The Education Retirement Act (ERA) mandates that both employees and employers make contributions to the pension plan for eligible classes of employees who work greater than .25 FTE. UNM is required to report Full Time Equivalency (FTE), earnings, and contributions for eligible employees. UNM is responsible for defining .25 FTE based on their own business practices, as the ERB statute does not provide a specific definition. To comply with ERA requirements, these guidelines establish the FTE requirements for on-call staff.
Note: ERB guidelines are written in terms of Full Time Equivalency (FTE), UNM administers work effort in terms of Appointment Percentage. For example, an FTE of 1.0 is equivalent to an Appointment of 100%.
Note: The revised guidelines below are not applicable to Working Retirees. There are different restrictions for Working Retirees. See ERB website.
As on-call staff reach 130 hours in a quarter, communications will be sent to on-call staff and their supervisor as a reminder that the employee may be at risk of exceeding 130 hours for the quarter and work schedule should be managed or FTE proactively increased if appropriate.
If an on-call staff exceeds 130 hours in a fiscal year quarter, the employee’s FTE will automatically be updated to 0.375 FTE and ERA contributions will be made retroactively for the entire quarter and Social Security will be withheld from the employee’s paycheck.
It is responsibility of the supervisor and employee to monitor time worked to ensure the employee is working the appropriate amount of time based on their FTE at the time of hire.
To support supervisors and employees and to ensure compliance with ERA requirements, employees, supervisors and HR Agents will receive notifications from Human Resources when an on-call staff is trending toward 130 hours in a quarter.
When an on-call employee exceeds 130 hours in the quarter, the employee’s FTE will increase to 0.375 FTE exceeding 130 hours in the quarter will result in retroactive ERA contributions for the entire quarter. The on-call staff employee will also begin to have Social Security deductions.
ERA contribution information is available on the HR Website.
The supervisors should be diligent in determining an appropriate FTE and may contact their HR Consultant for assistance. If it is anticipated that an on-call staff will work greater than 0.25 FTE, the department should increase the FTE to 0.375 proactively to minimize the potential for the employee experiencing retroactive ERB contributions for the quarter.
These guidelines do not apply to student employees, working retirees, resident physicians, and post-doctoral fellows.
UNM has typically used a .25 FTE as a placeholder for On-Call employees. Going forward, hiring officials and supervisors will need to proactively determine if an employee will work more than 130 hours in a fiscal year quarter. If working more than 130 hours, the FTE should be 0.375 FTE, if working 130 hours or less, the department should use 0.25 FTE.
No, the only applicable FTE designations for On-call employees is 0.25 or 0.375 FTE. Supervisors should identify the applicable FTE based on if an on-call employee works more than 130 hours in a fiscal year quarter.
Using an FTE between 0.26 FTE and 0.374 FTE will result in ERB contributions but not Social Security deductions, which negatively impacts employees. Using the 0.375 FTE will require Social Security deductions.
You should discuss your staffing needs with your HR Consultant to determine the appropriate employee classification.
Yes, regardless of the actual hours worked, an employee who has their FTE designated in Banner as 0.26 FTE or higher will make ERB contributions. In this scenario, if the employee continually works below or above their 0.375 FTE, then the department should change the employee’s FTE to appropriately reflect their true FTE. To affect contribution status, an employee's FTE change must be effective at the start of the quarter. FTE changes made after the start of the quarter will have an impact on contributions in subsequent quarters.
The 130 hours per fiscal year quarter are measured based on a timeframe of when hours are paid, not when the hours are worked. See UNM's Pay Schedule.
If you do not retire under the ERA, upon termination of employment, you may request a withdrawal or rollover of your contributions plus any interest earned. Keep in mind that since ERA contributions are deducted from your pay on a pre-tax basis, you will pay income taxes on a withdrawal and if under age 59 ½, you may owe an early withdrawal penalty. If you request a rollover of your account to another qualified plan, there may be fewer tax consequences. We recommend seeking advice from a tax or financial advisor.
Regarding staff employment, contact your HR Consultant using the Find Your Consultant report or the HR Contacts webpage.
Regarding Main Campus faculty employment, contact the Office of Faculty Affairs and Services.
Regarding HSC faculty employment, contact the HSC Faculty Contracts Office.
For questions regarding payroll, contact the Payroll Office.
