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PERS warns expanding state retirement/insurance to volunteers could jeopardize governmental-plan status
Summary
The Public Employees Retirement System told lawmakers that allowing non-government volunteers onto PERS plans risks losing federal governmental-plan status and could trigger ERISA rules and higher reporting burdens; PERS recommended detailed legal and fiscal analysis first.
Rebecca Fricke, executive director of the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), told the Emergency Response Services Committee that North Dakota—s retirement and insurance plans face legal constraints if the legislature expands eligibility to include volunteer emergency responders.
Fricke said PERS administers benefits under the federal classification of a governmental plan and must keep coverage limited to governmental employees to preserve that status. "If you had individuals that were not governmental employees covered on your plan, the IRS could look at that and say, —you're over this de minimis number— we consider— and you'd lose your governmental status as a plan,—"…
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