Liability for Retirement Costs

Gerald Schaffer, Vice President for Administrative Affairs

The Office of the Comptroller, Bureau of State Payrolls, has advised all state agencies, including all SUS institutions, of a potential retirement cost liability as a result of statutory modifications that became effective July 1, 1990. This liability applies only to participants of the Florida Retirement System (FRS) and may occur when a covered employee has sustained a compensable workers’ compensation injury or illness.

Section 121.125, Florida Statutes, specifically addresses this FRS liability as follows: “The employer of record at the time of the workers’ compensation injury or illness shall make the required retirement contributions based on the member’s rate of monthly compensation immediately prior to his or her receiving workers’ compensation payments for retirement credit received by the member.”

Currently, the Workers’ Compensation Office in University Personnel Services is reviewing all injuries which occurred since July 1, 1990 and is identifying the University’s liability on a case by case basis.

As the Workers’ Compensation Office completes the case review process and identifies retirement liabilities, that office will forward those charges to the appropriate department for completion of the necessary paperwork to cover contributions for the outstanding retirement liability. This project will take approximately three months. After that, the Workers’ Compensation Office will continue to monitor all claims and identify retirement liability costs as employees become eligible. Those liability costs will then be billed to the employee’s budgetary entity as they become due.

Should you have questions about this process, please contact Henry Zunker in the Workers’ Compensation Office at (352) 392-4940, SC 622-4940.