With the 2021-2022 school year underway, we would like to offer you some reminders and a notice about a change in procedure to help you have a successful reporting year.
1. Discontinuing the use of HR Contract Term
Starting with the 2021/2022 school year, you should no longer use the contract term of HR.
If your long-term sub employees are paid based on timesheets, and therefore have fluctuating pay, you should now report them in the following manner:
- Contract term = 10
- Pay frequency = 21 or 22
(Whichever is correct for your district. Do not use 26 or 52 as the employee is paid based on a timesheet and would therefore not be paid over the summer or receive a lump-sum at the end of the school year). - Pay duration = 10
- Service correct code = Mid-year hire
- Annual salary =
- If daily rate is based on a step and scale from the teachers’ contract, please use the step and scale from the contract.
- If daily rate is not based on a step and scale from the teachers’ contract, please calculate the annual salary as follows:
- Employee’s daily rate times the required number of days in the full school year (NOT the number of days the employee is going to work)
2. September deduction report audits
We will audit the salaries and position codes reported in your September report, during which you may be asked to confirm or edit the information. To help in this process, please make sure your assigned Employer Services Representative has a copy of your district’s current collective bargaining agreement that includes the FY22 salary schedule.
3. Reporting leaves of absences
Using the MTRS Leave of Absence Information form, reporting leaves of absences helps us ensure your employees receive the correct service credit for their approved leaves. Experience has taught us that collecting details on a leave of absence, when it occurs, ensures we receive accurate and complete information.
The form should be sent to your Employer Service Representative at MTRS as soon as an employee’s pay has been impacted by the leave (either a docked check or a missed check).
We require a completed Leave of Absence Information form if…
- An employee misses one or more paycheck,
- An employee’s pay is recalculated using some form of “stretch pay” method, or
- All unpaid time is docked in the lump-sum check
4. Comments in the monthly deduction reports
The comment section provides the opportunity to explain further the use of service correction codes or unusual payroll scenarios (e.g., off-cycle payroll payments). Please always include the employee’s name, pay date and enough details to explain the situation (e.g., John Smith on 9/17/2021 was paid two checks due to missing 9/3/2021 payroll; new hire paperwork was turned in late; etc.)
5. Full-time equivalent salary and full-time percentage
Employees who work part-time—or are hired mid-year—should always have the full-time, full year, non-adjusted annual contractual salary in the Salary field. The full-time percentage (FTE%) reported is the percentage the employee is working and must be reported as a percentage, not the decimalized equivalent.
Incorrectly reporting the salary or FTE% may result in your employee receiving incorrect service credit.
6. Longevity, stipends and coaching pay must be reported separately from base pay and annual salary
Employees who receive pension-eligible longevity or pension-eligible stipends need to have these earnings reported in the deduction report in the appropriately labeled fields. These earnings should not be reported as base pay and should not be added to the annual salary field unless a contract specifies that the longevity is a component of the base salary and, thus, part of the week/bi-weekly base pay.
7. Using the correct service correction codes
Service credit is assigned to every normal record (RecType = N-Normal) once the reports are released. When employment circumstances change—such as leaves of absence, FTE%, salary or position changes—it is important to use the correct service correction code to apply service credit appropriately. We explain the proper usage of service correction codes in our training manuals, Deduction Reporting in MyTRS and MyTRS Reference Guide 5: Understanding the Service Correction Codes.
Additional resources
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your assigned Employer Services Representative.