State and Local
State Departments
Human Resources
Library and Resources
Broadcast Email Archive 2021
July 13, 2021
July 13, 2021
CalPERS Retirement Contributions for Part-Time/Fractional Employees and Retirement Account Adjustments
Action Required by Department: Share the following information with all human resources (HR) office employees.
Description: This notice is to provide department human resources staff with important information regarding the part-time/fractional state employee retirement contribution issue you were notified of in 2018, the resolutions implemented, and the resources to assist department human resources staff with questions.
The SCO, CalHR and CalPERS reported that certain fractional time base (½ time, ¾ time, etc.) employees may have not paid retirement contributions for hours worked over their fractional time base up to 40 hours per week. California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) law, Government Code section 20636 and 7522.34, indicate that additional hours worked up to 40 hours are considered “straight time overtime,” hours and those hours are subject to retirement contributions and should be reported to CalPERS.
On December 31, 2018, SCO released Payroll Letter #18-026 regarding the implementation of a new earnings identifier for part-time/fractional employees working additional hours beyond their designated time base. CalHR also updated the Part-time Employee Compensation Policy, CalHR Manual Section 1714.
In addition to implementing the new earnings identifier, a project team consisting of SCO, CalHR, and CalPERS staff conducted a review of payroll records to identify part-time/fractional state employees impacted to determine any required retirement account adjustments. SCO and CalPERS have finished that review and have a process to make the retroactive adjustments from 2005 through December 2018. SCO and CalPERS will begin staging the adjustments in April 2021 to make corrections to impacted employee accounts. There will be no payroll transactions processed through the Uniform State Payroll System, the adjustments will occur in the MyCalPERS System.
The state will not impose or collect any retroactive CalPERS retirement contributions from impacted state employees when adjusting the individual retirement accounts.
To assist department human resources staff with questions, two sets of frequently asked questions (FAQ) have been developed. The first is for employees and the second for department human resources staff. CalHR released a communication on 07/12/2021 with the FAQs attached. Those FAQs can also be found on our State HR webpage and State Employee webpage.
Population Affected: All HR Offices
Contacts:
Statewide Customer Contact Center (916) 372-7200
HR Suggestions Email (All HR Staff) PPSDHRSuggestions@sco.ca.gov
CS Escalation Email (HR Supervisors and Managers) PPSDOps@sco.ca.gov
Cal Employee Connect Email connecthelp@sco.ca.gov
Cal Employee Connect Feedback Email connectfeedback@sco.ca.gov
SCO Key Initiatives:
Cal Employee Connect Project
California State Payroll System Project