The Florida Senate

121.78  Payment and distribution of contributions.--

(1)  Contributions made pursuant to this part shall be paid by the employer to the Division of Retirement by electronic funds transfer no later than the 5th working day of the month immediately following the month during which the payroll period ended. Accompanying payroll data must be transmitted to the division concurrent with the contributions.

(2)  The division, the State Board of Administration, and the third-party administrator, as applicable, shall ensure that the contributions are distributed to the appropriate trust funds or participant accounts in a timely manner.

(3)(a)  Employer contributions and accompanying payroll data received after the 5th working day of the month shall be considered late. The employer shall be assessed by the division a penalty of 1 percent of the contributions due for each calendar month or part thereof that the contributions or accompanying payroll data are late. Proceeds from the 1-percent assessment against contributions made on behalf of participants of the defined benefit program shall be deposited in the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund, and proceeds from the 1-percent assessment against contributions made on behalf of participants of the optional retirement program shall be transferred to the third-party administrator for deposit into participant accounts, as provided in paragraph (b).

(b)  If contributions made by an employer on behalf of participants of the optional retirement program or accompanying payroll data are not received within the calendar month they are due, including, but not limited to, contribution adjustments as a result of employer errors or corrections, and if that delinquency results in market losses to participants, the employer shall reimburse each participant's account for market losses resulting from the late contributions. If a participant has terminated employment and taken a distribution, the participant is responsible for returning any excess contributions erroneously provided by employers, adjusted for any investment gain or loss incurred during the period such excess contributions were in the participant's Public Employee Optional Retirement Program account. The State Board of Administration or its designated agent shall communicate to terminated participants any obligation to repay such excess contribution amounts. However, the State Board of Administration, its designated agents, the Public Employee Optional Retirement Program Trust Fund, the Department of Management Services, or the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund shall not incur any loss or gain as a result of an employer's correction of such excess contributions. The third-party administrator, hired by the board pursuant to s. 121.4501(8), shall calculate the market losses for each affected participant. When contributions made on behalf of participants of the optional retirement program or accompanying payroll data are not received within the calendar month due, the employer shall also pay the cost of the third-party administrator's calculation and reconciliation adjustments resulting from the late contributions. The third-party administrator shall notify the employer of the results of the calculations and the total amount due from the employer for such losses and the costs of calculation and reconciliation. The employer shall remit to the division the amount due within 10 working days after the date of the penalty notice sent by the division. The division shall transfer said amount to the third-party administrator, who shall deposit proceeds from the 1-percent assessment and from individual market losses into participant accounts, as appropriate. The board is authorized to adopt rules to implement the provisions regarding late contributions, late submission of payroll data, the process for reimbursing participant accounts for resultant market losses, and the penalties charged to the employers.

(c)  Delinquency fees may be waived by the division, with regard to defined benefit program contributions, and by the State Board of Administration, with regard to optional retirement program contributions, only when, in the opinion of the division or the board, as appropriate, exceptional circumstances beyond the employer's control prevented remittance by the prescribed due date notwithstanding the employer's good faith efforts to effect delivery. Such a waiver of delinquency may be granted an employer only one time each state fiscal year.

History.--s. 1, ch. 2002-177; s. 4, ch. 2004-71.