N.J. Admin. Code § 17:7-2.1 - Definitions
Whenever used in the Program or with respect to an applicable Plan, each of the following terms has the meaning stated below. To the extent that any term is not defined in this subchapter or otherwise by this chapter, such term has the meaning given by N.J.S.A. 18A:66-169 or 52:18A-113.2 or by the Internal Revenue Code.
"Account" means the total of the individual account(s) maintained on behalf of each participant, beneficiary, or alternate payee under the investment option(s) held pursuant to the ABP Retirement Plan or the ACTS, taking into account all contributions made to the investment option and all earnings or losses (including expenses) that are allocable to the participant's account, any rollover contributions or transfers held under the participant's account, and any distribution made to the participant, the participant's beneficiary, or any alternate payee. The account balance includes any part of the participant's account that is treated under the ACTS as a separate contract to which IRC § 403(c) (or another applicable provision of the Code) applies.
"Accumulated deductions" means those contributions as defined in 18A:66-2 or in section 6 of P.L. 1954, c. 84 (43:15A-6 ).
"Adjunct faculty members" or "part-time instructors" mean those faculty appointed as adjunct professors or part-time instructors by the respective school, whose employment agreement begins on or after November 1, 2008.
"Administrative staff" means any employee whose minimum qualifications for hiring include a baccalaureate degree or its equivalent, but shall not include career service employees as defined by the Civil Service Commission pursuant to the provisions of Title 11A of the New Jersey Revised Statutes.
"Alternate payee" means a person who is an alternate payee (within the meaning of IRC § 414(p)(8)) under an order directed to the ABP Retirement Plan or the ACTS that the Plan Administrator has determined to be a Qualified Domestic Relations Order.
"Annuity contract" means a nontransferable contract as defined in IRC §§ 403(b)(1) and 401(g), established for each participant by the employer, or by each participant individually, that is issued by an insurance company qualified to issue annuities in New Jersey and that includes payment in the form of an annuity, to hold assets of the ACTS.
"Annuity payment option" means a payment option under the ABP Retirement Plan, if permitted by the plan administrator, which includes a provision for payments based, in whole or in part, upon the life of a natural person.
"Applicable form" means the appropriate form as designated and furnished by the plan administrator or DSP to make an election or provide a notice as required by the Program, including a form in electronic medium with an electronic signature in compliance with E-SIGN and applicable law. As used in this definition, the following terms have the following meanings:
1. "E-SIGN" means 15 U.S.C. §§ 7001 to 7006, 7021, 7031; and 47 U.S.C. § 231 note - the Federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act.
2. "Electronic" means, consistent with E-SIGN 15 U.S.C. § 7006(2), of or relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities regardless of medium.
3. "Electronic signature" means, consistent with E-SIGN 15 U.S.C. § 7006(5), information or data in electronic form, attached to or logically associated with an electronic record, and executed or adopted by a person or an electronic agent of a person, with the intent to sign a contract, agreement, or record.
"Applicable law" means the law of the United States of America or the law of the State of New Jersey that is applicable to the governance or administration of the Program or an applicable Plan under the Program.
"Base annual salary" means the base salary upon which contributions by the participant and his or her employer to the ABP Retirement Plan were based during the year of creditable service last credited to the participant.
"Base salary" means a participant's regular base or contractual salary. Base salary includes employee contributions as well as salary reduction contributions and other amounts excluded from gross income with respect to such base salary under, without limitation, IRC §§ 125, 132(f)(4), 402(e)(3), 402(h)(1)(b), 403(b), 414(h)(2), or 457(b). Payments related to guaranteed faculty practice moneys shall be included in such base salary up to the extent provided by 43:3C-9.1 et seq. The employee's and employer's contributions shall be computed on earned and paid base salary. Base salary excludes bonus, overtime, or other forms of extra compensation, such as:
1. Longevity lump sum payments;
2. Lump sum terminal sick leave or vacation pay;
3. The value of maintenance;
4. Individual pay adjustments made within or at the conclusion of the participant's final year of service;
5. Retroactive salary adjustments or other pay adjustments made in the participant's final year of service unless such adjustment was made as a result of a general pay adjustment for all personnel of the department or institution;
6. Any unscheduled individual adjustment made in the final year to place the member at the maximum salary level within his or her salary range;
7. Any pay for services rendered during the summer vacation period by a participant who is required to work only 10 months of the year;
8. Vehicle allowance or reimbursement;
9. Housing allowance or reimbursement; and
10. Relocation allowance or reimbursement.
"Beneficiary" means each person a participant designates by a valid beneficiary designation to receive any undistributed benefit payable on or after the participant's death. A named beneficiary who feloniously and intentionally kills the participant or another beneficiary is not a beneficiary and is not entitled to any distribution or any other right under the Program or any Plan under the ABP Program; and any benefit is paid as though the killer had predeceased the participant or beneficiary. This definition shall not apply to the Group Life Insurance Plan.
