How to Handle Employees Who Contribute to Two Different Retirement Systems
Just as some parishes are experiencing a teacher shortage, some parishes are also experiencing a bus driver shortage.
If your parish is trying to address a bus driver shortage by hiring teachers to drive buses, please be aware that employees eligible for two different public retirement systems must contribute to each public retirement system for which the employment makes them eligible.
Here's how to handle this:
- If someone employed as both a teacher and a bus driver meets the eligibility requirements for both TRSL and the Louisiana School Employee’s Retirement System (LSERS), then their earnings as a teacher must be reported to TRSL and their earnings as a bus driver must be reported to LSERS. Under no circumstances should the bus driver earnings be combined with their teacher earnings and be reported to TRSL.
- PLEASE NOTE: Employees with dual membership are limited to one year of combined service credit per fiscal year between both retirement systems. This means the employee will not receive a full year of service credit with TRSL and another full year of service credit with LSERS. The service credit would be prorated between both retirement systems, or cancelled in one system, to not exceed one year of combined service credit per fiscal year. TRSL and LSERS will coordinate with each other to adjust your employee’s service credit at time of retirement.
