Fla. Admin. Code Ann. R. 19-11.006 - Enrollment Procedures for New Hires

(1) General Enrollment Procedures.

(a) All newly-hired Florida Retirement System (FRS)-covered employees are initially enrolled in the Pension Plan. If a newly-hired employee chooses, within the statutory election period, to enroll in the Investment Plan, or the Investment Plan Hybrid Option, the effective date of enrollment in the Investment Plan or the Investment Plan Hybrid Option is the date of hire of the employee.

(b) Eligible newly-hired employees enrolled in the FRS may choose to enroll in the Investment Plan by submitting an enrollment form or by electronic means.

(c) Eligible newly-hired employees may enroll in the Investment Hybrid Option if they have at least five (5) years of Pension Plan service, if enrolled in the FRS prior to July 1, 2011, or at least eight (8) years of Pension Plan service, if initially enrolled in the FRS on or after July 1, 2011.

(d) Newly-hired employees eligible to enroll in the State Community College System Optional Retirement Program (SCCSORP) may only enroll in the Investment Plan by submitting an enrollment form or by electronic means.

(e) Enrollment forms for eligible newly-hired employees enrolled in the FRS are available by accessing MyFRS.com, and clicking on Forms; or by calling toll-free 1(866)446-9377, Option 2, or for the hearing impaired TRS 711.

(2) Specific Enrollment Procedures.

(a) All newly-hired employees enrolled in the FRS that are not filling a Special Risk Class position may make a plan choice and elect to enroll in the Investment Plan or Pension Plan no later than 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) the last business day of the 8th month following the employee's month of hire. If no plan choice is filed by 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on the last business day of the month following 8th employee's month of hire, the employee will default to the Investment Plan and will be considered the employee's initial plan choice or first election. Example: If an employee is hired on January 15, the employee must complete a plan choice no later than 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) the last business day of September. If no plan choice is filed by 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on the last business day of September, the employee will default to the Investment Plan.

1. The amount of the employee and employer contributions paid through the date of default to the Investment Plan will be transferred to the Investment Plan and placed in an age appropriate retirement date fund. The investment option may be changed by the employee once the account is funded.

2. Any accrued value under the Pension Plan will be transferred to the employee's Investment Plan account as an opening account balance and are subject to the vesting requirements of the Pension Plan.

(b) All newly-hired employees enrolled in the FRS that are filling a Special Risk class position may make a plan choice and elect to enroll in the Investment Plan no later than 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) the last business day of the 8th month following the employee's month of hire. If no plan choice is filed by 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on the last business day of the 8th month following the employee's month of hire, the employee will default to the Pension Plan and will be considered the employee's initial plan choice or first election. Example: If an employee is hired on January 15, the employee must complete a plan choice no later than 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) the last business day of September. If no plan choice is filed by 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on the last business day of September, the employee will default to the Pension Plan.

(c) The employee must be actively employed, earning salary and service credit when the plan choice is processed by the Plan Choice Administrator.

(d) If the employee terminates employment during the plan choice enrollment window and fails to make a plan choice, he or she will be considered a newly-hired employee if returning to FRS-covered employment in the future and will be given another opportunity to make a plan choice. All previous service will be considered Pension Plan service.

(e) The State Board of Administration (SBA) has designed the forms set forth below for ease of use for employees in the several membership classes of the FRS. As an alternative, an employee not wishing to use the forms may provide the same information requested by the forms available for use for the appropriate membership class in a separate document. Employees may determine their membership class by contacting the agency's human resources office. The forms available are: an EZ Retirement Plan Enrollment Form, Form ELE-1-EZ, rev. 07-21, http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-14014, which is only for regular, special risk, and special risk administrative support class employees; a General Retirement Plan Enrollment Form, Form ELE-1, rev. 07-23, http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-16163 for regular, special risk, and special risk administrative support class employees; an Elected Officers' Class Retirement Plan Form, Form EOC-1, rev. 07-23, http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-16164; a State Community College System Optional Retirement Program (SCCSORP) Enrollment Form, Form OCC-1, rev. 07-23, http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-16165; and a Local Senior Management Service Employees Retirement Plan Enrollment Form, Form SMS-3, rev. 07-223, http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-16166. All of the preceding forms are hereby adopted and incorporated by reference.

1. All enrollment forms can be obtained at the sources listed in paragraph (1)(f), above.

2. Members of the Regular, Special Risk, and Special Risk Administrative Support classes of employees may use the EZ form, "EZ Retirement Plan Enrollment Form for Regular, Special Risk and Special Risk Administrative Support Class Employees," Form ELE-1-EZ. If an employee chooses to use the EZ form, only limited information (i.e., name, plan choice, last four digits of the social security number, date of birth and signature) is required. An age appropriate retirement date fund as provided under the Plan provisions is the initial investment option (although that investment option may be changed by the member once the account is funded). A member's initial beneficiary designation will be per Florida law, as provided in Section 121.4501(20), F.S. However, a beneficiary designation may be made as set forth in Rule 19-11.002, F.A.C.

(f)

1. The enrollment by form or electronic means shall be complete and the election shall be final if all the required information is clearly indicated and if the enrollment is received by the Plan Choice Administrator by 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on the last business day of the 8th month following the date of hire. The form shall be transmitted via mail, courier, online or by fax, as provided on the form. It is the responsibility of the member to ensure that the enrollment form is received by the Plan Choice Administrator no later than 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on the last business day that the member is earning salary and service credit, or the last business day of the 8th month following the date of hire, whichever first occurs.