"Beneficiary designation" means a valid and effective beneficiary designation made according to N.J.A.C. 17:7-22.1.
"Benefit" means the right under the ABP Retirement Plan of the participant (or beneficiary or other payee) to receive a distribution of all or any portion of the participant's account.
"Board" means the Pension Provider Selection Board established under N.J.A.C. 17:7-3.
"Civil union partner" means the individual that is the participant's civil union partner under the laws of the State of New Jersey.
"Contributions" means contributions under the provisions of the ABP Retirement Plan or the ACTS, including employee contributions and employer contributions.
"County colleges" means the colleges so defined in 18A:64A-1.
"Custodial account" means the group or individual custodial account or accounts, as defined in IRC § 403(b)(7), established for each participant by the employer or by each participant individually to hold assets of the ACTS.
"Designated service provider" or "DSP" means a company designated as a provider by the Board under 18A:66-172.1, or an insurance company selected by the State Treasurer to provide group life insurance or group long-term disability insurance coverage to participants under 18A:66-177. The term designated service provider also includes the pension providers approved to offer investment alternatives to participants of the ABP, the ABP Retirement Plan, and the ACTS. A DSP shall provide group life coverage to participants of the ABP. A DSP shall provide group long-term disability insurance coverage to participants of the ABP.
"Direct rollover" means a payment under the ABP Retirement Plan or the ACTS to an eligible ABP Retirement Plan specified by the distributee.
"Distributee" means any person who receives, or but for his or her instruction to the plan administrator is entitled to receive, a distribution. A distributee includes an alternate payee to whom the plan administrator is directed to make a payment under a Qualified Domestic Relations Order.
"Distribution" means, as appropriate in the context, any kind of distribution or the particular kind of distribution provided by the ABP Retirement Plan, Group Life Insurance Plan, or ACTS.
"Distribution commencement date" means the first date on which a distribution (or any payment under a distribution) is paid or becomes payable.
"Division of Pensions and Benefits" means the Division of Pensions and Benefits established in the Department of the Treasury pursuant to section 1 of P.L. 1955, c. 70 (52:18A-95 ) and is the agency responsible for the administration of the Alternate Benefit Program of the State and county colleges and for the administration of the group life and disability insurances of all Alternate Benefit Programs established in the State for public employees.
"Elective deferral" means the employer contributions made to the ACTS at the election of the participant in lieu of receiving cash compensation. Elective deferrals may be pre-tax salary reduction contributions or Roth elective deferrals as designated by the participant.
"Eligible employee" means, with respect to each plan, an employee of an employer who is classified as eligible for participation in the Plan pursuant to N.J.A.C. 17:7-4. Subject to the approval of the Plan Administrator, the employer's classification of a person as an employee or other individual with the status of an eligible employee for purposes of this chapter shall be final and conclusive.
"Employee" with respect to the ACTS means each individual, whether appointed or elected, who is a common law employee of the employer. If the employer is a public school, the individual must perform services for a public school as an employee of the employer, including an individual who is appointed or elected. This definition is not applicable unless the employee's compensation for performing services for a public school is paid by the employer. Further, a person occupying an elective or appointive public office is not an employee performing services for a public school unless such office is one to which an individual is elected or appointed only if the individual has received training, or is experienced, in the field of education. A public office includes any elective or appointive office of a State or local government. For ACTS purposes, the Plan Administrator may rely upon the certification of the employer that a person is an employee.
"Employee account" means the account maintained to account for employee contributions and earnings, losses, and administrative expenses charged to the account in the ABP Retirement Plan, the ACTS, or the Closed Plan, as applicable.
"Employee contributions" means those contributions made by the participant to the ABP Retirement Plan pursuant to 17:7-5.2.
