Source: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2017/s8844/amendment/a
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 14:33:30
Document Index: 334796512

Matched Legal Cases: ['§2575', '§ 2575', '§ 2575', '§ 2575', '§  2', '§2575', '§ 3']

NY State Senate Bill S8844A
senate Bill S8844A
Provides for the automatic enrollment of employees of the city of New York eligible to join the New York city board of education retirement system
Get Status Alerts for S8844A
Dec 28, 2018 vetoed memo.378
substituted for a10935a
amended (t) 8844a
May 30, 2018 1st report cal.1402
May 24, 2018 referred to civil service and pensions
S8844A
S8844 (ACTIVE) - Details
Amd §2575, Ed L
S8844 (ACTIVE) - Summary
Provides for the automatic enrollment of employees of the city of New York eligible to join the New York city board of education retirement system.
S8844 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo
BILL NUMBER: S8844
providing for the automatic enrollment of members of the New York city
board of education in the New York city employees' retirement system
To provide for the automatic enrollment into the New York city board of
education retirement system (BERS) of future pension-eligible employees
who do not elect to opt out of a pension; to provide for a one-time
automatic enrollment window into BERS for current pension-eligible
employees who did not elect to opt in or out of a pension.
Section one of the bill amends paragraph b of subdivision 18 of § 2575
of the education law to add a new subparagraph 4:
*Clause i of new subparagraph 4 requires that, as of July 1, 2019, new
employees who are eligible for membership in the Board of Education
retirement system, and that are not a member in the retirement system or
any other public retirement system, to be automatically enrolled in the
retirement system, after ninety days of employment. If a new employee
files an application with the retirement system to opt out of membership
within ninety days of employment, the retirement system will refrain
from enrolling the employee until the employee submits an application
for membership in the retirement system or is required to enroll pursu-
ant to any rules and regulations of the retirement system or by law. New
employees are also afforded the right for membership in the retirement
system as of the first date of covered employment by filing an applica-
tion for membership with the retirement system. This paragraph also
requires the employer to notify the employee in writing of their right
to join the system and of the fact that the employee will be enrolled in
the retirement system on the ninety-first day of employment unless the
employee files an application to opt out with the retirement system
prior to the ninety-first day. An employee who opts out of membership
with the retirement system will still be afforded the opportunity to
join the retirement system by filing an application for membership
provided the employee remains in covered employment.
*Clause ii requires that every current employee who is eligible for
membership in the retirement system on July 1, 2019, and who is not a
member in the retirement system, or any other public retirement system
of the city or state of New York, be enrolled in the retirement system
effective October 1, 2019 unless the employee files an application to
opt out with the retirement system prior to October 1, 2019. The auto-
matic enrollment in the retirement system shall not be construed to
waive any eligibility requirements for previous service credit.
*Clause iii states that the automatic enrollment of eligible employees
shall not be construed to modify the rights and obligations of any
employee whose participation in the retirement system is mandated by the
rules and regulations of the retirement system or by law and prohibits
mandated members from opting out of membership.
*Clause iv provides that that, if an employee who is automatically
enrolled in the retirement system is a member of a union, that the union
be provided a written notice from the retirement system of the employ-
ee's enrollment within thirty days of the employee's enrollment in the
Section 2 of the bill amends paragraph (f) of subdivision 18 of § 2575
of the education law to include any person employed by the New York City
Police Department as a school crossing guard to be afforded membership
in the retirement system pursuant to subparagraph 4 of paragraph (b) of
subdivision 18 of § 2575 of the education law.
Currently, part-time, temporary, or those employees not required to take
a civil service exam (even though eligible for membership in the Board
of Education retirement system) are maintained in a category of workers
only allowed optional enrollment. Although the law requires employers to
notify them of their optional eligibility at the time of employment,
these workers often continue to work for many years without affirmative-
ly enrolling in the system, thereby missing years' worth of benefits and
the financial security those benefits should have provided in retire-
Under the current optional enrollment rules, only 73% of eligible
employees eventually join BERS. Of those who have not elected to enroll
in the system, approximately 64% are female with an average age of 30.8
years old, an average salary of approximately $22,410, and an average of
2.5 years of past service where retirement benefits were not accruing.
