The 2009 SEBAC Agreement implements a new requirement …



The 2009 SEBAC Agreement implemented a new requirement for funding retiree health benefits. Beginning July 1, 2009, all new employees who are eligible for State-paid health insurance were required to contribute three percent (3 %) of their compensation for ten years to offset the cost of providing retiree health benefits. Effective July 1, 2010, all health-care eligible employees with less than five (5) years of actual State service as of that date were required to contribute 3 % of compensation to the Retiree Health Fund until they completed 10 years of service or otherwise qualified for retiree health coverage. This contribution requirement for the latter group was amended with the 2011 SEBAC Agreement; specifically, all employees currently paying the 3% contribution shall be required to continue such contribution for a period of ten (10) years or retirement, whichever is sooner.

The 2011 SEBAC Agreement also provided that state employees who are members of the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) will pay a reduced contribution (1.75%) to the Retiree Health Fund to account for the amounts they are required to pay into the TRS retiree health fund inasmuch as they are already paying 1.25% towards this fund via their TRS retirement deduction code. A new deduction code (OTRS) for TRS members was created for this purpose and was effective with pay period begin date of September 9, 2011 (check date October 7, 2011).

For more information on both SEBAC 2009 and SEBAC 2011, please refer to memorandums issued by the Office of the State Comptroller, Healthcare Policy and Benefit Services ( and ).

Core-CT has created four public EPM queries to assist agencies to track these requirements. The queries will assist to determine the population but the data needs to be reviewed individually for accuracy. In addition to the queries, agencies are encouraged to use the existing time and labor report for assistance.

NOTE: Hire Date is located in Job Data on the Employment Data link as First Start Date. This field can now be updated centrally in Core-CT for those employees with incorrect dates or with the conversion default of 01/01/1901. Please log a ticket with the Help Desk to have the date updated.

NOTE: The deduction and the deduction end date will be recorded in General Deductions. See sections below.

Date Definitions

A complete listing of definitions of dates in Position Data, Job Data and Employment Data can be located in the job aid

• Hire Date/First Start Date - Date employee was first hired into this employment record number.

• Original Start Date - The date employee originally started with the state. System defaults in date of hire into employment record and agency must adjust date if employee has previous state employment.

EPM Query 1 – Active Employees with Hire Dates on or before July 1, 2009.

This query (CT_CORE_HR_HIRE_BEFORE_7_1_09) assists in identifying health-care eligible employees who have less than five (5) years of actual State service as of July 1, 2010.

The query will retrieve the hire and rehire job data rows on all active employees between July 01, 2004 and July 2, 2009. This query will not return employees with an Employee Class of: CC – Contractual-No Benefits, CO – Contractor-No Benefits, LS – Student Laborer, RR – Retirees and SL – Seasonal. Nor will it return employees in the following jobcodes: 9098VR - UnivStudentWorker, 1373VR, 1372VR, 1371VR, 1320VR – Temporary Worker Retirees, and 0510VR – National Guardsmen.

EPM Query 2 – Employees Hired or Rehired July 1, 2009 or Later.

This query (CT_CORE_HR_HIRE_REH_AFT_7_1_09) assists in identifying all new or rehired health-care eligible employees.

The query will retrieve the hire or rehire job data rows on all active employees with hire dates equal to or greater than July 1, 2009. This query will not return employees with an Employee Class of: CC – Contractual-No Benefits, CO – Contractor-No Benefits, LS – Student Laborer, RR – Retirees and SL – Seasonal. Nor will it return employees in the following jobcodes: 9098VR - UnivStudentWorker, 1373VR, 1372VR, 1371VR, 1320VR – Temporary Worker Retirees, and 0510VR – National Guardsmen,

EPM Query 3 – Record of Employment in Job Data.

This query (CT_CORE_HR_JOB_DATA_HISTORY) will provide all job data rows for an employee to assist in determining the ten year period of employment.

This query will retrieve all job data rows for a specified employee. This information will assist Human Resources in determining if an employee has had any unpaid lengths of employment in job data and will assist to determine if an adjustment needs to be made to the end date for collection of the 3% contributions. (In order to determine absences in Time and Labor, please run the TRC Usage Report CTHRR460 or the Attendance Report - CTTLR375 listed below.)

