36.1 Employees hired before August 7, 2011. Effective March 13, 2005, the County implemented the 2%@55.5 retirement enhancement (Government Code Section 31676.14) for employees in Plans 1, 2 or 4.
The enhancement applies to all future service and all service back to the date of employment pursuant to the Board of Supervisor’s authority under Government Code section 31678.2(a). Government Code section 31678.2(b) authorizes the collection, from employees, of all or part of the contributions by a member or employer or both, that would have been required if section 31676.14 had been in effect during the time period specified in the resolution adopting section 31676.14, and that the time period specified in the resolution will be all future and past general service back to the date of employment. Based on this understanding and agreement, employees will share in the cost of the 31676.14 enhancement through increased retirement contributions by way of payroll deductions and shall contribute three percent (3%) of compensation earnable as defined in SamCERA regulations. The County paid a general wage increase as set forth in Section 5.1 of this MOU, and it is understood and agreed that this wage increase will help employees pay the increased retirement contributions.
Implementation of the improvements to the retirement plans described in this section shall be made in accordance with the policies and practices of the Retirement Board and any disputes relative to implementation procedures shall be settled by the Retirement Board, whose decision shall be final.
Plan 3: Non-contributory plan, Plan 3 is closed to all employees hired on or after December 23, 2012. If an employee is already in Plan 3, the employee has the option to transfer to Plan 2 or 4 after providing the equivalent of five (5) years of consecutive service (10,400 hours) to the County. These employees may elect to transfer by entering into an agreement with the San Mateo County Employees’ Retirement Association (SamCERA) to pay all of the incremental employee and employer contributions that would have been required if the employee had been in Plan 2 or Plan 4 since the date of employment, plus interest.
36.2 Employees hired between August 7, 2011 and December 31, 2012. The retirement benefit options shall be:
Plan 5: 1.725% @ 58 (pre‐enhancement tier) with no three percent (3%) cost share. Current Plan 4: 2% @ 55.5 (as described in 25.3 above) is closed to new employees hired on or after the effective date of the commencement of Plan 5. However, employees may transfer into Plan 4 after providing the equivalent of ten years (20,800 hours) of service in Plan 5, and entering into an agreement with the San Mateo County Employee’s Retirement Association to pay all of the employee and employer contributions that would have been required if the employee had been in Plan 4 since the date of employment, plus interest.
Plan 3: Plan 3 is closed to all employees hired on or after December 23, 2012. If an employee is already in Plan 3 with the option to transfer to Plan 5 after providing the equivalent of five years of service (10,400 hours) to the County that option is for future Plan 5 service only. After providing the equivalent of ten years of service (20,800 hours) to the County, employees may elect to transfer to Plan 4 by entering into an agreement with the San Mateo County Employees’ Retirement Association (SamCERA) to pay all of the incremental employee and employer contributions that would have been required if the employee had been in Plan 4 since the date of employment, plus interest.
36.3 Employees hired on or after January 1, 2013. Employees hired on or after January 1, 2013 will be placed into Plan 5 or Plan 7 (2%@62) depending upon their legacy eligibility as determined by SamCERA.
36.4 Retirement COLA Cost
Employees will pay fifty percent (50%) of the Retirement COLA cost as determined by SamCERA. COLA costs are included in the Plan 7 statutory rate.
36.5 Deferred Compensation Plan – Automatic Enrollment for All Employees
Subject to applicable federal regulations, the County agrees to provide a deferred compensation plan that allows employees to defer compensation on a pre-tax basis through payroll deduction.
Effective January 1, 2019, all employees will be enrolled in the deferred compensation program at the rate of one percent (1%) of their pre-tax wages, unless he or she chooses to opt out or to voluntarily change deferrals to greater than or less than the default one percent (>1%) as allowed in the plan or as allowed by law. The pre-tax deduction will be invested in the target fund associated with the employees’ date of birth. Deferrals are fully vested at the time of deferrals; there will be no waiting periods for vesting rights.
Concurrent with Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) the deferrals will be increased in one percent (1%) increments to a maximum of five percent (5%).
The County will provide training to employees regarding how to make voluntary changes to deferrals.