the tools used in accordance to GASB Statement No. 67, where pension plans must ensure significant census data are completely and accurately reported. Reporting requirements differ across employers. Certain employers (e.g., DFACS, Health Departments, and Public Schools) are required to submit a Pension Compliance file each month. Employers using PeopleSoft/TeamWorks are required to confirm non-enrollment status upon notification by ERSGA. Other employers using the ERSGA website to report member details are periodically selected for census data audit. The training will include discussions on the compliance file requirements and your responsibilities in the reporting process. Please be on the watch for the training schedule; we look forward to your attendance.
retirewise Financial Education
ERSGA, in cooperation with MetLife, offers Retirewise Financial Education Workshops at state employer locations throughout Georgia. Workshops have been hosted by several state agencies and technical colleges, and attended by over 600 state employees. The workshops have been very well-received by state employees, and the demand for workshops has been high. The workshops cover a range of topics, such as budgeting, financial planning, investment basics, wills, trusts, estate planning, and social security. In addition, the representatives from MetLife and ERSGA cover flexible and retirement benefits. If you would like to schedule a workshop at your location for your employees, please contact Kelly Moody at Kelly.Moody@ers.ga.gov for more details and information.
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Is the Data You Submitted to the Plan Correct?
Employers report data to our pension plans as often as every payroll period and at least once per month. By and large our 900+ employers do a phenomenal job at reporting all eligible employees with the correct salary, contributions and demographic data. However, over the past year, we have received incorrect demographic data for a number of employees, specifically, incorrect social security numbers. Obviously, creating accounts under the wrong social security number presents a multitude of problems. These problems include bad data in the pension system, incorrect reporting by the plan, inability for members to create online accounts, and additional work by plan staff to rectify records once the correct numbers are reported. Please verify social security numbers and all demographic data when on boarding new employees to prevent issues down the line, including the pension plan, health and wellness, and tax reporting.
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Ad Hoc Termination Reporting for Year End Close
Information for all terminated employees as of June 30, 2016 must be provided to ERSGA for Year End Close (June report month). It is at this time that earned interest is posted to all ERS, PSERS, LRS, and JRS member accounts. To do so accurately, all accounts must be updated with the correct membership status. Normally, termination information is provided via the employee contribution file. However, if excluded from the June 2016 file, you must use the Ad Hoc Termination tool on your Employer Desktop to enter and submit termination dates. Using this tool to report will immediately update your terminating employees' account to Inactive status. This information must be entered no later than July 20, 2016. Training for Ad Hoc Termination Reporting will be provided via Webinar from Tuesday, July 5, through Thursday, July 7 2016. Please be on the watch for the training schedule; we look forward to your attendance.
Member Education
Check out the Member Education links on the left-hand navigation menu on www.ers.ga.gov. We created the Member Education section to make it easier for our members to find educational materials on our website, such as handbooks, presentations, and seminars. A valuable resource for HR professionals is our GSEPS Plan Overview presentation for the onboarding process of new employees. Please encourage your new hires to view this presentation for more information about their retirement plan!
Employer Rate Change and New Rate Announced
At the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees held on April 21, 2016, the Board approved a change to the Fiscal Year 2017 employer rates announced last year. The FY 2017 rates now include a 0.12% adjustment for a one-time 3% benefit payment to retired state employees. The Board also approved the Fiscal Year 2018 employer rates for all plans. Both the FY 2017 and FY 2018 rates have been published on www.ers.ga.gov under Employer Forms and Information. A link to the new rates is provided below: 2017/2018 Employer Contribution Rates for all Plans To avoid contribution reporting errors, update your system with the new FY 2017 rates prior to your July payroll. ERSGA and our members appreciate your timely and accurate reporting each month.
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2016 Enacted Legislation
Several bills passed during the 2016 legislative session that will impact our members beginning July 1, 2016. More information will be distributed to Employers in the near future. 2016 Legislative Summary HB 421 (Act 400) This bill is a companion bill to HB 310, which creates a new Department of Community Supervision. Certain employees of the new Department will remain eligible for enhanced disability benefits once transferred. Certain employees of the new Department currently not eligible for enhanced disability benefits would become eligible upon passage. HB 605 (Act 426) This bill changes the vesting requirements for judges moving from part-time to full-time service and allows for an actuarial calculation of benefits upon transfer to full-time service and subsequent retirement. HB 690 (Act 432) This bill allows certain law enforcement members to purchase up to five years of certain local government authority service by paying full actuarial cost. Please visit http://www.ers.ga.gov/legislation/legislation.html for the most recent legislative updates.
Member Statements Available through Employer Portal Remember that employers can access Member statements, including the new ERSGA/PSR Integrated Statement through the Employer Portal.
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