EPM Query 4 – Processing of Returns/Erroneously Collected Contributions

This query (CT_CORE_HR_3PCT_RETURNS) will provide a listing of all 3% contributions deducted to be returned or that have been returned (because of an inappropriate deduction or earlier termination).

The query will retrieve the OPEB, OTRS and ADJOPE general deductions on a specified employee starting with Pay Period End date greater than 6/4/2009. Human Resources will be able to determine the entire amount contributed to determine the amount to be returned.

An amount returned to an employee will appear with a minus sign (-) in front of that amount.

Report – TRC Usage Report CTHRR460

This existing report will provide all time reporting codes used by an employee to assist in determining the ten year period of employment.

This report will retrieve all time reporting codes for a specified employee during a specified period of time. The report will display Reported Time, Scheduled Time and Adjust Paid Time. This information will assist Human Resources/Payroll in determining if an employee has had any unpaid lengths of employment and will assist to determine if an adjustment needs to be made to the end date for collection of the 3% contributions. Time and Labor Specialist can navigate to Main Menu> Core CT-HRMS> Time and Labor > Reports > TRC Usage Report CTHRR460 to run this report.

Report – Attendance Report - CTTLR375

This existing report will provide attendance for an employee to assist in determining the ten year period of employment.

This report will comprise of two distinct sections for each employee. The first part displays the employee's attendance by day and by month for the year selected while the second part shows leave and compensatory activity by plan type and process date. The report will display Reported Time, Scheduled Time and Adjust Paid Time. Please note that there can be several pages for each employee.

Time and Labor Specialists can navigate to Main Menu> Core CT-HRMS> Time and Labor > Reports > Attendance Report - CTTLR375 to run this report.

General Deduction Set-Up – Deduction Taken

In order to have the 3% deduction taken for each qualified employee, an Agency Payroll Specialist will need to set up the deductions by navigating to: Main Menu> Core CT-HRMS> Payroll for North America > Employee Pay Data USA > Deductions> Create General Deductions. The deduction codes are: OPEB for the 3% deduction, OTRS for TRS Members’ deduction, and ADJOPE (for untimely deductions/return).

OPEB: Retirement Health Fund (Other Pension Employee Benefit). Enter this deduction on the General Deduction Data Page for all eligible employees, except TRS members.

OTRS: Retirement Health Fund (1.75%) deduction for TRS members

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• For all hired or rehired employees on or after July 1, 2009 the effective date should be the same as the employee’s hire/rehire date (provided the deduction is set up in a timely manner).

• For employees with hire dates on or before July 1, 2009, the effective date should be July 2, 2010 - this reflects the beginning of the first full pay period following July 1, 2010 (provided the deduction is set up in a timely manner).

• Select Default to Deduction Table under Deduction Calculation Routine.

• Leave amount field blank.

• Enter Deduction End Date as the last approximate date deductions will be taken.

• With this set-up, a deduction equaling 3% of the employee’s total gross wages will be made on a pre-tax basis as required by the terms of the SEBAC Agreement.

ADJOPE: Retirement Health Fund Adjustment. This deduction must be utilized only if the OPEB deduction was not started on time or if an employee is repaying contributions previously refunded. In this circumstance, a determination of the amount owed for any past period must be calculated and divided by the appropriate amount of pay periods.

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• The effective date should be the beginning of the pay period that is targeted to commence the collection of any past due amount.

• Select Default to Flat Amount under Deduction Calculation Routine.

• Enter amount due each pay period in the Flat/Addl Amount field.

• Enter total amount to be recovered in Goal Amount. The system will continue to deduct the amount in the Flat/Addl Amount field until said sum is collected. Note, do not enter any amount in Current Goal Balance field. The system updates this with each deduction.

• With this set-up, a deduction will be made on a pre-tax basis.

Processing of Refunds

Please see Office of the State Comptroller, Healthcare Policy and Benefit Services Division, Memorandum 2010-11 dated March 11, 2010, as modified by Division Memorandum 2012-01, dated March 16, 2012 on Processing Returns of Retiree Health Fund Contributions for employees who terminate state service without qualifying for retiree healthcare benefits and job aid entitled Refunding Employee Contribution to the Retirement Health Fund (OPEB and OTRS).

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