It is not unusual to learn the story of many employees who each day
provide vital public services alongside co-workers who are covered by a
full pension only to discover, after many years on the job, that they
missed their opportunity to enroll and end up losing time earned pension
benefits when they register many years after entering the system. This
class of public employees loses valuable pension benefits with some of
them never knowing that they were entitled to a pension plan that could
have provided economic assistance which often leaves them impoverished
when they can no longer work.
It is unjust that due to a lack of awareness, benefits deriving from
years of public service are stolen away from employees that have dedi-
cated their lives to the state and local governments. By allowing for
automatic enrollment unless a worker affirmatively opts out, all workers
who are eligible will be provided the opportunity to benefit from their
retirement plan as intended, and that this class of workers are not left
pension-less due to an innocent error at the onset of their service.
This bill does not create a new class of retirement system member; rath-
er it adjusts the timetable for enrollment. Once a new employee is hired
they would automatically be enrolled in the pension system 90 days after
commencement of employment. This change would eliminate the need for any
refunds, and the employee would still have the right to join the pension
system immediately upon employment. This is an efficient implementation
of automatic pension enrollment.
2017: A.7193-C/S.5634-B - Vetoed, Memo  180
The New York City Office of the Actuary has estimated that the addi-
tional annual employer contribution will be $19.1 million if no prior
years of services are purchased back by employees and $28.4 million if
all years of prior service eligible for buyback are purchased.
S8844 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf
automatic  enrollment  of members of the New York city board of educa-
tion in the New York city employees' retirement system
Section  1.  Paragraph  (b)  of  subdivision 18 of section 2575 of the
education law, as added by chapter 536 of the laws of 1986,  is  amended
(b) (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of subdivision
one of this section or any provision of the rules and regulations or any
other  provision  of  law  to  the  contrary, membership in the board of
education retirement system shall include any  provisional  employee  in
education service who elects to become a member in the manner prescribed
by  the  applicable  provisions  of  subparagraph two [or], subparagraph
three OR SUBPARAGRAPH FOUR of this paragraph.
(2) Any such provisional employee who is not a member of the New  York
city employees' retirement system at the time he or she elects to become
a  member  of  the board of education retirement system may make such an
election of membership by filing with the board of education  retirement
system a duly executed and acknowledged application for membership.
(3) Any such provisional employee who is a member of the New York city
employees'  retirement  system  at the time he or she elects to become a
member of the board of education retirement  system  may  make  such  an
election of membership by filing simultaneously with the board of educa-
tion  retirement system a duly executed and acknowledged application for
membership and a duly executed and acknowledged request that his or  her
membership and service credit in the New York city employees' retirement
system be transferred to the board of education retirement system.
(4)(I)  BEGINNING  JULY  FIRST,  TWO THOUSAND NINETEEN, UPON THE ENTRY
INTO EMPLOYMENT OF ANY EMPLOYEE ELIGIBLE  TO  ELECT  MEMBERSHIP  IN  THE
RETIREMENT  SYSTEM  PURSUANT TO SUBPARAGRAPHS ONE, TWO AND THREE OF THIS
PARAGRAPH OR ANY OTHER APPLICABLE PROVISION OF LAW,  AND  PROVIDED  SUCH
LBD10847-14-8
S. 8844                             2
EMPLOYEE  IS  NOT  A MEMBER IN THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM OR ANY OTHER PUBLIC
RETIREMENT SYSTEM OF THE CITY OR STATE OF NEW YORK AS OF SUCH ENTRY DATE
IN COVERED EMPLOYMENT, SUCH EMPLOYEE SHALL BE ENROLLED IN THE RETIREMENT
SYSTEM  EFFECTIVE  NINETY-ONE DAYS AFTER THE COMMENCEMENT OF EMPLOYMENT.
