New York state has enacted a law requiring automatic enrollment of certain employees of the $8 billion Board of Education Retirement System, one of five independent pension funds in the $241.7 billion New York City Retirement Systems.
The law, signed Dec. 8 by Gov. Kathy Hochul, covers full-time and part-time employees but excludes temporary workers.
The law takes effect July 1, 2024, for new employees and Oct. 1, 2024, for current employees who have not enrolled. Employees may opt out.
According to an explanatory document accompanying the legislation, only 55% of eligible board of education retirement system employees have enrolled in the pension system because participation has been optional.
"It is not unusual to learn the story of many employees (who) discover, after many years on the job, that they missed their opportunity to enroll and end up losing time-earned pension benefits when they register many years after entering the system," the document said.
The law doesn't affect participants in the other four independent pension funds in the city pension system.
