May 2021
Taking care of business... TRSL style!
Members can take care of virtually all of their TRSL business online, by email, or phone. Share this helpful guide with your employees on how they can handle their retirement business easily and conveniently.
The TRSL office is open for document drop-off, and members who would like virtual or in-person counseling are encouraged to schedule an appointment.
  • Email: appointments@trsl.org
  • Phone: 225-925-6446, ext. 1446
  • Toll-free (outside Baton Rouge area): 1-877-275-8775, ext. 1446
    2021 Annual Employer Training
    On-demand broadcasts available
    Thanks to everyone who attended this year’s VIRTUAL employer training! We hoped the online platform would allow more employers to attend, and it did. The number of participants this year far surpassed previous years. In case you missed it, you can view all presentations here, or click below to view recordings of each session: 
    Questions and answers
    There were some great questions asked at this year’s training, and we’ve compiled them all into one document for your reference. Check it out here. 
    2021 legislative session halfway through
    The 2021 Regular Legislative Session, which began Monday, April 12, is nearing its June 10 end. Although this year’s session is designated for fiscal matters, a limited number of non-fiscal bills can be considered. Here's where things stand with legislation affecting the system and its members.
    Change retirement eligibility for new hires
    • Senate Bill 22 (Sen. Peacock)  was reported favorably in the Senate Retirement Committee but has since stalled in the full Senate. SB 22 would change retirement eligibility for new hires whose first employment makes them eligible for membership in a state retirement system on or after July 1, 2021. Members hired on/after this date could retire under the following eligibility criteria: (1) Five years of service at the higher of age 67 or the age of retirement set by the Social Security Administration; (2) 40 years of service at age 62; or (3) 20 years of service at any age (actuarially reduced).
    TRSL membership
    • House Bill 22 (Rep. LaCombe) passed the House and has been referred to the Senate Retirement Committee for consideration. HB 22 would require all new employees and some current employees of the Louisiana School Boards Association (LSBA) to be transferred to or become members of TRSL. Currently, LSBA employees are members of the Parochial Employees’ Retirement System of Louisiana.
    Supplemental payments toward initial UAL
    • House Bill 516 (Rep. Zeringue) passed the House and moves to the Senate for consideration. HB 516 would make a supplemental appropriation of $18.6 million to the TRSL initial unfunded accrued liability (UAL) from a portion of the FY 2019-20 surplus funds in the state treasury, and as amended on the floor, it would make an additional appropriation of $10,178,704 to the UAL directly from state general funds.
    Social Security reductions
    • House Concurrent Resolution 7 (Rep. M. Johnson) passed the House Retirement Committee and is awaiting consideration by the full House. HCR 7 asks Congress to review and eliminate the provisions of federal law which reduce Social Security benefits for persons receiving a pension from federal, state, or local government retirement systems by supporting H.R. 82 of the 117th Congress, the Social Security Fairness Act.
    Minimum benefit increase for certain retirees
    • Senate Bill 24 (Sen. Price) passed the Senate and is awaiting consideration by the full House. SB 24 would grant a minimum benefit increase to certain retirees, beneficiaries, and survivors of TRSL, the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System (LASERS), the Louisiana School Employees’ Retirement System (LSERS), and the Louisiana State Police Retirement System (LSPRS).
    For more information on these bills, along with positions taken by the TRSL Board of Trustees, visit the Legislation page of our website. 
    FY 2020-21 close-out quickly approaching
    With the end of the fiscal year just around the corner, please take note of the following important salary reporting deadlines:
    By July 15, 2021
    • All salary files through June 2021 are due from employers who report TRSL contributions.
    By July 19, 2021
    • All contribution exception reports must be cleared.
    • All online contribution corrections must be processed.
    REMINDER: Critical shortage certification required annually
    Each year on June 30, TRSL terminates all retirees enrolled under a critical shortage provision. If your agency needs to enroll any retirees under the critical shortage provision for the beginning of the next school year, be sure to follow the steps laid out in our return-to-work guide, “Step-by-Step to 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).
    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 decision to convert to the 2020 RTW Law, do not have this enrollment option.
    Questions about critical shortage certification or return-to-work guidelines?
    Check out Index 15 of the Employer Procedures Manual or contact Jessica Trosclair.
    MONTHLY EXCEPTIONS REPORT:
    Common errors and how to clear them
    Each month, your agency’s Contributions Exceptions Report, available through the Employer/Membership Information Site (EMIS), identifies reporting and enrollment errors that need to be corrected. To keep your records up-to-date, we recommend that you review and clear contribution exceptions on a monthly basis.
    Once logged in to EMIS, select “Employer Contribution Charges” under “Employers.” Enter the appropriate system (2, 3, or 4) and the fiscal year in “Query Record,” then click on “Error” next to the last month reported to retrieve the report.
    Here are some of the common errors you may see:
    Reported not enrolled: Indicates that member was reported on the monthly salary contributions report but was not enrolled.
    • How to correct: Perform an online enrollment or verify that existing enrollment and termination dates are correct; contact your Accountant Liaison if these dates need to be changed.
    Contributions unreasonable: Indicates that the contributions reported were not based on the appropriate contribution rate for that retirement plan.
    • How to correct: Process a Contributions Correction online to replace the reported earnings and contributions with the correct values. Make appropriate changes to your agency’s records.
    Actual earnings > full-time earnings: Indicates that the actual earnings reported are greater that the full-time earnings reported.
    • How to correct: Process a Contributions Correction online to replace the actual and/or full-time earnings to the correct amount. 
    You can find all exception errors, along with step-by-step instructions on how to resolve and clear them, in Index 4.0 of the Employer Procedures Manual (pages 49-52).
    • Once an error is cleared, it will not appear the next time the report is generated.
    • To make sure you have the latest exception report, just check the date and time stamp in the upper left-hand corner.
    If you have any questions, let your TRSL Liaison know. 
    TRSL members should get the facts about their account from us
    We often get inquiries from member about outside, third-party vendors contacting them regarding their retirement benefits and income. Here's some information you can provide and/or share with your employees.
    REMEMBER: TRSL does not authorize or endorse any outside, third-party vendors to represent TRSL or provide TRSL retirement information to your employees. The only exceptions are the three Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) vendors — AIG Retirement Services (formerly VALIC), TIAA, and VOYA Financial — who provide investment services, communication, and record keeping to individuals who participate in the ORP, a retirement plan available to unclassified employees in higher education
    Important information for your employees about outside vendors
    • These vendors are not affiliated or associated with the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana (TRSL) in any manner.
    • TRSL does not endorse third-party vendors or their services and products.
    • TRSL staff will never go to an employee's home or call an employee unsolicited to ask for personal information.
    • TRSL does not provide any retirement information to third-party vendors.
    • Individuals who rely on any information provided by third-party vendors with regard to TRSL benefits (i.e. calculations, estimates, projections, etc.) do so at their own risk.
    PO Box 94123
    Baton Rouge, LA | 70804 US
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