Potential changes to Louisiana’s public employee retirement systems could affect a large portion of faculty and staff on campus, many of whom may not be well informed about their retirement plans.
A forum sponsored by the Faculty Senate and educator association LSUnited featured representatives from the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana on Wednesday to help faculty and staff better understand their retirement funds.
Several bills will be up for debate in the upcoming legislative session that could change current policies and affect future employees when choosing retirement plans. These bills could raise the retirement age for some employees or increase the amount contributed by employees, among other outcomes.
Retirement for state employees is independent from Social Security and managed by the TRSL, which gives employees a number of retirement plans to choose from.
LSUnited President Patrick McGee said about 80 percent of University faculty are on the Optional Retirement Plan, which requires employees to contribute 8 percent of their salary and employers to contribute 5 to 7 percent. The amount paid by employees is adjusted annually.
The other program is the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, which freezes an employee’s average highest salary during three or five years, depending on when the employee began working for the state. Once retired, an employee receives the final average compensation.
The ORP and DROP plans are for University faculty, while staff are under Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System, which is not associated with the TRSL.
Faculty programs have multiple stipulations and guidelines, which are further detailed on the TRSL website.
While TRSL manages these programs, its rules and regulations can be changed by state legislature.
TRSL outlines the bills that affect higher education employees on its website, and LSUnited will also study the bills.
Many faculty and staff in attendance showed opposition to these potential changes, with many concerned with their fate in legislators’ hands.
Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope said the state retirement systems have been problematic since their introduction.
Cope said employers and employees are paying more than they’re getting back in some instances, and by the time many employees retire from the University, their retirement funds may not be enough to live on.
“This is a very grave situation,” he said.
The current retirement situation in the state could lead to the “largest class of highly educated poor the world has ever seen,” Cope said.
He said he hopes University faculty and senate retirement funds will one day be independent of the state and be in control of the University or LSU System.
 
 
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Contact Brian Sibille at [email protected]