May 2022
LEGISLATIVE SESSION: Lawmakers look to retirees to
help with teacher shortages
Since the 2022 Regular Legislative Session convened on March 14, TRSL has been keeping an eye on a number of bills that impact the System and its members. See below for an overview of the topics most notable to employers:
Return to work (RTW) – Eight bills focused on the state’s RTW laws have been filed to help address the current teacher shortage in Louisiana. 
  • While legislators in both chambers have put forth a variety of proposals, all are aimed at bringing more retired teachers back in to the classroom.
  • Other proposed changes would relax the current requirements for school districts to hire RTW retirees.
  • Several bills have sunset dates, essentially stipulating that the proposed changes would be temporary as the state looks for ways to attract more people to the teaching profession.
  • A listing of all RTW bills can be found on our website.
Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) – Certain employees in higher education can make an irrevocable election to participate in the ORP, which is a defined contribution retirement plan similar to a 401K plan, rather than join TRSL.
  • Senate Bill 10 (Sens. Morris and Luneau) would allow ORP members who are active and contributing to the ORP by May 1, 2022, to transfer to the TRSL defined benefit plan on an actuarial basis.
  • ORP members would have until June 3, 2028, to transfer and pay the actuarial cost of receiving service credit for their years of ORP participation.
Other legislative topics affecting TRSL
This year’s session also includes bills authorizing the first permanent benefit increase for retirees in six years and additional payments toward the unfunded accrued liability (UAL).
Check out the Legislation page of our website to learn more about all the bills we’re monitoring, including their current status and the TRSL Board’s position on them. 
As you know, retirees who return to work under Option 2 of the 2020 RTW Law have their benefits suspended for the duration of re-employment but earn service credit for a supplemental benefit.
As the end of the school year approaches and some RTW retirees end their Option 2 re-employment, it’s especially important for you and them to remember the following information:
  • Regular monthly retirement benefits will resume only when TRSL receives an Application for Return-to-Work (RTW) Supplement (Form 11RTW) from the retiree.
  • Retroactive payments will not be payable for any time between when the RTW retiree terminated re-employment and when TRSL receives Form 11RTW.
Please remind these employees to submit their Form 11RTW before their re-employment ends to ensure no loss of benefits.
Every year on June 30, TRSL terminates all retirees enrolled under critical shortage provisions. If you plan to enroll any retirees under the critical shortage provision for the beginning of the next school year, be sure to follow the process laid out in our how-to guide, “Step by Step: Declaring a Critical Shortage.”
  • One of the steps for declaring a critical shortage for full-time positions is advertising on two separate occasions in your official journal that a shortage of certified teachers (or other critical shortage positions) exists. Now is the ideal time to place these advertisements for positions for next school year.
  • When enrolling retirees under the critical shortage provision, remember to submit an online enrollment within 30 days and to certify the shortage to TRSL–and BESE–within 45 days using the Retiree Return-to-Work Critical Shortage Certification (Form 15CS).
  • Multiple bills have been introduced this legislative session which propose changing the critical shortage advertising requirements. TRSL will notify employers of any changes that go into effect.
NOTE: The critical shortage category is only available under the 2010 RTW Law; retirees subject to the 2020 RTW Law, including those who make the irrevocable election to convert to the 2020 RTW Law, will not have this enrollment option.
The end of the fiscal year is just around the corner…
Don’t forget about these salary reporting deadlines.
With the end of FY 2022 approaching, time is running out to submit Full-time Only Corrections and Prior Year Corrections for FY 2019 at no actuarial cost.
  • State law requires employers to pay the actuarial cost for any correction of earnings or salary that results in an increase of service credit when those corrections are made more than three years after the monthly contribution report was due.
  • The grace period for corrections to FY 2019 ends on June 30, 2022.
  • You can pull your Questionable Year Report by fiscal year to identify any questionable years for FY 2019 to see which ones still require certification.
Questions? If you have any questions about identifying or certifying questionable years, please contact your agency’s assigned Retirement Analyst Liaison.
"Wait... what's my retirement system?"
It happens every year… as the school year comes to an end, many employees contemplate retirement.
While it’s true that TRSL is the retirement system for the majority of your employees, not all of them are TRSL members. Here’s some helpful information to ensure you’re directing them to the correct retirement system:
When providing your employees with contact information for their retirement system, please take a moment to verify their retirement system. That way they can get accurate information as quickly and easily as possible. We know your end-of the-year tasks are many, and we appreciate your help!
Missed annual training? View it ON DEMAND!
All sessions from this year’s Annual Employer Training held in March are available to view at your convenience. Click below to view recordings of each training session. Be sure to reference the time-stamped agendas to get right to the topics you're interested in:
We’re already looking forward to seeing you at next year’s training. Details and exact dates will be announced by December 2022, and registration will open in January 2023.
Point your staff in the right direction...
Encourage your employees to visit the TRSL website to access our forms and brochures, which are periodically updated to reflect changes in law. GET IT ONLINE! It’s the best way to ensure you and your employees have the most up-to-date versions of these materials. 
Are you clearing your monthly contribution exceptions report? 
You should be! Here’s why… It’s important to check your exceptions report every month after submitting your Monthly Salary Contributions Report. It will identify reporting and enrollment errors that need to be corrected.
How to retrieve the Contributions Exception Report:
Once logged into EMIS, select “Employer Contribution Charges” under “Employers.”
  1. In “Query Record” enter the appropriate system (2, 3, or 4) and the fiscal year.
  2. Click “Error” next to the last month reported to retrieve the report or, using the drop-down menu, select “Report Type” and “Sort Selection” and click “Generate Report.”
To make sure you have the latest exception report, just check the date and time stamp in the upper left-hand corner. 
Common errors you may see on your report:
  • Reported not enrolled: Indicates that a member was reported on the monthly salary contributions report but was not enrolled.
  • Enrolled not reported: Indicates that a member was enrolled, but no earnings and contributions were submitted on the monthly salary contributions report.
  • Contributions unreasonable: Indicates that the contributions reported were not based on the appropriate contribution rate for that retirement plan.
  • Contribution type invalid: Indicates that the contributions reported were the wrong type (sheltered-30 or unsheltered-10).
  • Contribution amount must be zero: Indicates that a member has reached 100% accrual and should not make any more contributions to TRSL.
  • Actual earnings > full-time earnings: Indicates that the actual earnings reported are greater than the full-time earnings reported.
For step-by-step instructions on how to resolve and clear all errors, check out Index 4.0 of the Employer Procedures Manual (pages 47-53). Once an error is cleared, it will not appear the next time the report is generated.
Questions? Reach out to your TRSL Liaison for help!
PO Box 94123
Baton Rouge, LA | 70804 US
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