Purpose

To notify SUNY agencies of the new SUNY Police eligibility for the Police and Fire Retirement System (PAF) and provide instruction for transferring employee enrollment from the New York State and Local Retirement System (ERS) to PAF.

Affected Employees

Employees in State University Police Officer titles hired under Section 355 of the Education Law in Bargaining Units 08, 13 and 31 who chose to transfer from ERS to PAF and provided the required documentation to ERS no later than December 31, 2015, and new employees to State University Police Officer titles hired under Section 355 of the Education Law

Background

State University Police Officers hired under Section 355 of the Education Law were previously members of and eligible for the New York State and Local Retirement System (ERS).

Chapter 561 of the Laws of 2015 amends Section 1, Subdivision 11 of Section 302 of the Retirement and Social Security Law allowing State University Police Officers hired under Section 355 of the Education Law to transfer to the New York State Police and Fire Retirement System (PAF) to participate in a special plan with a twenty-five year half pay retirement benefit. In addition, the bill granted State University Police Officers parity with other police officers by allowing them to laterally transfer to other police forces or departments listed in Civil Service Law S58(4).

Effective Date(s)

Immediately

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible employees who wished to transfer from ERS to PAF were required to file the Member Registration and Transfer of Membership in Accordance with Chapter 561 (Laws of 2015) with the Retirement System on or before December 31, 2015. 

Eligible new hires will need to complete a PAF retirement system application.

OSC Actions

OSC has updated the PayServ system to allow eligible employees in Bargaining Units 08, 13 and 31 to be eligible for Retirement Plan Type 7W (PAF) with the following Benefit Plans:

• PAFAFT (Non-Contributing)
• PAFAT3 (Tier 3 Contributing)
• PAFAT5 (Tier 5 Contributing)
• PAFAT6 (Tier 6 Contributing)

OSC has updated the PayServ system to allow eligible employees in Bargaining Units 08, 13 and 31 to be eligible for the following retirement deduction codes:

• 616 – PAF Retirement Before Tax
• 617 – PAF Retirement After Tax
• 618 – PAF Arrears Before Tax
• 619 – PAF Arrears After Tax
• 620 – PAF Loans
• 690 – ERS Misc Before Tax Adjustment

Agency Actions

Agencies should take the following actions for employees who meet the transfer eligibility criteria and for whom they have received a letter from the NYSLRS Member and Employer Service Bureau notifying them of the employee’s transfer from ERS to PAF:

Terminate Plan Type 7Y – Employee’s Retirement System

Plan Type 7Y must be terminated before adding Plan Type 7W. Navigate to Main Menu>Benefits>Enroll In Benefits>Retirement Plans

• Insert a Row on Coverage.
• Deduction Begin Date should be the first day of the current pay period.
• Select the “Terminate” radio button.
• Election Date should be carried forward from the previous screen but must be manually entered.
• Save

Add Plan Type 7W – Police & Firemen’s Rtrmnt

• Insert a row on Plan Type.
• Select Plan Type 7W – Police & Firemen’s Rtrmnt
• Deduction Begin Date should be the second day of the current pay period.
• Select the Elect radio button.
• Election Date should be the Date of Membership provided on the NYSLRS transfer letter.
• Benefit Plan will vary based on Tier status.
  • Employees that have a Contribution Status of Contributing will have a “Benefit Plan” set to PAFAT3, PAFAT5, or PAFAT6 based on tier indicated on the NYSLRS transfer letter.
  • If the NYSLRS transfer letter indicates the employee is non-contributory, Benefit Plan should be PAFAFT.
• Reg Nbr is the Registration Number indicated on the NYSLRS transfer letter.
• Tier should be the Tier provided on the NYSLRS transfer letter.
• Option Code:

• Percentage is the Contribution Rate indicated on the NYSLRS transfer letter. If the Contribution Rate indicated on the ERS transfer letter is 6.01, the employee is non-contributing and the Contribution Rate field can be left blank.
• A general comment should be added for employees that have decided to transfer membership from ERS to PAF stating “Transfer from ERS to PAF per Chapter 561 of the Laws of 2015”.

Retirement Deduction Codes – Agencies must end ERS deductions and begin PAF deductions, Navigate to Main Menu>Payroll for North America>Employee Pay Data USA>Deductions>Create General Deductions.

If the employee has any of the following ERS deduction codes, end date the deduction code using the first day of the current pay period: 608 ERS Arrears Before Tax 609 ERS Arrears After Tax

Insert a row to begin the corresponding PAF deduction code(s) that were end dated for ERS using the second day of the current pay period: 618 PAF Arrears Before Tax 619 PAF Arrears After Tax

Retirement Loans

If the employee has deduction code 610 ERS Loans, the agency should end date the loan using the first day of the current pay period.

Deduction code 620 PAF Loan deductions should not be started until the agency receives a letter from NYSLRS instructing them to do so.

Questions

Questions regarding the New York State Police and Fire Retirement System may be directed to the Retirement System Call Center at 1-866-805-0990.

Questions regarding eligible titles may be directed to the SUNY Benefits News & Announcement web site at http://www.suny.edu/benefits/news/.

Questions regarding transferring an employee from ERS to PAF in PayServ may be directed to the Payroll Deduction mailbox.