Beginning July 1, 2019, CalSavers Retirement Program became a new employment law in California. CalSavers is a state-run retirement savings program for private-sector workers whose employers do not offer a retirement program (such as a 401k plan). Employers with five or more employees are required to either provide a retirement plan for their workers or register for CalSavers and facilitate employees’ contributions to Individual Retirement Accounts. An employer that offers a tax-qualified retirement plan is not eligible and its employees cannot participate in the CalSavers program.
Deadlines
CalSavers is scheduled to open for employers to register on July 1, 2019 — but employers need not register until June 30, 2020. Deadlines for compliance vary according to the size of the business, as follows:
Employers with more than 100 employees must register by June 30, 2020;
Employers with more than 50 employees must register by June 30, 2021; and
Employers with five or more employees must register by June 30, 2022.
Employer’s Responsibility
Within 30 days of registering, employers need to provide the CalSavers program administrator with a collection of personal information about each employee. This information includes: the name, Social Security number, date of birth and contact information for each eligible employee.
Employers must ensure that each employee receives a packet of information from the program administrator. Employers will need to calculate the appropriate rate of deduction from each employee’s wages, based on a schedule promulgated by the state.
Employers will deduct each employee’s contributions to the CalSavers program from their salary and remit the contributions to the program administrator within seven days of deduction.
In addition, if a new employee is hired after registration, that individual’s information must be submitted to the program administrator within 30 days of the date of hire.
Registering your business is easy. Visit the CalSavers website to register. Employers do not pay any fees for their employees’ participation in the CalSavers program and are not required to contribute to the CalSavers program, aside from facilitating the program and submitting participating employees’ contributions via payroll deduction.
The CalSavers program will ensure nearly all Californians have access to a workplace retirement savings program. Employers are prohibited from encouraging or discouraging employees from participating in the CalSavers program, or from providing any advice about any decisions related to investment and contribution relating to the program.
If you have questions about the CalSavers program or how it affects your business, please contact an employment law attorney at Schneiders & Associates today.
By: Ted Schneider, Esq.
