§ 8-34-206 — State assumption of employee contributions

(a) (1) For service rendered from and after July 1, 1981, the state shall assume employee contributions of up to five percent (5%) of the employee's earnable compensation on behalf of: (A) State employees, except those specified in subsection (b); (B) Teachers employed by the state department of education; (C) Teachers employed in state-supported institutions of higher education; and (D) Teachers employed in state-supported institutions of higher education who are members of an optional retirement program established pursuant to chapter 25 of this title. (2) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the state shall also assume employee contributions of up to five percent (5%) of the employee's earnable compensation for those prior class members of the attorneys general retirement system who are presently employed in the executive branch of the state and who are compensated under the compensation plan administered by the department of human resources. (3) Beginning on January 1, 1982, the state shall also assume employee contributions of up to five percent (5%) of the employees' earnable compensation of those employees of the general assembly who are classified under § 8-34-101 . The increase in employer cost shall be provided from the appropriation for the office of legal services for the general assembly. (4) Beginning on July 1, 1986, the state shall also assume employee contributions of up to five percent (5%) of the employees' earnable compensation of district attorneys general, the executive director of the district attorneys general conference and those full-time assistant district attorneys general who, on or before July 1, 1985, reached the maximum salary for assistant district attorneys general authorized by chapter 7 of this title. (5) On July 1, 1987, and on each succeeding July 1, the state shall assume employee contributions of up to five percent (5%) of the employees' earnable compensation of those full-time assistant district attorneys general who in the preceding fiscal year reached the maximum salary for assistant district attorneys general authorized by chapter 7 of this title. (6) Beginning on the first day on which the salary levels for general state employees are increased, the state shall assume employee contributions of up to five percent (5%) of the employees' earnable compensation of attorneys general employed in the office of the attorney general and reporter. The contribution assumption provided in this subdivision (a)(6) shall be in lieu of the salary increase to which such attorneys general would have otherwise been entitled. (7) Beginning July 1, 1994, the state shall assume employee contributions up to five percent (5%) of the employees' earnable compensation of criminal investigators for the district attorneys general. (8) Beginning on September 1, 1990, but not before, the state shall assume employee contributions of up to five percent (5%) of the employee's earnable compensation for all state judges who are members of the Tennessee consolidated retirement system. (9) The state shall assume employee contributions of up to five percent (5%) of the employee's earnable compensation for any person entering the service of a district attorney general on or after July 1, 1994, as an assistant district attorney general. (b) (1) The state shall not assume any employee contributions for: (A) Judges, except as provided in subsection (a); (B) Attorneys general, except as provided in subsection (a); (C) Members who chose to limit their retirement deductions to the first four thousand two hundred dollars ($4,200) of annual salaries as of June 30, 1981; (D) Kindergarten through twelfth (K-12) grade teachers whose salaries are provided in whole or in part by the Tennessee investment in student achievement formula (TISA) and/or by local boards of education; (E) Employees of employers participating pursuant to chapter 35, part 2 of this title; (F) Teachers participating in local retirement funds pursuant to chapter 35 of this title; and (G) County judges and county officials. (2) All employees who are excluded from the noncontributory provisions of the system by this section shall be required to continue making the appropriate employee contributions to the retirement system. (c) (1) For the purposes of this section, "noncontributory member" means any person who is or becomes a member of the retirement system on or after July 1, 1981, and on whose behalf the employee contributions to the retirement system up to five percent (5%) of earnable compensation are assumed by the employer in accordance with this section. It is further provided that any member covered by the noncontributory provisions of the system who continues the member's employment from and after July 1, 1981, shall not be entitled to a refund of the member's contributions or those made in the member's behalf by the member's employer until the member meets the conditions of § 8-37-210 . (2) The full amount of the required employee contributions up to five percent (5%) of earnable compensation assumed or