"Employee voluntary contributions" means those contributions in addition to the employee contribution that the Plan Administrator may permit the participant to make to the ACTS.
"Employer" means county colleges; Rutgers, the State University; Rowan University; University Hospital; and the State colleges, that pays the base salary of a participant for services rendered by the participant. Except as described in this definition, each employer with eligible employees shall be a participating employer with respect to the ABP for the benefit of its eligible employees as described in N.J.A.C. 17:7-4 and not excluded thereunder, and shall not be required to take affirmative action to adopt the ABP for its eligible employees or to enter into any contractual arrangement regarding its obligations to contribute to the plan, except as may be required by the Plan Administrator. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Plan Administrator may determine that an employer is not eligible to maintain the ABP for its employees if the Plan Administrator reasonably concludes that the employer is not an employer that can maintain a "governmental plan" within the meaning of § 414(d) of the Federal Internal Revenue Code or Section 3(32) of the Employees Retirement Income Security Act, as amended. The Plan Administrator's determination in this regard shall be final and conclusive.
"Employer" with respect to the ACTS must be either: a governmental instrumentality that is a tax-exempt organization under IRC § 501(c)(3); or a public school that is a State-sponsored educational organization described in IRC § 170(b)(1)(A)(ii) (relating to educational organizations that normally maintain a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly enrolled body of pupils or students in attendance at the place where educational activities are regularly carried out). Any State entity must meet the definition of Treasury Reg. § 1.403(b)-2(b)(8), which requires that, for public schools, the State is the employer, but only with respect to an employee of the State performing services for a public school. Furthermore, the Plan Administrator may determine that an employer is not eligible to maintain the ACTS Program for its employees if the Plan Administrator reasonably concludes that the employer is not a governmental instrumentality that is a tax-exempt organization under IRC § 501(c)(3) or a public school that is a State-sponsored educational organization described in IRC § 170(b)(1)(A)(ii). The Plan Administrator's determination in this regard shall be final and conclusive.
"Employer account" means the account maintained to account for employer contributions and earnings, losses, and administrative expenses charged to that account in the ABP Retirement Plan.
"Employer contributions" means contributions that are made by an employer that are not elective deferrals.
"Enabling statute" means 18A:64A-72.
"Fees" means any fees required or permitted to be charged against the participant's (or beneficiary's or alternate payee's) ABP Retirement Plan account or ACTS account according to any one or more of the following, as applicable: the ABP Retirement Plan, the Participation Agreement, an investment option, including surrender and/or redemption fees, an investment advisory agreement, any other writing signed by the participant (or, after the participant's death, the beneficiary), any written notice given by or on behalf of the Plan Administrator that is accepted or deemed accepted by the participant (or beneficiary), or any court order. Additionally, the ABP Plan Administrator may impose fees to pay for expenses it deems proper to administer the Retirement Plan or the ACTS. The fees may be charged to the participants' accounts according to an equitable method determined by the plan administrator.
"Fiduciary" means a person that is a fiduciary within the meaning of applicable law regarding the program or an applicable plan under the program.
"Full-time officers" and "Full-time members of the faculty" means all full-time officers and full-time members of the faculty, including, but not be limited to, the president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer of the respective school. "Full-time" shall also include eligible full-time officers and full-time members of the faculty who are granted sabbaticals or leaves of absence with pay where the compensation paid is 50 percent or more of the base salary at the time the leave commences and the period of eligibility terminates with the end of the school year following the year in which the sabbatical began.
"Group Annuity Plan" means the Group Annuity Contract R-134 between the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the Prudential Insurance Company of America.
"Group Life Insurance Plan" means the Alternate Benefit Program Group Life Insurance Plan as described in this chapter.
"Group Long-Term Disability Plan" means the Alternate Benefit Program Group Long-Term Disability Benefit Plan as described in this chapter.
"Investment option" means any investment option offered by the Board in accordance with the ABP Retirement Plan's or ACTS's investment policy and approved by the Plan Administrator, for investment by participants (or beneficiaries) of their ABP Retirement Plan accounts or their ACTS accounts. With respect to ACTS, an "investment option" must be an annuity contract or custodial account in the ACTS that satisfies the requirements of Treasury Reg. § 1.403(b)-3 and that is issued or established for funding amounts held under the ACTS. A list of pension providers and investment options approved for use under the ABP Retirement Plan and ACTS, including sufficient information to identify the approved investment options, shall be maintained by the Plan Administrator. The terms governing each investment option under the ABP Retirement Plan and ACTS, excluding those terms that are inconsistent with State law, IRC § 401(a), or IRC § 403(b), are hereby incorporated by reference in this chapter.
