Membership Eligibility Requirements
Employees qualify for membership and must be certified eligible, if they meet one of the following:
» Their employment, contemplated to continue during a fiscal, school or calendar year, normally requires an average of 20 hours or more per week and they receive at least one of the benefits approved by the Retirement Board. These benefits consist of any leave benefits, employer contributions to a savings plan or insurance premiums given to the employee or paid for by the employer on the employee’s behalf (this excludes payments mandated by state or federal law).
» They are teachers, including substitutes, who teach half time or more and receive any benefit approved by the Retirement Board.
» They are Tier 1 elected officials or appointive officers (excluding elected or appointive State of Utah judges) who earn the minimum salary required by law beginning with their first full month in office and continuing throughout their term of office. The minimum salary is increased yearly based on the consumer price index.
» They are Tier 2 elected officials or appointive officers whose positions have been declared full time by their employers.
» They are in a probationary status and meet eligibility requirements (Probationary employees who meet eligibility requirements must be certified immediately).
» They perform services through an employee leasing or similar arrangement but qualify as employees under IRS guidelines and they meet eligibility requirements.
Classified school employees who were hired prior to July 1, 2013, and who have met eligibility requirements during their current employment period* in any position, maintain a grandfathered classification status.
By maintaining their grandfathered classification status, these classified school employees are not required to have a qualifying benefit for eligibility in their classified position, as long as they work the minimum hours required for eligibility.
*Classified school employees maintain their classification status until they have separated employment for 120 consecutive days or more, and the separation is not due to a qualifying leave (e.g., LTD or FMLA).
Note: Eligibility requirements for employees at institutions of higher education are discussed in another section. Employers should carefully review and maintain written policies that govern personnel classifications receiving benefits, as stated in bullet one of this section, and certify all employees’ status in the system where the eligibility requirements are met, whether newly hired or transferring from one retirement system or employer to another. Certifying new hires through the online certification program will identify Tier 1 or Tier 2 participation requirements for employers.
When the job is scheduled to be completed in six months or less, employers should initially certify these temporary employees (not probationary) online as ineligible. If they are still employed by the beginning of the seventh month, and if they meet eligibility for retirement coverage, they must be re-certified online as eligible and contributions must be reported beginning the first period end date in the seventh month. Employees must have a 120-day break in employment between temporary employment periods.
Appointive officers are employees appointed to a position for a definite and fixed term of office by a participating employer’s official and duly recorded action, which is recorded in the employer’s charter, creation document, or similar document. Appointive officers include justice court judges.
Tier 1 appointive officer eligibility requirements are not determined by the number of hours worked or the benefits provided, but rather by the minimum earnings requirement each month during the term of office.
Tier 1 appointive officers of a city, town, county, or other political subdivision who meet the minimum earnings requirement for membership, and are not entitled to merit protection, may be certified online as either eligible for, or exempt from, retirement coverage.
Appointive officers,whose positions are full time positions, as certified and documented by the participating employer in a defined process, and who initially began employment on or after July 1, 2011, will be placed in the Tier 2 pension plan. All Tier 2 participants must make an election to participate in either the Tier 2 Hybrid pension plan or the Tier 2 Defined Contribution (DC) Plan within the first 12 months of employment . For the first 12 months of employment, regardless of the employees’ election, employers must report contributions into the Tier 2 Hybrid pension plan. At the end of 12 months, URS will transfer funds for all employees who have chosen to participate in the Tier 2 DC Plan and will notify employers to update reporting information.
Like appointed officials, Tier 1 elected officials’ eligibility requirements are not determined by the number of hours worked or the benefits provided, but rather by the minimum earnings requirement each month during the term of office. If an elected official has previously accrued service credit in a Tier 1 retirement system or plan they shall continue in the Tier 1 retirement system or plan for which they are eligible. It is important to note that if they wish to exempt, the necessary exemption form must be submitted prior to the first contribution
Tier 2 elected officials who initially enter office on or after July 1, 2011, whose position is a full-time as certified and documented by the participating employer, and who does not have previously accrued service credit is only eligible to participate in the Tier 2 Defined Contribution Plan and their benefit vests immediately. If a Tier 2 elected official has previously accrued service credit in a enters office :
» Without previously accrued service credit
» With previously accrued service credit in a Tier 2 DB Hybrid Retirement System they mustsystem will continue in the Tier 2 system for which the full-time elected official is eligible.
Part-time elected officials are ineligible and may have employer contributions and employee deferrals directed to a URS savings plan, if your entity allows ineligibles to participate in URS savings plans.
A Tier 1 elected officials who meet the minimum earnings requirement for eligibility may elect to exempt from coverage under the URS defined benefit system or plan so long as they meet the necessary requirements and forms are submitted to URS prior to the elected official participating in the defined benefit system or plan. Likewise, a Tier 2 elected official who meets eligibility for participation in the Tier 2 Hybrid System may elect to exempt from coverage in the hybrid system so long as the necessary form are submitted to URS prior to the elected official participating in the hybrid system. For additional information regarding retirement participation elections please review Board Resolution #2019-04.
Utah Code Ann. § 67-22-2Exempting from coverage is discussed further in the Exempting section.
Temporary, substitute, and part-time ineligible employees are discussed in the Ineligibility for Retirement Coverage subsection of the Membership section.