AI-assisted research summary: Employers must pay, report, keep records, and remit required retirement-system payments for new members; unpaid amounts can trigger withholding from state money.
Sec. 825.4041. EMPLOYER PAYMENTS. (a) For purposes of this section, a new member is a person first employed on or after September 1, 2005, including a former member who withdrew retirement contributions under Section 822.003 and is reemployed on or after September 1, 2005. (b) During each fiscal year, an employer shall pay an amount equal to the state contribution rate, as established by the General Appropriations Act for the fiscal year, applied to the aggregate compensation of new members of the retirement system, as described by Subsection (a), during their first 90 days of employment. (c) On a monthly basis an employer shall: (1) report to the retirement system, in a form prescribed by the system, a certification of the total amount of salary paid during the first 90 days of employment of a new member and the total amount of employer payments due under this section for the payroll periods; and (2) retain information, as determined by the retirement system, sufficient to allow administration of this section, including information for each employee showing the applicable salary as well as aggregate compensation for the first 90 days of employment for new employees. (d) A person who was hired before September 1, 2005, and was subject to a 90-day waiting period for membership in the retirement system becomes eligible to participate in the retirement system as a member starting September 1, 2005. For the purpose of this section, the member shall be treated as a new member for the remainder of the waiting period. (e) The employer must remit the amount required under this section to the retirement system at the same time the employer remits the member's contribution. In computing the amount required to be remitted, the employer shall include compensation paid to an employee for the entire pay period that contains the 90th calendar day of new employment. (f) At the end of each school year, the retirement system shall certify to the state auditor: (1) the name of each employer that is an institution of higher education and has failed to remit, within the period required by Section 825.408, all payments required under this section for the school year; and (2) the amounts of the unpaid required payments. (g) If the commissioner of education or the state auditor receives a certification under Subsection (f), the commissioner or the state auditor shall direct the comptroller to withhold the amount certified, plus interest computed at the rate and in the manner provided by Section 825.408, from the first state money payable to the employer. The amount withheld shall be deposited to the credit of the appropriate accounts of the retirement system. (h) The board of trustees shall take this section into consideration in adopting the biennial estimate of the amount necessary to pay the state's contributions to the retirement system. Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 899 (S.B. 1863), Sec. 19.01, eff. September 1, 2005. Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 1359 (S.B. 1691), Sec. 29, eff. September 1, 2005. Amended by: Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 141 (H.B. 1585), Sec. 8, eff. May 26, 2021.