NOTWITHSTANDING THE PRECEDING, IF SUCH EMPLOYEE FILES WITH  THE  RETIRE-
MENT  SYSTEM  AN APPLICATION TO OPT OUT OF MEMBERSHIP WITHIN NINETY DAYS
AFTER COMMENCEMENT OF EMPLOYMENT, THE RETIREMENT  SYSTEM  SHALL  REFRAIN
FROM ENROLLING SUCH EMPLOYEE UNLESS AND UNTIL SUCH EMPLOYEE SUBSEQUENTLY
FILES  AN  APPLICATION  FOR MEMBERSHIP WITH THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM, OR IS
OTHERWISE SUBSEQUENTLY MANDATED TO ENROLL BY THE RULES  AND  REGULATIONS
OF THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM OR ANY APPLICABLE LAW. THE AUTOMATIC ENROLLMENT
OF  ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEES AS PROVIDED FOR IN THIS SUBPARAGRAPH SHALL NOT BE
CONSTRUED TO MODIFY THE RIGHT OF ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEES TO JOIN THE  RETIRE-
MENT  SYSTEM  AS  OF  THE  FIRST DATE OF COVERED EMPLOYMENT BY FILING AN
APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP WITH  THE  RETIREMENT  SYSTEM.  THE  EMPLOYER
SHALL  INFORM THE EMPLOYEE IN WRITING OF THE RIGHT TO JOIN THE SYSTEM AS
WELL AS THE FACT THAT THE EMPLOYEE SHALL BE ENROLLED IN  THE  RETIREMENT
SYSTEM  ON THE NINETY-FIRST DAY AFTER COMMENCEMENT OF EMPLOYMENT, UNLESS
SUCH EMPLOYEE FILES WITH THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM AN APPLICATION TO OPT OUT
OF MEMBERSHIP PRIOR TO SUCH DATE. ANY ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE  WHO  ELECTS  TO
OPT  OUT  OF  MEMBERSHIP  IN THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM WITHIN THE NINETY DAY
PERIOD SHALL RETAIN THE RIGHT TO JOIN SUCH SYSTEM BY SUBSEQUENTLY FILING
AN APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP  SO  LONG  AS  SUCH  EMPLOYEE  REMAINS  IN
(II)  EVERY  CURRENT  EMPLOYEE  WHO  IS ELIGIBLE FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE
RETIREMENT SYSTEM ON JULY FIRST, TWO THOUSAND NINETEEN, AND WHO IS NOT A
MEMBER IN THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM OR ANY OTHER PUBLIC RETIREMENT SYSTEM OF
THE CITY OR STATE OF NEW YORK,  SHALL  BE  ENROLLED  IN  THE  RETIREMENT
SYSTEM  EFFECTIVE  OCTOBER  FIRST,  TWO  THOUSAND  NINETEEN, UNLESS SUCH
EMPLOYEE FILES WITH THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM AN APPLICATION TO OPT  OUT  OF
MEMBERSHIP  BEFORE  OCTOBER FIRST, TWO THOUSAND NINETEEN. SUCH AUTOMATIC
ENROLLMENT IN THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED TO WAIVE  ANY
OF THE ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PREVIOUS SERVICE CREDIT.
(III)  THE  AUTOMATIC ENROLLMENT OF ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEES AS PROVIDED FOR
IN THIS SUBPARAGRAPH SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED TO  MODIFY  THE  RIGHTS  AND
OBLIGATIONS OF ANY EMPLOYEE WHOSE PARTICIPATION IN THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM
IS MANDATED BY THE RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM OR ANY
APPLICABLE LAW, AND SUCH MANDATED MEMBERS MAY NOT OPT OUT OF MEMBERSHIP.