"Investment law" means, as applicable or relevant in the context, any Federal or State banking law, insurance law, securities law, and other rules of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD), NYSE, and any stock exchange or commodities exchange, to the extent approved or not disapproved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"Limitation year" means each 12-month period ending December 31.
"Loan coordinator" means the person selected to oversee all aspects of the ABP Retirement Plan's, ACT's, or Closed Plan's loan program.
"Mutual fund company" means an investment company or trust regulated by the Federal Investment Company Act of 1940, 15 U.S.C. §§ 80a-1 et seq.
"New Jersey Institute of Technology" means the public research university comprised of all departments, colleges, schools, centers, branches, educational, and other units and extensions of the Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, the College of Science and Liberal Arts, the School of Industrial Management, centers, extension and cooperative education programs, continuing education programs, and all other departments of higher education maintained by the education entity of this university.
"Non-academic employee" is one who does not occupy a faculty or other teaching position with academic rank or other equivalent title whose primary employment is not directly related to teaching, research, and/or other aspects of the educational programs of the county college. Adjunct faculty members and part-time instructors of the faculty of Rutgers, the State University; the New Jersey Institute of Technology; Rowan University; the State; and county colleges are excluded from this definition.
"NYSE" means the New York Stock Exchange.
"Part-time" means an appointment where the employee receives a salary or wages for a period of less than 50 percent of the normal work week. This definition shall apply to teaching and administrative staff members, and to employees serving in a dual capacity where the appointment includes teaching, as well as administrative duties. However, adjunct faculty members and part-time instructors of the faculty of Rutgers, the State University; the New Jersey Institute of Technology; Rowan University; the State; and county colleges shall be excluded from this definition.
"Participant or member" means the eligible employee (or former eligible employee) who is enrolled in an applicable Plan under the Program; with respect to the ABP Retirement Plan, an individual for whom contributions under the ABP Retirement Plan have been made or accrued and whose account has not been fully distributed under the ABP Retirement Plan, and, with respect to the ACTS, an individual for whom contributions under the ACTS have been made or accrued and whose account has not been fully distributed under the ACTS.
"Participation Agreement" means the applicable form that designates the participant's investment options and such other information as the Plan Administrator may prescribe for the efficient or convenient administration of the Program or an applicable Plan under the Program.
"Payment option" means, with respect to the ABP Retirement Plan and ACTS, any of the options for payment of a participant's ABP Retirement Plan account or ACTS account that is permitted by the Plan Administrator and consistent with the terms of the ABP Retirement Plan or ACTS, respectively, and any applicable investment contract approved by the Board, except as limited in this definition. A payment option shall not be based on gender-distinct actuarial tables. A payment option must satisfy all applicable provisions of the ABP Retirement Plan or the ACTS, respectively, as determined by the Plan Administrator, including, but not limited to, the applicable investment contract approved by the Bo ard. A payment option must also satisfy all applicable provisions of applicable law.
"Pension provider" means an insurance or mutual fund company selected by the Board under N.J.A.C. 17:7-3.
"Pension reserve" means those moneys as defined in 18A:66-2 or in section 6 of P.L. 1954, c. 84 (43:15A-6 ).
"Person" means a natural person, a corporation, a limited liability company, an unincorporated association, a partnership, a joint venture, a business trust, or anything that is a person within the meaning of applicable law.
"Personal representative" means the person duly appointed by an order of the court (or of a registrar or administrator under the court's supervision) having jurisdiction over the estate of the participant that grants the person the authority to receive the property of the deceased participant and to act as the personal representative of the participant's probate estate.
"Plan" means the ABP Retirement Plan, the ACTS, the Group Long-Term Disability Plan, the Group Life Insurance Plan, and/or the Closed Plan, as the context requires.
"Plan Administrator" means the Director of the New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits and includes any designated service provider or pension provider to the extent that the Division of Pensions and Benefits delegates duties to that DSP or pension provider.
"Plan sponsor" means the State of New Jersey and the State and county colleges of New Jersey.
"Plan year" or "fiscal year" means each 12-month period ending June 30.
