1. If I choose pay period reporting can I switch to monthly reporting during the school year?
    The employer will choose whether to report on a pay period or monthly basis. After an employer chooses to report on a pay period or monthly basis, all future reports, must conform to the same filing frequency. If monthly reporting is chosen, all payroll occurring within the month must be included in a single monthly report.

    Contact TRS if you need to switch reporting frequency. We recommend that employers do not switch multiple times throughout the year.Once the voluntary defined contribution plan (DC) is implemented, those members who are enrolled in the plan must have their DC information reported every pay period to comply with federal defined contribution plan requirements.
     
  2. When the new pay period/monthly reporting system goes live will there still be an Annual Report due?
    Under Gemini, employers will no longer have an Annual Report to complete. However, after TRS has received and reviewed all reported information from an employer, annual edits will be run on the information and provided to the employer to review. If the employer finds the reported information has been reported incorrectly, they will need to submit an adjustment through Gemini.

    Examples of yearly edits

  • The job category is teacher and the total days paid is 220 or greater. The employer should verify that the job category and total number of days paid are correct. Process an adjustment to correct the job category or number of days paid, if necessary.  
     
  • Total number of days paid is outside the range for an employment type of part-time contractual. The days paid should be reviewed to ensure they have been reported correctly. The reported days paid should reflect the actual number of calendar dates (Monday through Friday) the member worked, regardless of the actual number of hours worked on any given date. The reported days paid should not be calculated by multiplying the teacher’s percentage time worked by the number of days in the employment agreement. It is imperative to know the teacher’s exact work schedule, not just the percentage time worked, to correctly arrive at the number of days paid. Do not combine partial days into full day equivalents for reporting purposes. Ensure days paid include any additional days on which the member worked performing duties requiring teacher licensure, such as substitute teaching. In addition, if the member works multiple assignments on the same day ensure the day is only counted once.
     

  • ER6022

    Message:
    Member is a part-time contractual employee and his/her total Days Paid for the year is outside the expected range for someone regularly working either one, two, three, four or five days a week.

    Resolution:
    This edit identifies Part-Time Contractual teachers whose reported number of Days Paid fall outside the normal range for routine part-time work schedules.

    The Days Paid should be reviewed to ensure they have been reported correctly. The reported Days Paid should reflect the actual number of calendar dates (Monday through Friday) the member worked, regardless of the actual number of hours worked on any given date. The reported Days Paid should not be calculated by multiplying the teacher’s percentage time worked by the number of days in the employment agreement. It is imperative to know the teacher’s exact work schedule, not just the percentage time worked, to correctly arrive at the number of Days Paid. Do not combine partial days into full day equivalents for reporting purposes. Ensure the paid include any additional days on which the member worked performing duties requiring teacher licensure, such as substitute teaching. In addition, if the member works multiple assignments on the same day ensure the day is only counted once. If the Days Paid are accurate, confirm the reported information is correct.
     

  • ER6015

    Message:
    Job Category was reported as Teacher but Days Paid for the year are 220 or more. Is this correct?

    Resolution:
    Verify the Job Category and total number of Days Paid are correct. Days Paid are the total number of days, Monday through Friday, during the school year for which the member performed duties requiring licensure (inclusive of paid vacation, sick and/or personal leave days). Days paid should include summer school teaching days as well as teacher workdays during the regular school term.  Correct the Job Category or number of Days Paid, if necessary.
    If no corrections are required, confirm that the reported information is correct.

  1. Since teachers are paid over 12 months (September to August) and administrators start receiving their pay for the new fiscal year in July, will I have two reports for July?
    No. All contributions for the fiscal year are due to TRS by July 10th. To allow employers to remit the appropriate contributions to TRS by this deadline, they should report all their payrolls that will cover the work performed during the fiscal year by July 10th, even if they will not be paying their members until July and August. The earnings that will be paid in July and August will be reported as deferred earnings. The report for salaries paid in July for work performed in July (administrators starting their new contracts, July summer school, July curriculum, July workshops, etc.) is due to TRS by August 10th.
     
  2. What is the purpose of the breakout of earnings between the different payment reasons?
    There will be validations based on payment reason to help ensure service credit, full annual rate and earnings are correctly reported. The breakout will help TRS determine the correct annual salary rate for partial year/docked teachers. Refer to the file layout for a listing of the payment reasons.
     
  3. I am a small district that uses one of the vendors TRS has been working with for Gemini. Am I required to upload my file or can I use the manual entry feature?
    You may choose to use the manual entry feature. Prior to the first report all districts will be required to choose how they want to report – upload files or manual entry. If at any time they want to switch how they report, they will need to call TRS.
     
  4. If we can upload, would it be better to upload or replicate?
    We recommend that larger districts (50 or more TRS-covered employees) upload their files. The replicate feature requires some manual entry that could be time consuming for larger districts.
     
  5.  How do I report a new hire for the first time?
    Under the new Gemini system, new members will be enrolled in TRS effective the first pay period they are reported by a TRS-covered employer. The employer will report the member’s first day of work as the employment begin date. We will have a validation to see if they are already a member of TRS. When a new membership is established, the new member will receive a new member packet with a form to designate his/her beneficiary.
     

  6. Can I start the year as a manual reporter and change to file upload?
    Yes, but you will need to contact TRS to make the change. Changing the method of reporting will not be allowed prior to each report submission.  This change should be limited to the employer's ability to whether a file creation is possible or not.
     

  7. Will an error with one member/record cause my entire file to be rejected?
    No, errors or edits within an individual member record will just reject that record or require further action on your part regarding that record’s contents. Errors in the header of a file that prevent us from positively identifying the employer or the period to which the report applies will cause the whole file to be rejected.
     
  8. We have several employees hired as paraprofessionals that are IMRF positions. Occasionally, they will substitute teach in a certified position. Are districts going to report their annual IMRF position wages just when they substitute teach?
    When a paraprofessional substitute teaches, the substitute teaching days and earnings are reportable to TRS. In addition, on the same pay period when they substitute teach, the paraprofessional wages will be reported as noncontributory earnings.
     
  9. Teacher pay for miscellaneous extra duties are processed two weeks behind their current paychecks. Will the extra duty be required to be reported in the pay period earned?
    Extra duties will be reported in the pay period in which payment is made using payment reason of ED (extra duty).