Bill Text: IL SB3600 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the State Universities Article of the Illinois Pension Code. Provides that if an employer employs an affected annuitant to fill a posted position that has gone unfilled for at least 180 days, then, for one and only one academic year, the employer is not required to pay a specified additional contribution. Provides that the employer shall immediately notify the System upon employing such a person.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2021-01-13 - Session Sine Die [SB3600 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-SB3600-Introduced.html

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101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2019 and 2020 SB3600 Introduced 2/13/2020, by Sen. Scott M. Bennett SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
40 ILCS 5/15-139.5
Amends the State Universities Article of the Illinois Pension Code. Provides that if an employer employs an affected annuitant to fill a posted position that has gone unfilled for at least 180 days, then, for one and only one academic year, the employer is not required to pay a specified additional contribution. Provides that the employer shall immediately notify the System upon employing such a person.
LRB101 20011 RPS 69540 b
FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY PENSION IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning public employee benefits.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by changing
Section 15-139.5 as follows:
(40 ILCS 5/15-139.5)
Sec. 15-139.5. Return to work by affected annuitant; notice
and contribution by employer.
(a) An employer who employs or re-employs a person
receiving a retirement annuity from the System in an academic
year beginning on or after August 1, 2013 must notify the
System of that employment within 60 days after employing the
annuitant. The notice must include a summary of the contract of
employment or specify the rate of compensation and the
anticipated length of employment of that annuitant. The notice
must specify whether the annuitant will be compensated from
federal, corporate, foundation, or trust funds or grants of
State funds that identify the principal investigator by name.
The notice must include the employer's determination of whether
or not the annuitant is an "affected annuitant" as defined in
subsection (b).
The employer must also record, document, and certify to the
System (i) the amount of compensation paid to the annuitant for

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employment during the academic year, and (ii) the amount of
that compensation, if any, that comes from either federal,
corporate, foundation, or trust funds or grants of State funds
that identify the principal investigator by name.
As used in this Section, "academic year" means the 12-month
period beginning September 1.
For the purposes of this Section, an annuitant whose
employment by an employer extends over more than one academic
year shall be deemed to be re-employed by that employer in each
of those academic years.
The System may specify the time, form, and manner of
providing the determinations, notifications, certifications,
and documentation required under this Section.
(b) A person receiving a retirement annuity from the System
becomes an "affected annuitant" on the first day of the
academic year following the academic year in which the
annuitant first meets the following conditions:
(1) (Blank).
(2) While receiving a retirement annuity under this
Article, the annuitant was employed on or after August 1,
2013 by one or more employers under this Article and
received or became entitled to receive during an academic
year compensation for that employment in excess of 40% of
his or her highest annual earnings prior to retirement;
except that compensation paid from federal, corporate,
foundation, or trust funds or grants of State funds that

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identify the principal investigator by name is excluded.
(3) The annuitant received an annualized retirement
annuity under this Article of at least $10,000.
A person who becomes an affected annuitant remains an
affected annuitant, except for (i) any period during which the
person returns to active service and does not receive a
retirement annuity from the System or (ii) any period on or
after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th
General Assembly during which an annuitant received an
annualized retirement annuity under this Article that is less
than $10,000.
(c) It is the obligation of the employer to determine
whether an annuitant is an affected annuitant before employing
the annuitant. For that purpose the employer may require the
annuitant to disclose and document his or her relevant prior
employment and earnings history. Failure of the employer to
make this determination correctly and in a timely manner or to
include this determination with the notification required
under subsection (a) does not excuse the employer from making
the contribution required under subsection (e).
The System may assist the employer in determining whether a
person is an affected annuitant. The System shall inform the
employer if it discovers that the employer's determination is
inconsistent with the employment and earnings information in
the System's records.
(d) Upon the request of an annuitant, the System shall