"Professional administrative staff" means any employee whose minimum qualifications for hiring include a baccalaureate degree or its equivalent, but shall not include career service employees as defined by the Civil Service Commission pursuant to the provisions of Title 11A of the New Jersey Revised Statutes.
"Program" means the New Jersey Alternate Benefit Program provided by the enabling statute, as described by this chapter. The Program consists of the ABP Retirement Plan, the ACTS, the Group Life Insurance Plan, the Group Long-Term Disability Plan, and the Closed Plan.
"Qualified Domestic Relations Order" or "QDRO" means a domestic relations order directed to the Retirement Plan or the ACTS that creates or recognizes the existence of the right of an alternate payee to receive all or a portion of any benefit payable to a participant under the ABP Retirement Plan and that further meets all requirements for a Qualified Domestic Relations Order stated by IRC § 414(p) as applied to a governmental plan and N.J.A.C. 17:7-7.
"Related employer" means the employer and any other entity that is under common control with the employer under IRC § 414(b), (c), (m), or (o). The employer shall determine which entities are related employers based on a reasonable, good faith standard and taking into account the special rules applicable under Internal Revenue Service Notice 89-23, 1989- 1 C.B. 654.
"Retirement Plan" or "ABP Retirement Plan" means that portion of Alternate Benefit Program that is a qualified plan under IRC § 401(a) and to which IRC § 414(h)(2) contributions are deposited, as described in this chapter and as it may be amended.
"Rollover account" means the sub-account maintained to account for rollover contributions pursuant to 17:7-13.3 and earnings, losses, and administration expenses charged to that sub-account.
"Roth elective deferrals" means, for the ACTS, if permitted under the terms of the applicable investment option, all or a portion of the participant's elective deferrals designated as Roth elective deferrals. A Roth elective deferral is an elective deferral that is designated irrevocably by the participant at the time of the election as a Roth elective deferral that is being made in lieu of all or a portion or the pre-tax elective deferrals the participant is otherwise eligible to make under the ACTS and treated by the employer as includible in the participant's income at the time the participant would have received that amount in cash if the participant had not made a salary reduction agreement.
"Rowan University" means the public research university described in Chapter 64M of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
"Rutgers, the State University" means the institution of higher education described in Chapter 65 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
"SEC" means and refers to the Securities and Exchange Commission, an agency of the government of the United States of America, established by § 4(a) of the Federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
"Severance from employment" means the date the participant terminates employment with an employer with no obligation or expectation for future services to be performed for an employer by the participant. The Plan Administrator is entitled to rely upon the date of severance from employment certified by the employer. "Severance from employment" also means, for purposes of the ACTS, that an employee ceases to be employed by the employer maintaining the ACTS or a related employer that is eligible to maintain a 403(b) plan or in a capacity that is employment with an eligible employer. For example, if the employer is a public school, "severance from employment" means that the employee ceases to be employed by the employer and is not an employee of any other public school of the State, even though the employee may continue to be employed by a related employer that is another unit of the State that is not a public school or in a capacity that is not employment with a public school.
"Spouse" means the individual that is the participant's spouse under applicable law and includes a civil union partner, except where Federal law requires a different definition for compliance with the Internal Revenue Code.
"State colleges" means the colleges so described in Chapter 64 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
"Treasurer" means the Treasurer of the State of New Jersey. In the event there is no Treasurer then serving, the Acting Treasurer shall perform the functions described in this chapter.
"University Hospital" means the principal teaching hospital of the New Jersey Medical School, New Jersey Dental School, and any other medical education programs located in Newark, pursuant to the terms of P.L.
"University of Medicine and Dentistry" or "UMDNJ" means the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey established pursuant to the terms of section 3 of P.L. 1970, c. 102 (18A:64G-3
). Operations of the UMDNJ were merged with or transferred to Rutgers, the State University, Rowan University, or University Hospital on July 1, 2013, pursuant to the terms of P.L.
"Valuation date" means any day on which both the NYSE is open for regular trading and the applicable designated service provider is open for regular business at its principal office.
A valuation date ends at the earliest of:
1. 4:00 P.M. New York time;
2. The time that the NYSE closes trading; or
3. The time that any investment option must value its assets and price its shares.
In addition, the Plan Administrator may make reasonable rules governing the time of day after which an instruction will be treated as received on the next valuation date.
Notes
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