Some elected and appointed officials may participate in a time-keeping system that either shows hours worked or tracks accruals and confirms that full hours were worked. But, for those who don’t, determining the number of days they’ve worked requires a different process. These officials who begin a new or subsequent term of office after January 1, 2016, are required to complete a three-month record of activities (ROA) within 150 days of the start of the term and submit it to the secretary or clerk of the governing board within 30 days of completion.

An elected or appointed official is not required to keep an ROA if:

• They are a retiree of NYSLRS or another New York State public retirement system; 
• They are a Tier 1 member; or
• They are an employee whose membership in NYSLRS is optional and they have not joined NYSLRS.

Direct your elected and appointed officials to this schedule of due dates for the ROA if they need help figuring out what to do and when to do it.

Completing the Record of Activities

If there are questions about completing the ROA, our ROA Template may help.

The ROA must contain a daily detail of hours worked and duties performed that are directly related to the elected or appointed position. It must include the start and end time of each activity performed. The official may include duties performed outside normal business hours as long as they are work-related.

The official should extend the period of his or her ROA by the amount of time used for vacations, illness, holidays or other reasons during the three-month period, so that a full three months of active working days are reflected on the ROA. The official must sign the ROA attesting to its accuracy. Failure to complete an ROA will result in the suspension of membership benefits, including access to Retirement Online, receiving Member Annual Statements, tier reinstatements, requests for previous service credit, accrual of additional service credit, benefit estimates and pension benefits.

The governing board must review each entry listed on an ROA to determine whether the entries are appropriate. The board must exclude any duties that are not work-related from the calculation of the average number of days worked per month.

Appropriate Work Examples

• Answering constituent phone calls
• Attending municipality-sponsored events
• Discussing issues with constituents while out of the office
• Attending municipality board/committee meetings
• Preparing for municipality meetings
• Community activities in partnership with the municipality

Inappropriate Work Examples

• On-call time (unless called upon to perform a work-related activity)
• Attending campaign events
• Attending a political party rally/candidate forum
• Board and committee meetings for private organizations
• Socializing after legislative meeting
• Personal volunteer work
• Services not paid for by the municipality (for example, wedding ceremonies)

When to Complete a New Record of Activities

An ROA can be valid for up to eight years. If an official starts a new term and feels that a previous three-month ROA still represents his or her responsibilities and hours, the official may certify that in writing. Instead of a new ROA, that official should complete a Recertification of the Record of Activities form (RS2419) and submit it to the governing board within 180 days of beginning a subsequent term.

If an official believes the initial three-month ROA does not represent the average number of hours worked, he or she may submit a new ROA for an alternative three-month period. A new ROA is also necessary:

• If the number of hours worked changes; or
• When a new person is elected or appointed to the position.

Please note: ROAs do not generally need to be submitted to NYSLRS, however, the legislative clerk or secretary must retain ROAs and any subsequent recertifications for at least 30 years and provide full and complete copies to the Office of the State Comptroller upon request.

Rev. 5/22