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certify to the annuitant or the employer the following
information as reported by the employers, as that information
is indicated in the records of the System: (i) the annuitant's
highest annual earnings prior to retirement, (ii) the
compensation paid for that employment in each academic year,
and (iii) whether any of that employment or compensation has
been certified to the System as being paid from federal,
corporate, foundation, or trust funds or grants of State funds
that identify the principal investigator by name. The System
shall only be required to certify information that is received
from the employers.
(e) In addition to the requirements of subsection (a), an
employer who employs an affected annuitant must pay to the
System an employer contribution in the amount and manner
provided in this Section, unless the annuitant is compensated
by that employer solely from federal, corporate, foundation, or
trust funds or grants of State funds that identify the
principal investigator by name.
The employer contribution required under this Section for
employment of an affected annuitant in an academic year shall
be equal to 12 times the amount of the gross monthly retirement
annuity payable to the annuitant for the month in which the
first paid day of that employment in that academic year occurs,
after any reduction in that annuity that may be imposed under
subsection (b) of Section 15-139.
If an affected annuitant is employed by more than one

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employer in an academic year, the employer contribution
required under this Section shall be divided among those
employers in proportion to their respective portions of the
total compensation paid to the affected annuitant for that
employment during that academic year.
If the System determines that an employer, without
reasonable justification, has failed to make the determination
of affected annuitant status correctly and in a timely manner,
or has failed to notify the System or to correctly document or
certify to the System any of the information required by this
Section, and that failure results in a delayed determination by
the System that a contribution is payable under this Section,
then the amount of that employer's contribution otherwise
determined under this Section shall be doubled.
The System shall deem a failure to correctly determine the
annuitant's status to be justified if the employer establishes
to the System's satisfaction that the employer, after due
diligence, made an erroneous determination that the annuitant
was not an affected annuitant due to reasonable reliance on
false or misleading information provided by the annuitant or
another employer, or an error in the annuitant's official
employment or earnings records.
(f) Whenever the System determines that an employer is
liable for a contribution under this Section, it shall so
notify the employer and certify the amount of the contribution.
The employer may pay the required contribution without interest

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at any time within one year after receipt of the certification.
If the employer fails to pay within that year, then interest
shall be charged at a rate equal to the System's prescribed
rate of interest, compounded annually from the 366th day after
receipt of the certification from the System. Payment must be
concluded within 2 years after receipt of the certification by
the employer. If the employer fails to make complete payment,
including applicable interest, within 2 years, then the System
may, after giving notice to the employer, certify the
delinquent amount to the State Comptroller, and the Comptroller
shall thereupon deduct the certified delinquent amount from
State funds payable to the employer and pay them instead to the
System.
(g) If an employer is required to make a contribution to
the System as a result of employing an affected annuitant and
the annuitant later elects to forgo his or her annuity in that
same academic year pursuant to subsection (c) of Section
15-139, then the required contribution by the employer shall be
waived, and if the contribution has already been paid, it shall
be refunded to the employer without interest.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Article,
the employer contribution required under this Section shall not
be included in the determination of any benefit under this
Article or any other Article of this Code, regardless of
whether the annuitant returns to active service, and is in
addition to any other State or employer contribution required

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under this Article.
(i) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section to
the contrary, if an employer employs an affected annuitant in
order to continue critical operations in the event of either an
employee's unforeseen illness, accident, or death or a
catastrophic incident or disaster, then, for one and only one
academic year, the employer is not required to pay the
contribution set forth in this Section for that annuitant. The
employer shall, however, immediately notify the System upon
employing a person subject to this subsection (i). For the
purposes of this subsection (i), "critical operations" means
teaching services, medical services, student welfare services,
and any other services that are critical to the mission of the
employer.
(i-5) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section
to the contrary, if an employer employs an affected annuitant
to fill a posted position that has gone unfilled for at least
180 days, then, for one and only one academic year, the
employer is not required to pay the contribution set forth in
this Section for that annuitant. The employer shall, however,
immediately notify the System upon employing a person subject
to this subsection (i-5).
(j) This Section shall be applied and coordinated with the
regulatory obligations contained in the State Universities
Civil Service Act. This Section shall not apply to an annuitant
if the employer of that annuitant provides documentation to the

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System that (1) the annuitant is employed in a status
appointment position, as that term is defined in 80 Ill. Adm.
Code 250.80, and (2) due to obligations contained under the
State Universities Civil Service Act, the employer does not
have the ability to limit the earnings or duration of
employment for the annuitant while employed in the status
appointment position.
(Source: P.A. 100-556, eff. 12-8-17.)