2. The Plan Choice Administrator shall determine that the employee's enrollment is complete and the employee's election is clearly indicated. If the Plan Choice Administrator determines that the enrollment is incomplete, the election will not be processed, and the employee will be required to resubmit a completed enrollment. An incomplete enrollment is an enrollment which is missing the name of the member, sets forth a spelling of the member's name or reflects a date of birth that does not match the information present in the Plan Choice Administrator's database, or is missing the last four digits of the member's social security number, plan selection, signature, or one on which the investment elections total greater than or less than 100%. If the form is incomplete only because the member has made no investment selection, the form will be processed and the member will be defaulted into an age appropriate retirement date fund as provided under the Plan provisions for investing any accumulated benefit obligation and all future contributions. The default selection may be changed by the member at any time once the account is activated. An incomplete enrollment by electronic means is one in which the Plan Choice Administrator has no record of receipt and/or processing of the electronic enrollment.

3. By enrolling in the Investment Plan and providing a personal email address or cell phone number, the member has consented to electronic delivery of documents through the MyFRS.com website, including but not limited to prospectuses, quarterly account statements, account transaction confirmation statements, privacy notices, annual fee disclosure statement, and other documents. When one of these documents is available, an email notice will be sent to the email address or a text message to the cell phone number provided by the member notifying the member of the document's availabilty. The member will need to log in to the MyFRS.com website in order to view and print any of these documents. Receipt of documents through MyFRS.com will continue until the member calls the MyFRS Financial Guidance Line at 1(866)446-9377, Option 4 and revokes the member's consent.

(g) Upon receipt of the completed enrollment form by the Plan Choice Administrator, the Plan Choice Administrator shall enroll the employee in the indicated FRS retirement plan. Upon completion of the enrollment, but no later than two working days after enrollment, the Plan Choice Administrator shall send confirmation of the effective enrollment to the employee at the employee's address of record or electronically if the member has consented to electronic delivery of documents through the MyFRS.com website. The Administrator will also inform the Division of Retirement (Division) of the employee's retirement plan choice. The employer is responsible for updating its employee records to reflect the employee's plan choice, if applicable.

(h) A member submitting an enrollment by electronic means with an electronic signature is deemed to have agreed that the electronic signature is equivalent to a handwritten signature for purpose of validity, enforceability, and admissibility.

(i) Employers are responsible for monthly retirement contributions for their employees and those contributions are due to the Division by the 5th working day of the month following the month for which the contributions are made.

(j) A member who defaults to the Investment Plan will be automatically enrolled in electronic delivery, as provided in subparagraph (f)3. above, until the member has consented to another delivery method with the Administrator. An annual statement will be generated and mailed to the member each year, unless the member has affirmately chosen a delivery method. Paper documents will be provided free of charge, upon request.

(3) Grace Period.

(a) If a member files an election with the Plan Choice Administrator and the member realizes that the election was made in error, or if the member has reconsidered the election made, the SBA will consider, on a case-by-case basis, whether the election will be voided, if the member notifies the SBA by calling the toll-free MyFRS Financial Guidance Line at 1(866)446-9377 or by sending written correspondence directly to the SBA, to the Plan Choice Administrator, or to the Division no later than 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on the last business day of the election effective month. For example, if the member files an election on June 1, the effective month will be July. The member must request to void the election no later than 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on the last business day in July. A default election cannot be voided.

(b) If the request to reverse the election is made timely and the SBA finds that the election was made in error or grants the request for reconsideration, the member will be required to sign a release and return it to the SBA by the designated due date no later than 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). Failure to return a signed release by the requested due date will result in the member remaining in the elected retirement plan.

(c) Upon receipt of the release, the Division and the Plan Choice Administrator will be directed to do the following:

1. The Division will revise its database to reflect the member's plan change. The member will have until his or her plan choice deadline date to make a new election. If the member's choice period has ended, the member will have one calendar month to make a new election. Failure to make a new election will result in the member's defaulting into the Investment Plan or Pension Plan as provided in paragraphs (2)(a) and (b) above.

2. The Plan Choice Administrator will send the member written confirmation that the election has been reversed.

(d) Nothing contained in this subsection will interfere with a member's right to file a complaint, as permitted by Section 121.4501(8)(g), F.S., and discussed in Rule 19-11.005, F.A.C.

Notes

Fla. Admin. Code Ann. R. 19-11.006

Rulemaking Authority 121.4501(3)(c)4., (8)(a) FS. Law Implemented 121.051, 121.055, 121.35, 121.4501(2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (8), (15), 121.73, 121.74, 121.78, 1012.875(3) FS.

New 10-21-04, Amended 3-9-06, 10-25-07, 12-8-08, 5-19-09, 2-4-10, 7-12-12, 12-16-12, 1-28-14, Amended by Florida Register Volume 40, Number 151, August 5, 2014 effective 8/18/2014, Amended by Florida Register Volume 41, Number 241, December 15, 2015 effective 12/30/2015, Amended by Florida Register Volume 43, Number 060, March 28, 2017 effective 4/12/2017, Amended by Florida Register Volume 44, Number 020, January 30, 2018 effective 2/12/2018, Amended by Florida Register Volume 45, Number 024, February 5, 2019 effective 2/19/2019, Amended by Florida Register Volume 46, Number 058, March 24, 2020 effective 4/8/2020, Amended by Florida Register Volume 48, Number 081, April 26, 2022 effective 5/11/2022, Amended by Florida Register Volume 49, Number 133, July 11, 2023 effective 7/26/2023, Amended by Florida Register Volume 50, Number 070, April 9, 2024 effective 4/22/2024.

New 10-21-04, Amended 3-9-06, 10-25-07, 12-8-08, 5-19-09, 2-4-10, 7-12-12, 12-16-12, 1-28-14, 8-18-14, 12-30-15, 4-12-17, 2-12-18, 2-19-19, 4-8-20, 5-11-22, 7-26-23, 4-22-24.