House Bill 385 & Contribution Reporting

• July 1, 2022 - when the law officially goes into effect.

• There are NO salary restrictions with HB 385. Employers and retirees are free to negotiate the salary as they wish.

• Yes, the law is scheduled to automatically repeal/sunset. Without action from the legislature, its last day in effect will be June 30, 2026.

• Teachers are required to teach in a high needs subject area a minimum of 50% of what a full-time schedule would be for that particular position. Ex., a 40.00-hour work week for a math teacher equals full-time status - then the teacher must be engaged in the position for a minimum of 20.00 hours per week…OR…160.00 hours equals full-time status for the month for a math teacher – then the teacher must be engaged in the position for a minimum of 80.00 hours during the month…etc. Since salary is not an issue, TRS will be working on the “honor system” as it relates to the number of hours worked that are required to be compliant with the law. However, please be advised that TRS reserves the right to audit the hiring records of any TRS participating employer that employs TRS retirees in any capacity.

• The HB 385 EVF's will be submitted through the online portal in the same manner as all other EVF's, with a couple of important exceptions. The employer will select “Full-Time Classroom Teacher” from a prepopulated drop-down box AND the employer will be required to specify the critical “Subject Area” from a prepopulated drop-down box. The remainder of the process remains the same.

• The HB 385 information will be submitted on the EVF's through the online portal as noted above.

• The point of contact for returning to work issues is Christy Gray, Operations Manager of Working-after-Retirement in the Retirement Services Division.
• The point of contact for reporting contributions is Cherie Brown, Operations Manager of Employer Services in the Employer Services Division.

• Contributions from employers are submitted to TRS on a monthly basis. Each month, employers submit a summarization report, as well as contribution details via a turnaround report or through the upload process.
• On the summarization report, employers will report salary and contribution data for retirees rehired per HB 385 in fields 2a. and 6a.
• Employers that upload contributions will use the payment code of 07 to indicate HB 385 employment. The retiree will not receive an additional service credit.
• Employers that report through the turnaround process will select the individual member and indicate the payment reason code of HB 385 on the turnaround report. If the employer submits the contributions on a turnaround or through the upload process, they will:
  • Indicate a payment reason of 07. HB 385 will be indicated as a payment option on the turnaround report.
  • Indicate the service credit eligibility flag as N.
  • Indicate the pre-tax EECON as an increase or decrease.
  • Indicate the pre-tax EECON amount.
  • Indicate the employer paid EECON flag as Y.

• TRS will post information for employers on www.trsga.com by June 1, 2022.

• The Department of Community Health has issued guidance specifically regarding retirees returning to work under HB 385. This information can be located at https://shbp.georgia.gov/employers/your-employees/house-bill-385-trs-beneficiaries. You can contact SHBP at https://shbp.georgia.gov/employers/contact-shbp-employer-services.

• SHBP has specific rules that govern qualifying events such as returning to work full-time in a benefits eligible position under HB 385.  You can find general answers about how health insurance coverage is affected by returning to work at https://shbp.georgia.gov/retirees-0/retirees-who-are-returning-work.  You may contact SHBP at SHBPservicecenter@adp.com or 800-610-1863.

Entry of Electronic Verification Form (EVF)

Employers will complete the electronic verification form for employment on the TRS website. The employer must report the employment within 30 days of hire. The employer will select the employment type of full-time classroom teacher.

Select the district's RESA from the dropdown menu.

Select one of the three allowable Subject Areas for your region and district for the retiree's employment from the dropdown menu.

Enter the date of employment and the full-time monthly salary. Select next to finish the submission.

Reporting HB 385 Contributions

Employers submit contributions to TRS on a monthly basis via a turnaround report or through the upload process, and on the monthly summarization report. Contributions for retirees hired per HB 385 must be reported for every month the retiree is in pay status half or more of the business days. If an employer misses reporting a retiree for a month, retroactive adjustments will be required.

Employers must pay employee and employer contributions; nothing should be withheld from the retiree's compensation. Retirees do not earn service credit for HB 385 employment. After approval of the HB 385 employment by the TRS Retirement Services division, please report contributions for the retiree using these instructions.

TURNAROUND REPORTING

Employers that report through the turnaround process will add the retiree being reported per HB 385, and indicate the Payment Reason code of HB 385 on the turnaround report on the Details tab. The employer will enter the compensation on the Salary/Contributions tab in the Contract Pay field, and contributions in the Employer Paid EECON field. The Service Credit box should not be checked.

FILE UPLOAD REPORTING

Employers that report through the upload process will indicate the payment reason code for HB 385 as 07. Employers utilize different payroll systems; the employer should reference the employer contribution file layout document on our website. The fields containing employee information (such as SSN, DOB, address, etc.) should be completed as normal. The following fields need to be indicated for each retiree with contributions to be reported per HB 385:

• Indicate positive or negative EECON; negative reporting is needed only when correcting erroneous contributions for a prior month
• Indicate the total EECON
• Indicate positive or negative ERCON; negative reporting is needed only when correcting erroneous contributions for a prior month
• Indicate the total ERCON
• The payment reason code should be 07
• If a payment reason code of 07 is indicated, contributions should be reported in ERCON and EECON
• Employer Paid EECON flag should be set to yes (field 115)
• Do not report service credit for the retiree

Data file example

The employer will upload the file as usual.

Whether contributions are submitted via turnaround reporting or through the upload process, please ensure the details are as follows:

• Confirm the service credit indicator is no
• Confirm the employer paid EECON indicator is yes

SUMMARIZATION REPORT

In addition to details submitted via turnaround or file upload, salary and contributions to be reported for retirees employed per HB 385 must be included on the monthly summarization report. Remember that employee (EECON) and employer (ERCON) contributions for retirees hired per HB 385 must be paid by the employer; no contributions should be withheld from the retiree’s compensation. The steps for completing the summarization report are:

• Line 1 - enter total TRS salaries, including retirees employed per HB 385
• Line 2a - enter the total salary for retirees employed per HB 385, then click Recalculate and Save
• Line 6a - enter the total employee contributions for retirees employed per HB 385, then click Recalculate and Save