NJ S3653

School district and board of education employees working more than 20 hours per week who meet salary requirements but not minimum work hour eligibility requirements would be enrolled in the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) instead of the Defined Contribution Retirement Program (DCRP)

Current DCRP participants affected by this change must be transferred to PERS within 180 days of the bill's effective date, with service credit granted from their original DCRP enrollment date

Transferred service credit qualifies members for retirement eligibility, disability retirement, veteran's retirement, and health benefits, but cannot be used to calculate the actual pension benefit amount

The State must make a one-time payment to cover the unfunded accrued liability resulting from the transfers, with the liability amortized over 20 years

Account balances must be transferred via direct trustee-to-trustee transfer in compliance with IRS rules; full service credit for pension calculations depends on whether funds can legally be moved to PERS