(IV)  IF  AN  EMPLOYEE WHO IS AUTOMATICALLY ENROLLED IN THE RETIREMENT
SYSTEM PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS PARAGRAPH IS  A  MEMBER  OF  A
UNION,  THE  RETIREMENT SYSTEM SHALL PROVIDE WRITTEN NOTICE TO THE UNION
OF THE EMPLOYEE'S  ENROLLMENT  WITHIN  THIRTY  DAYS  OF  THE  EMPLOYEE'S
ENROLLMENT IN THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
§  2. Paragraph (f) of subdivision 18 of section 2575 of the education
law, as added by chapter 749 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read  as
(f) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of subdivision one
of  this  section  or  any provision of the rules and regulations or any
other provision of law to the  contrary,  membership  in  the  board  of
education retirement system shall include any person employed by the New
York  city  police  department in the title of school crossing guard who
becomes a member in the manner prescribed by the provisions of  subdivi-
sion g of section 13-638.4 of the administrative code of the city of New
York  OR BY THE PROVISIONS OF SUBPARAGRAPH FOUR OF PARAGRAPH (B) OF THIS
S. 8844                             3
SUMMARY OF BILL: This proposed legislation would amend Section 2575 of
the  Education  Law  to  require new and existing New York City Board of
Education Retirement System  (BERS)  eligible  employees,  who  are  not
mandated  to  join  BERS and who are not otherwise already a member in a
public retirement system within the State,  to  be  enrolled  into  BERS
membership  within  stated  time periods unless the employees timely opt
out of such membership.
Under current law, certain BERS eligible employees have the option  of
joining  BERS by filing an application for membership at any time during
employment with a BERS participating employer.  Permanent  employees  in
the  competitive or labor class, who are employed in BERS eligible posi-
tions, are currently mandated into BERS membership.
The proposed legislation would require BERS  to  enroll  new  eligible
employees into BERS membership, within 90 days of employment, unless the
employee  files an application with BERS to opt out of membership within
the 90-day period. An existing eligible employee who is  not  already  a
BERS  member will be enrolled a a BERS member on October 1, 2019, unless
such employee files an application with BERS to opt out of membership by
A BERS eligible employee who timely opts out of BERS automatic enroll-
ment may still join BERS at any time during employment with anticipating
employer upon the filing of an application. A BERS eligible employee who
would be subject to automatic enrollment may voluntarily join BERS prior
to the automatic enrollment date. The proposed legislation would have no
effect on employees who are, under existing provisions of law,  required
to become BERS members.
The proposed legislation also requires BERS participating employers to
provide  written  notice  of the applicable provisions to new employees,
and requires BERS to provide written  notice  to  the  employee's  union
within 30 days of the employee's enrollment into BERS.
FINANCIAL  IMPACT  -  ADDITIONAL  ANNUAL  EMPLOYER  CONTRIBUTIONS:  If
enacted into law, the ultimate employer cost for  this  proposed  legis-
lation  would be based on the number, ages, years of service, and salary
of those employees that would  otherwise  not  have  elected  to  become
members of BERS.
To  prepare  this  Fiscal  Note,  the  Office  of the Actuary (OA) was
supplied a file of 28,289 individuals who are not currently  members  of
BERS  but  could voluntarily elect to participate. This group consist of
26,179 part-time and 2,110 full-time employees, is 64% female,  and  has
an  average age of 30.8, average annual salary of approximately $22,410,
and average service since date of hire of 2.5 years. The OA was  advised
that  employees  in Payroll Codes 056, 744, 745, 746, and 747 work part-
time and earned 0.72 years, 0.44 years, 0.80 years, 0.60 years, and 0.06
years of service per year on average, respectively. Employees in Payroll
Codes 740 and 742 are generally full-time employees. Finally, the OA was
advised that approximately 73% of  eligible  employees  eventually  join
BERS. These assumptions are reflected in the OA's calculations.
Based on this data and these statistics, and assuming no BERS eligible
employee  opts  out of participation, the OA has estimated the following
costs for this legislation:
* The additional annual employer contribution will be $19.1 million if
no prior years of service are purchased by these individuals.
