Overview
With the implementation of Enhanced Reporting, State Payroll Services is able to share and NYSLRS is able to collect detailed earnings, contributions, days worked and other employment information using PayServ. In addition, employees whose NYSLRS membership is mandatory are automatically enrolled.
Therefore, you will primarily use Retirement Online to:
- Enroll employees whose membership is optional and choose to join NYSLRS.
- Review notifications which provide important information about your employees and complete any required action.
- View information about or changes to your employees’ contributions and deductions.
- Submit final payment and service information to NYSLRS when your employees retire.
PayServ
Employee Information in PayServ
When entering an employee’s information in PayServ, you must complete all required fields and provide accurate information including the employee’s:
- Social Security Number (SSN)
- Date of Birth (DOB)
State Payroll Services is not permitted to send employee information without an SSN to NYSLRS, and NYSLRS is unable to process data for employees without both an SSN and DOB.
Do not fill out the Retirement panel in PayServ unless you have been instructed to do so by NYSLRS. Doing so could impact other parts of the enrollment process.
Alternate Retirement Programs or Systems
PayServ uses job transactions and job codes to identify if an employee is eligible for alternate retirement programs or systems, including:
- The NYS Voluntary Defined Contribution (VDC) Program
- The SUNY Optional Retirement Program (ORP)
- The Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS)
If the employee is eligible to enroll in an alternate retirement program or system and their membership in NYSLRS is:
- Mandatory:
- The employee has 30 days to submit their election for an alternate retirement program or system.
After 30 days, if the employee does not make an election, they will be automatically enrolled in NYSLRS.
Note: Upon receipt of the employee’s retirement election, it is important to enter the information in PayServ immediately to ensure they are not automatically enrolled in NYSLRS if they wish to elect an alternate retirement program or system.
- Optional:
- The employee can choose to join NYSLRS or elect enrollment in an alternate retirement program or system.
- If the employee does not make an election, they will not be automatically enrolled in NYSLRS.
Leaves of Absence
Make sure you regularly update PayServ to track leaves of absence and subsequent returns. This will ensure any loan payments are properly deferred and NYSLRS can account for any applicable service credit when a member is on leave without pay, paid leave or military leave.
Enrolling Optional Members
Before using Retirement Online to enroll an employee as a NYSLRS member, first check to see if they have been set up in PayServ. If they have not, you MUST set them up in PayServ and enroll them in Retirement Online on the same day. This ensures both systems can process the employee’s information correctly.
If you enroll a member in Retirement Online and their information has not been entered in PayServ, it could:
- Create errors in payroll records that prevent deductions from being taken on time.
- Cause the employee to owe unnecessary service credit purchase payments.
Use the Enrollment Dashboard in Retirement Online
To enroll an employee whose membership in NYSLRS is optional and chooses to join:
- Sign in to Retirement Online.
- From Account Homepage, click Access Enrollment Dashboard.
Only employees with the Personnel Security Role can access the Enrollment Dashboard. Your agency’s Security Administrator assigns this security role to contacts who need to enroll optional members. If you were authorized to use the Enrollment Dashboard prior to May 2026 to enroll certain mandatory members, the authorization may no longer be active. If you have a question, see If You Need Help for ways to contact NYSLRS.
Enter and Verify Information
It’s important to review the information in PayServ as you enter the employee's information in Retirement Online to verify it's correct and ensure it matches.
If the information entered in PayServ and Retirement Online does not match, it will create significant issues when creating the employee’s account. Incorrect or inconsistent information can also cause your employees to:
- Pay additional interest on membership contributions, loans or service credit purchases.
- Default on a NYSLRS loan.
- Experience delays in receiving service credit.
Select a Job Code
During the enrollment process, you must enter a job code, which indicates the work an employee does and determines their retirement plan eligibility. It’s important to choose the correct code so your employee receives the benefits they are entitled to.
To help you determine which code to select:
- Use the Job Codes Tool.
- From Employer Type dropdown, select State.
- Click Filter.
Upload Membership Registration Form
The employee must complete a Membership Registration form (RS5420) and you must upload the form in Retirement Online as part of the enrollment process.
For More Information
For more information including how to enroll off-hours employees or a member who has multiple employers, visit the Enrolling Members page.
