CalPERS Compensation & Reporting Compliance
Ensuring compliance with CalPERS compensation and payroll requirements requires a nuanced understanding of the changing applicable laws and guidance. Best Best & Krieger LLP’s (BBK) attorneys have extensive knowledge and experience in resolving compensation and payroll reporting compliance errors effectively and efficiently.
The passage of SB278 in 2021 significantly increased public employers’ exposure to damages from reporting errors, shifting the majority of penalties for reporting “later disallowed compensation” to the employers. Outside of specific financial liability public sector employers face, many errors also result in significant administrative efforts to correct. BBK attorneys help clients stay current on the changes in both guidance and law and how those changes affect their compensation items and the corresponding payroll reporting practices.
Our services include:
- Representing public sector employers in discussions with CalPERS in order to utilize creative strategies to achieve compliance
- Reviewing labor policies and agreement compensation language and the associated payroll reporting practices for compliance, providing suggested changes, and assist in monitoring ongoing compliance
- Drafting Memoranda of Understanding and labor policy language that meets CalPERS compliance requirements for both retroactive and prospective periods
- Performing pre-retirement reviews for public sector employees to ensure compliance with the “group or class of employment” rules
Because CalPERS does not always have the resources necessary to meticulously monitor and review the compliance of every retiree and every labor policy or agreement, foregoing preemptive action can negatively impact employees’ retirement allowances as well as their ability to rely on that allowance. Therefore, it is imperative that public sector employers consistently analyze relevant documentation and reporting practices to ensure compliance requirements are met, especially before an employee retires. By reviewing groups of employees or specific classifications prior to retirement, public sector employers have an accurate accounting of possible risks and compliance concerns an individual employee may face at the time of retirement and can take action to correct any errors.
Public sector employers count on BBK to help them meet CalPERS compliance requirements while retaining their original practices to the greatest extent possible and preserving employer-employee relationships.
