August 2021 ICYMI... Notes from the legislative session The three-month long 2021 Regular Session, ended June 10, and the following pieces of legislation affecting TRSL passed. Act 37 grants a permanent benefit increase (PBI) to certain TRSL retirees whose monthly benefits fall below $1,450. The benefit increase also extends to beneficiaries and survivors of retirees who met or would have met the eligibility criteria by June 30, 2021. House Concurrent Resolution 7 requests that Congress review and eliminate or reduce the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) Social Security benefit reductions. Congressional action is required to change these laws. Act 120 makes a supplemental appropriation of $18.6 million to the TRSL initial unfunded accrued liability (IUAL) from a portion of the FY 2019-20 surplus funds in the state treasury. Act 138 requires all new employees of the Louisiana School Boards Association (LSBA), current LSBA employees with at least five years of TRSL service credit, and the LSBA director to become members of TRSL. Prior to the enactment of this legislation, LSBA employees were members of the Parochial Employees’ Retirement System of Louisiana (PERS). You may have heard... The closely watched retirement eligibility bill, Senate Bill 22 did not pass. It proposed to raise the retirement age for new hires to the higher of age 67 or retirement age for Social Security.  For more information, visit the Legislation page of our website.  Booking now... virtual training sessions for the fall Whether your agency needs comprehensive training or just a refresher on a specific topic, we are still offering virtual training through GoToWebinar. These sessions are particularly helpful for employers with new staff who are responsible for TRSL reporting and certification duties. To schedule a virtual training session, contact one of TRSL's Employer Services Training Specialists, and let us know what you need help with: Sharon Lachney: 225-925-4097 Heather Landry: 225-925-7093 NEW LOOK: We've given our forms a makeover We're kinda pumped! We've redesigned our forms to make them easier for members to complete and submit. Ultimately, that means more efficient processing with fewer returns and delays for you and your employees. Here's what you’ll notice: Customized “How to Submit” section at the top of each form Removal of obsolete and unnecessary fields Consistent content layout across forms  Enhanced formatting of fillable numeric fields (SSNs, dates, and more) TIPS FOR FORM SUBMISSION: Always check our website – TRSL forms are updated as needed when there are changes in law or policy. We discourage agencies from stockpiling hard copies of frequently used forms. Instead, discard any outdated versions and always check the website for the most recent version. Take note of submission methods – All forms now clearly show acceptable submission methods at the top of each form. Please do not submit forms multiple ways, as this can create duplicate records and slow down processing. Instead, choose one submission method, and be sure to mail in forms that require an original (as noted on the form). Keep us in the loop: Update your employer contacts  The start of a new school year is a great time to review your TRSL Employer Contacts EMIS screen to ensure all designated employer staff contacts are up to date. Need to DELETE a previous designee? Submit a completed Authorized Contacts (Form 1). Need to UPDATE employer contacts for your agency? Submit a completed Employer Directory Contacts (Form 1EDC). Does your agency have a RETIREMENT CONTACT? Review your agency’s Employer Contacts screen to see if there’s a designated Retirement Contact (code RC). If not, consider designating one. Having a designated Retirement Contact listed on your Employer Contacts screen ensures that any retirement-related request letters or announcements that we send out will be sent directly to that contact person. Detailed information and instructions can be found in Index 1.0 of the Employer Procedures Manual, Authorized Contacts & Employer Directory Contacts. Do you know what a "ZERO POSTING" is? Many TRSL employers report summer paychecks (June, July, & August) in the month of June. Sometimes that results in an “Enrolled Not Reported” error on your agency’s monthly Salary Contribution Exception Report. To clear that exception, you’ll need to do a ZERO POSTING. Here’s what you need to know: For enrolled members with no earnings in the months of July, August, and June, zeros can be posted (for actual earnings, contributions, and full-time earnings) anytime during the current fiscal year. Zeros can also be posted (only for actual earnings and contributions) for the months of September through May. Full-time earnings will equal the full-time earnings reported by the reporting agency from the previous month. For September, the system will look for the full-time earnings in May of the previous fiscal year if the member was employed by the same reporting agency. If this situation applies to a large number of employees in your agency, you can save yourself some work and request that TRSL process a mass zero posting for all of them at once… just contact your Accountant Liaison for assistance. Return-to-work resources: Is Form 15ELEC required? Hiring a retiree? In addition to the online enrollment, Form 15ELEC may be required. To determine when Form 15ELEC should be submitted, check out this chart. To help you identify where a retiree fits into the return-to-work (RTW) law, and whether or not contributions are required, check out the RTW flowcharts. Questions about RTW enrollments? Contact Jessica Trosclair by email or at 225-925-6446, ext. 3663. SURVEY: Help us improve our employer training resources Do you prefer in-person or virtual training? Is there a particular topic you'd like to see presented in a future webinar? Let us know by completing this super short survey. THANK YOU! Disability retirement application now online Woo hoo! Less paper! Now, there’s one more thing your employees can take care of online. Members who have not retired or participated in DROP and have acquired a disability can now apply for disability retirement online through their Member Access account. Once logged in, members will see “Apply for Disability Retirement” under the “My Retirement” tab. From there, they can begin the application process with a click. Eligibility requirements to apply for disability retirement: Original Plan Members and Plan B (System 3) – eligible with 5.00 years 2011 and 2015 Plan Members – eligible with 10.00 years (excluding service credit earned while on workers’ compensation) For more information, check out TRSL’s Disability Retirement brochure. If you have questions, ASK TRSL, or call us at 225-925-6446 (toll free at 1-877-275-8775). Employers & members should stay alert for scammers impersonating TRSL Did you know that cybercriminals can spoof or impersonate legitimate phone numbers? If you receive an unsolicited phone call purporting to be from TRSL that asks for personal information, such as SSNs or bank account details, please hang up and contact us directly: Call 225-925-6446 or toll free (outside Baton Rouge) at 1-877-275-8775 Email us at ASK TRSL Contact your TRSL liaison Active and retired members are also sometimes contacted about their retirement by companies or organizations that are not affiliated with TRSL. Please remind your employees that TRSL does not authorize or endorse any outside, third-party vendors* to provide retirement information to TRSL members. *The only exceptions are the three Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) vendors, VOYA, TIAA, and AIG, who provide investment services to individuals that participate in ORP.

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