Question:  How does an employer enroll an employee in the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS)?

Answer:

Once an employee is eligible to participate in WRS, the employer must enroll the employee.

It is important for the employer agent to submit the enrollment form entitled, "Wisconsin Retirement System Enrollment" ET-2316, as timely as possible after determining that the employee has met the eligibility requirements for WRS. If the enrollment form is not submitted timely, the employee could have a difficult time establishing identification when contacting ETF with specific inquiries for their retirement account.

The enrollment form has various fields that must be completed before submitting to ETF. A sample enrollment form, ET-2316, is included in Chapter 5 of the WRS Administration Manual.

The "Date of Hire" and the "Date WRS Participating Employment began with this Employer" are two fields on the enrollment form that could cause confusion for employers. Normally, these dates are the same. If an employee is hired who does not meet the eligibility criteria for WRS, but meets the criteria at a later date, the two dates on the form will not be the same.

WRS records are established by the date entered on the enrollment form entitled, "Date WRS Participating Employment began with this Employer". If an employee is not eligible for WRS when hired and the employer enters the hire date in the box intended for WRS eligibility, incorrect information will establish the employee's retirement records.

If the employer reports to ETF through electronic media using either tape or diskette or the employer is interested in using this reporting media, Chapter 12 of the WRS Administration Manual, ET-1127 gives detailed instructions for the method to submit an enrollment.