State Agencies Bulletin No. 793

Subject
Date of Birth (DOB) Requirement for New Members of the TIAA/CREF Retirement Plan
Date Issued
February 27, 2008

Purpose

To inform agencies of the new DOB requirement.

Background

Per the Pension Protection Act of 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor has issued a Final Regulation regarding Qualified Default Investment Alternatives (QDIA) which became effective December 24, 2007 and impacts those employees electing to join the Optional Retirement Program and who do not direct their own investments.

In order to comply with this Final Regulation, TIAA/CREF has notified OSC that OSC must begin to provide the date of birth (DOB) of each employee electing to join the Optional Retirement Program, which enables TIAA/CREF to direct an employee's contributions to one of the four QDIA established in the DOL's Final Regulation. Effective immediately, the DOB must be entered in Personal Data for new employees who participate in the TIAA/CREF Retirement Plan.

Agencies affected by this new requirement are: SUNY 28XXX, CUNY 70XXX and Education 11XXX.

Note: SUNY agencies should continue this practice until OSC can update the Automated Interface file to accept this information electronically for participating agencies.

Affected Employees

New enrollees in the TIAA/CREF Retirement Plan 7Z

Effective Date(s)

Immediately

OSC Actions

OSC has processed input files from CUNY and SUNY which contained DOB information, and has updated the Personal Data page in PayServ.

Agency Actions

Agencies must enter the DOB for new enrollees to TIAA/CREF by following this path: Administer Workforce>Administer Workforce (GBL)>Use>Personal Data.

On the Identity/Diversity tab, DOB must be populated with MM/DD/YY.

Questions

Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Payroll Deduction mailbox.