paid by the employer on behalf of its employees shall be credited to the individual account balances of the employees for their employee annuities and shall be considered employee contributions for all other purposes pursuant to chapters 34-37 of this title, including the lump sum death benefit as provided for in § 8-36-107 , for: (A) Members of the retirement system who are covered by the noncontributory retirement provisions on July 1, 1981, and whose membership date is prior to July 1, 1981; (B) Those employees of the general assembly who are classified under § 8-34-101 , who were employed on or before January 1, 1982; (C) District attorneys general, the executive director of the district attorneys general conference and those assistant district attorneys general specified in subsection (a) who were employed and were members of the retirement system on or before June 1, 1986; (D) Attorneys general who were employed in the office of the attorney general and reporter and who were members of the retirement system on or before the date the state assumed employee contributions on behalf of attorneys general employed in the office of the attorney general and reporter; and (E) Criminal investigators who were employed in the office of a district attorney general and who were members of the retirement system on or before June 1, 1993. (d) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, any employer participating in the retirement system pursuant to chapter 35, part 2 of this title may assume employee contributions to the retirement system of up to five percent (5%) of the employee's earnable compensation on behalf of all its employees upon the adoption of a resolution by the chief governing body authorizing and accepting the liability for the contributions. The employee's contributions so assumed or paid by the employer on behalf of its employee shall be credited to the individual account balances of the employee for the employee's annuities; provided, that the employee was employed on the date of the employer's election to assume employee contributions to the retirement system and shall be considered employee contributions in accordance with subdivision (c)(2). Any local employer who elects to assume the employee contributions to the retirement system, effective July 1, 1981, must notify the retirement system on or prior to that date. A local employer electing to assume contributions to the retirement system in any subsequent year shall set the effective date of its election on the first day of any quarter following a minimum of three (3) months' notice to the retirement system; provided, that the director of retirement may waive the three-month notice requirement. The board of trustees, however, may by rule adopt reasonable standards or restrictions to guide the director in making a decision on whether to waive the deadline. Any employer that adopts the noncontributory provisions of this section on or after July 1, 2010, may reserve the right within its adopting resolution to thereafter discontinue the noncontributory provisions for all its current and future employees. To thereafter discontinue the noncontributory provisions, the chief governing body of that employer must pass a resolution, legally adopted and approved by a two-thirds (2/3) majority of that body, to discontinue the noncontributory provisions for all its current and future employees and to have the contributions made by the employees treated as employer contributions pursuant to § 8-37-216 . Any such resolution shall set forth the effective date of the discontinuance; provided, that the date shall be on the first day of any quarter following a minimum of three (3) months' notice to the retirement system. Any resolution to discontinue the noncontributory provisions that is adopted pursuant to this subsection (d) shall be irrevocable and the employer shall not be permitted to elect at a later date to provide the noncontributory provisions of this section. (e) It is the intent of this section that the laws governing the retirement system in effect on June 30, 1981, shall be fully operative and remain in full force and effect for all members of the retirement system, whether contributing or noncontributing, except as otherwise provided by the provisions of chapters 34-37 of this title applicable only to noncontributory membership. (f) Notwithstanding § 8-35-109 or any other law to the contrary, membership in the retirement system shall be mandatory for any person employed on or after July 1, 1994, as a criminal investigator in the office of a district attorney general.

Legislative History

Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 966, s 92, eff. 7/1/2023. Amended by 2015 Tenn. Acts, ch. 118, s 4, eff. 4/10/2015. Acts 1981, ch. 508, § 1; 1982, ch. 571, §§ 1-3; 1986, ch. 665, §§ 1, 2; 1986, ch. 810, § 1; 1986, ch. 920, § 2; 1987, ch. 252, §§ 2, 3; 1992, ch. 843, § 2; 1993, ch. 67, §§ 15, 16; 1993, ch. 499, §§ 3, 4; 1994, ch. 936, §§ 1, 2, 3; 1994, ch. 1007, § 5; 1996, ch. 996, § 2; 1999, ch. 205, § 15; 2001, ch. 58, § 4; 2008 , ch. 674, §§ 19, 20; 2010 , ch. 777, § 2.