S. 8844                             4
* The additional annual employer contribution will be $28.4 million if
all years of prior service eligible for buyback are purchased  by  these
Note  that  the  fiscal year's additional annual employer contribution
will likely be significantly larger than those amounts due to the accel-
eration of membership for certain  individuals.  The  present  value  of
future  liabilities  for both contribution streams, however, will be the
These estimates  assume  that  the  fractional  years  of  service  as
described  above  remains  unchanged in the future. These estimates also
assume a level workforce (i.e. the  number,  salary,  age,  and  service
characteristics  of  the  added  group  remain approximately the same in
future years).   Finally, for purposes of  determining  the  portion  of
annual  employer  contribution  attributable  to  the  buyback  of prior
service, we have assumed an amortization period of 15 years (14 payments
under the Lag methodology used in the actuarial valuation).
CONTRIBUTION TIMING: Since the proposed legislation required  BERS  to
enroll  all existing eligible employees (who are not already members and
who do not opt out) into BERS  on  October  1,  2019,  the  increase  in
employer  contributions  for  BERS  would  likely  first be reflected in
OTHER COSTS: Not measured in this Fiscal Note are the following poten-
tial costs:
* The additional administrative costs to BERS  and  its  participating
employers to implement the proposed legislation.
Benefit (OPEB) costs. Since a retiree who receives a pension from one of
the New York City Retirement Systems is  eligible  for  OPEB,  there  is
potential  for  additional  OPEB  costs  if this proposed legislation is
above,  the additional employer contributions presented herein have been
calculated based on the same actuarial assumptions and methods in effect
for the June, 30 2017 (Lag) actuarial valuation used  to  determine  the
Preliminary Fiscal Year 2019 employer contributions of BERS. Please note
these assumptions and methods are subject to change as this valuation is
not considered final until end of the Fiscal Year 2019.
FISCAL  NOTE  IDENTIFICATION:  This  Fiscal Note 2018-28 dated May 18,
2018, was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City  Board  of
Education  Retirement  System.  This  estimate  is intended for use only
during the 2018 Legislative Session.
S8844A (ACTIVE) - Details
S8844A (ACTIVE) - Summary
S8844A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo
BILL NUMBER: S8844A
providing for the automatic enrollment of employees of the city of New
York eligible to join the New York city board of education retirement
Section one of the bill amends paragraph b of subdivision 18 of §2575 of
the education law to add a new subparagraph 4:
The amendments corrected the bill title that had an erroneous reference
to an additional retirement system.
2017: Similar to A.7193-C/S.5634-B - Vetoed, Memo  180, the bill was
redrafted for clarity by the retirement system to address the veto.
S8844A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf
8844--A
automatic  enrollment of employees of the city of New York eligible to
join the New York city board of education retirement system
LBD10847-16-8
S. 8844--A                          2
S. 8844--A                          3
§ 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.   Effective  immediately
S. 8844--A                          4
all  years  of prior service eligible for buyback are purchased by these
Note that the fiscal year's additional  annual  employer  contribution
eration  of  membership  for  certain  individuals. The present value of
future liabilities for both contribution streams, however, will  be  the
These  estimates  assume  that  the  fractional  years  of  service as
described above remains unchanged in the future.  These  estimates  also
assume  a  level  workforce  (i.e.  the number, salary, age, and service
characteristics of the added group  remain  approximately  the  same  in
future  years).    Finally,  for  purposes of determining the portion of
annual employer  contribution  attributable  to  the  buyback  of  prior
CONTRIBUTION  TIMING:  Since the proposed legislation required BERS to
enroll all existing eligible employees (who are not already members  and
who  do  not  opt  out)  into  BERS  on October 1, 2019, the increase in
employer contributions for BERS  would  likely  first  be  reflected  in
*  The  additional  administrative costs to BERS and its participating
the  New  York  City  Retirement  Systems is eligible for OPEB, there is
potential for additional OPEB costs  if  this  proposed  legislation  is
ACTUARIAL  ASSUMPTIONS  AND  METHODS:  In  addition to the assumptions
above, the additional employer contributions presented herein have  been
for  the  June,  30 2017 (Lag) actuarial valuation used to determine the
FISCAL NOTE IDENTIFICATION: This Fiscal Note  2018-28  dated  May  18,
2018,  was  prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City Board of
Education Retirement System. This estimate  is  intended  for  use  only