Participants and certain employer agencies must contribute to the optional retirement plan, and the retirement system must pass on or retain contributions as specified, subject to a monthly receipt condition and a federal contribution limit.
§502.3. Contributions A.(1)(a) Each participant in this optional retirement plan shall contribute monthly the same amount that would have been contributed to the defined benefit plan, as if the participant were a member of that plan. (b) The entirety of each participant's contribution, less any monthly fee established by the Board of Trustees for the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System to cover the cost of administration and maintenance of the optional retirement plan, shall be remitted to the applicable designated provider or providers for application to the participant's account or accounts. (2) Participant's contributions may be made by employer pick-up in accordance with the provisions of Section 414(h)(2) of the United States Internal Revenue Code or any amendment thereto. B.(1) Each employer agency, institution, or board shall contribute to the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System on behalf of each participant in this optional retirement plan the same amount that would have been contributed to the defined benefit plan. (2)(a) Upon receipt of this contribution, the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System shall promptly pay over to the appropriate designated provider or providers an amount equal to the employer's portion of the normal cost contribution as set forth in the actuarial valuation of the retirement system which is approved annually by the Public Retirement Systems' Actuarial Committee. That amount shall be credited to the participant's account or accounts, subject to any other applicable provisions of this Section. (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph, the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System shall retain and apply to the unfunded accrued liability the amount if any, of the employer contributions paid on behalf of any optional retirement plan participant which exceeds the employer's portion of the normal cost contribution. (3)(a) In addition to the amount retained pursuant to Paragraph (2) of this Subsection, an additional contribution shall be retained by the system, subject to the following procedures. The annual actuarial valuation presented to the Public Retirement Systems' Actuarial Committee pursuant to R.S. 11:127(C) shall identify any adverse actuarial impact occurring on and after July 1, 2000, as the result of participation of the employees set forth in this Subpart. Then, the system actuary shall identify and recommend the additional amount of the employer's portion of the normal cost contributions made on behalf of optional retirement plan participants that is necessary to be retained to offset such adverse actuarial impact, if any. (b) Any additional amount of the employer's portion of the normal cost contributions recommended to be retained pursuant to Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph, shall be retained from such employer contributions that are made in the then current plan year. That amount shall be increased or decreased annually thereafter according to the same procedures in the amount needed to offset such adverse actuarial impact to the system, if any. (4) The process of retaining contributions, as identified in Paragraphs (2) and (3) of this Subsection shall continue until the unfunded accrued liability of the retirement system is fully amortized. C. Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsections A and B of this Section, the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System shall not remit any funds or contributions to any provider or providers from an employer agency, institution, or board until the correct and total amount to be remitted to the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System under Subsections A and B of this Section is received each month from the employer agency, institution, or board. D. Under no circumstances shall the contributions made pursuant to this Section exceed the limitation on contributions as set by Section 415(c) of the Internal Revenue Code or any amendment thereto. Acts 1999, No. 1320, §1, eff. July 12, 1999; Acts 2010, No. 102, §1, eff. July 1, 2010. NOTE: See Acts 1999, No. 1320, §2(B), relative to termination of the optimal retirement plan.