Last year, beginning in June, employee’s GERS contributions were inappropriately utilized to help the Authority offset and manage operational expenses. While this is no longer happening, the decision to do so was unacceptable. To ensure that this sort of decision is never made in the future, I have asked our Human Resources and Legal Departments to review our existing policies and procedures and if necessary, draft new or amended language that prohibits the redirecting of employee contributions.
As we move forward and prioritize our obligations to GERS, I want to provide a status update regarding payments made on your behalf.
Employee Contributions
• The Authority has resumed remitting all employee contributions to GERS as well as payments related to loans, etc.
• The Authority is also in the process of making catch-up payments to GERS for past employee contribution remittances to GERS.
Retirees
• When an employee retires, GERS invoices the Authority for payment for the employee’s retirement.
• The Authority is current with its payments to GERS for invoices received to-date for employees who have retired.
• The Authority is awaiting invoices from GERS for retirees who have recently retired and will pay those invoices once received.
• Unfortunately, employees who recently retired may see a delay in benefits until GERS invoices the Authority for payment.
Hopefully, this overview offers some clarity on our commitment and progress with respect to GERS thus far. If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our Human Resources department, humanresources@viwapa.vi.