Submission Date:
Question:
Are municipal public libraries obligated to provide retirement benefits for all employees? Does the library board need to approve a motion to provide retirement benefits for all employees or selected employees? Does the number of hours pertain? Or does the employee qualify for state retirement system benefits through the municipality? Again - is it based upon hours worked?
Answer:
Retirement benefits play a critical part in employee recruitment and retention. Library leadership should carefully consider—and routinely re-evaluate—the role of retirement in the suite of benefits they use to attract and nurture personnel.
To craft the right retirement approach, leaders must consider not only the legal landscape of their library, but the local job market, their recruitment objectives, and their retention goals. The final approach should not only support the library’s plan of service and vision for its mission, but comply with all relevant law. To ensure this, the plan and final documents should be evaluated by both leadership, as well as an HR professional and attorney.
Municipal public libraries crafting a retirement plan must work with local government; this is because the retirement benefits they can offer flow from the municipality they are attached to[1]. For that reason, any municipal public library addressing retirement benefit issues should reach out to their municipality’s HR department and/or attorney.
The member’s questions are a good jumping-off point for some general guidelines to this process. To take them in order:
Are municipal public libraries obligated to provide retirement benefits for all employees?
No. Per New York Retirement and Social Security System Law Title 2, Article 2, municipalities may resolve to participate and enroll their employees in the New York State & Local Retirement System (“NYSLRS”), but such resolution and enrollment is not compulsory.
Once a municipality decides to enroll, the NY Comptroller’s Office helps with the initial assessment of costs[2]. After enrollment by the employer, precise rules govern which employees are eligible for what level of plan; a great summary of who qualifies, and how, is here: https://osc.state.ny.us/retire/word_and_pdf_documents/employers_files/employers-guide/section-5.pdf.
Does the library board need to approve a motion to provide retirement benefits for all employees or selected employees?
Yes and no. A municipal public library’s enrollment in the NYSLRS flows through the enrolled municipality; [3] if the municipality is enrolled in the system, the (municipal public) library can participate. That said, to emphasize employer autonomy, promote awareness, and ensure harmony of the retirement plan and benefits with other library operations, the board should be apprised of and vote on the retirement benefit, as well as its description within the employee manual and relevant policy.
NOTE: This “employer autonomy” aspect cannot be emphasized enough. While great care should be taken by library leadership to coordinate certain employment-related matters with the municipality, a municipal public library SHOULD NEVER SURRENDER OR IGNORE THEIR AUTONOMY AS THE EMPLOYER. There are a great many opinions[4] of the NY Comptroller (the go-to for municipal governance and budget issues) that emphasize the importance of this notion; it is a critical consideration and one deserving of a great deal of board attention and foresight (and professional input).
Does the number of [employee]hours pertain?
There are very precise formulas and enrolling, qualifying, reporting, and claiming NYSLRS retirement benefits[5], and employee hours are most definitely a part of those formulas.
Hours are only a small piece of the puzzle, though. The bigger parts are the details leadership will explore as they identify, and develop, a retirement benefit that supports the strategic direction and mission of their library. That is a project that will take many hours of thoughtful work and exploration…but if undertaken with the right players, will bring great benefits.[6]
[1] Interestingly and somewhat famously (among the 14,000 or so library law aficionados in New York), this does not mean the municipality is the employer. However, it does mean that many of the employee retirement benefits must (to a certain extent) be coordinated with the procedures and reporting of the local government. NOTE: I invented the possible number of “library law aficionados,” but since I find this stuff fascinating, maybe 13,999 other people do, too.
[2] Information on kicking off the process of enrollment is here: https://www.osc.state.ny.us/retire/employers/employer_partnership/an_employers_role/becoming_a_participant.php
[3] As reflected in the excellent comparative chart on the New York State Education Department’s Division of Library Development Page: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/libs/pltypes.htm.
[4] For instance, Op. State Comptroller 93-15, from 1993.
[5] A helpful guide on reporting hours to the NYERS is here: https://www.osc.state.ny.us/retire/word_and_pdf_documents/employers_files/employers-guide/section-6.pdf#search=%20libraries.
[6] Pun intended.
Tag:
Management, Municipal Libraries, Retirement, Salaries and Wages, Employee Rights