Reviewing and Acting on Notifications
Notifications provide important information about your employees, for example, informing you when there are changes to member contribution rates or advising you when an employee has applied for retirement. In some cases, notifications require you to take an action in Retirement Online, such as starting, changing or stopping deductions for a loan or service credit purchase, or submitting final payment and service information after an employee retires.
Your agency’s Security Administrator assigns security roles which determine the types of notifications you receive in addition to granting access to pages and functions in Retirement Online. For a full description of the notifications you may receive based on the security role(s) you’ve been assigned, refer to the Notifications Tool.
Search and Manage Notifications
The Employer Notification Search page in Retirement Online allows you to search and manage your notifications.
- Sign in to Retirement Online.
- From Account Homepage, go to Notifications panel.
- Click Search Notifications link.
- After choosing location code, enter criteria to refine your search results. For example:
- Enter a date in Date Created field or click the calendar icon to select a date.
- Click Include Completed Notifications box.
- Click Search button.
Then, you can:
- Sort notifications chronologically.
- View by due date.
- Mark notifications complete.
- Export your search results to Excel.
Viewing Contributions and Deductions
Member Contribution Rates
Most members are required to contribute a percentage of their earnings toward their retirement. The Member Contribution Rates page in Retirement Online provides your employees’ contribution rate and the date their rate became effective as well as their date of membership and benefit plan.
- Sign in to Retirement Online.
- From Account Homepage, click Access Reporting Dashboard button.
- After choosing location code, click Member Contribution Rates link.
Note: The Member Contributions Rate page only provides information for active NYSLRS members. It does not provide information for terminated employees, retirees or optional members who chose not to join NYSLRS.
For more information, visit the Member Contributions page.
Voluntary Contributions
If an employee elects to make voluntary contributions (under Section 21(L) or Section 321(L)), your payroll office must fax the employee’s completed election form to NYSLRS. We will notify your payroll office when to begin taking deductions and how much to deduct. If your payroll office begins taking deductions before receiving confirmation, the voluntary contributions will be rejected.
Loan and Service Credit Purchase (SCP) Deductions
Each week, NYSLRS provides State Payroll Services the latest loan and SCP deductions for upcoming paychecks. There may be a three-to-four-week lag from the time deductions are sent to State Payroll Services and applied to an employee’s paycheck. However, the Loan/SCP Deduction page in Retirement Online provides up-to-date deduction information.
- Sign in to Retirement Online.
- From Account Homepage, click Access Reporting Dashboard button.
- After choosing location code, click Loan/SCP Deduction Notification link.
- On Loan/SCP Deduction page, click a tab for type of deduction you want to view:
- Loan
- SCP
- Deficiency (SCP)
Deficiencies
Deficiencies are created when an employee’s contributions are underpaid. An employee may receive a one-time SCP deduction if they have a deficiency from under contributing. If you have the Payroll Security Role, you will receive a notification about this deficiency.
Refunds
If an employee is due a refund from NYSLRS, it will be processed through State Payroll and automatically applied to the employee’s paycheck. In some cases, NYSLRS may issue a refund directly to an employee (please note, this may take additional time to process and return to the employee).
Submitting Final Payment and Service Information
To ensure your employees receive an accurate and timely pension benefit, you must use Retirement Online to submit final payment and service information to NYSLRS after your employees retire.
NYSLRS needs this information to:
- Reconcile your employees’ reported earnings.
- Ensure allowable payments are included in their Final Average Earnings (FAE) calculation.
- Determine whether your employees should receive additional service credit for unused, unpaid sick leave.
Accrued Payments and Leave Credits
The Accrued Payments and Leave Credits page in Retirement Online provides an online form which allows you to electronically submit final payment and service information quickly and easily. It will also help NYSLRS finalize your employees’ pension benefits sooner and will result in more accurate billing information for your employer location.
Employer contacts will receive a notification with a link to the employee’s Accrued Payments and Leave Credits page. You can also use the Payments and Leave Credits Search page to look up a specific employee and see the status of all final payment and service information requests from NYSLRS.
To receive notifications and access the pages, refer to the access requirements and check with your organization’s Contact and Security Administrators to ensure you have a contact type and security role needed.
If You Need Help
If you have questions about enrolling an employee or for help accessing Retirement Online, use our help desk form (select Member Enrollment or Retirement Online Troubleshooting from the dropdown) or call 866-805-0990 (press 1 to access the employer menu, then follow the prompts).
Rev. 5/26