FY 2009 Employer Paid Fringe Benefits summary

Employer paid fringe benefits are incorporated in the Statewide Payroll System (SPS). The only fringe benefit outside of the SPS is Workers’ Compensation which is billed annually to each agency by the Injured Workers’ Insurance Fund. Attached is an updated table. For fiscal year 2009, fringe benefits will be charged as follows:

Retirement/Pension Subsidy – New rates are provided for some State Systems. New rates will be implemented for the first pay period which ends July 1, 2008 for the Regular system and July 5, 2008 for the University system.<>

Match of Employee Contributions to the Maryland Supplemental Retirement Plans [457, 403 (b) and 401 (k)]. Dollar for Dollar up to $600 for Fiscal Year 2009

Requirements:

Membership in the State Employees’ Alternate Pension system (ST EMP ALT PEN) on their pay stubs.
Active participation in one of the three Supplemental retirement plans which are identified by Deduction Codes 39 (DEF COMP), 99 (403-B TSA PLAN), and BP (401-K SAVE); all sponsored by the Maryland Supplemental Retirement Plans and administered by Nationwide.
Employees who are working at institutions of higher education, who meet the first requirement AND who meet the second requirement by being a participant in one or more Deduction Codes such as BS(TIAA-457B); 40(TIAA-403B); 70(FDLTY-457B); 68(FDLTY-403B in lieu of or in combination with one or more Nationwide administered plans.
One employee can have several “SRA” deductions. The sum of all the “match deductions in all state employment for the fiscal year cannot exceed $600.00.

Unemployment Insurance Premium - The rate beginning July 1, 2008 will be 0.1%. Unemployment Insurance Wages exclude cafeteria plans, dependent and health care plans, and parking deductions.

FICA (Social Security and Medicare) – The rate is unchanged through calendar year 2008.

Medicare Insurance Subsidy – The rate is unchanged through calendar year 2008.

Health Insurance Subsidies - Health Insurance subsidies will be updated for July 1, 2008.

Special Subsidy - The rate for fiscal year 2009 will be 19.88%. The Special Subsidy (retiree health subsidy) will appear on each Agency total page of the payroll and check register, the cost tape and subsequent R*STARS transactions. It will not appear on the employee's earnings statement (pay stub).

Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) - This new subsidy for fiscal year 2009 will be 16.66%. The OPEB subsidy will appear on each agency total page of the payroll and check register, the cost tape and subsequent R*STARS transactions. It will not appear on the employee's earnings statement (pay stub).

Implementation will take place effective with the first cash payday in July, 2008 unless otherwise noted in the discussion above. The first cash payday is July 9^th for Regular system, July 11^th for University and July 2^nd for the Contract system.