Membership

In general, full-time employees of parish and city school boards, except for bus drivers and maintenance personnel, are required by state law to become TRSL members as a condition of employment. In addition, full-time, unclassified public college, university, community college, and technical college personnel hired after July 1, 1991, must become TRSL members.

TRSL members belong to one of three retirement plans: the Regular Plan for teachers, or Plans A or B for school food service employees. See Retirement Eligibility for more information about the retirement eligibility requirements of each plan.

Regular Plan (teachers)

Regular Plan members make up the majority of TRSL membership and include those employed in any of the classifications defined by law as a "teacher" for whom enrollment in TRSL is mandatory as a condition of employment and who meet the eligibility requirements. For more information on the Regular Plan, members may contact their personnel offices or TRSL for a copy of the TRSL Member Handbook. Regular Plan members do not contribute to the old-age portion of Social Security and may be subject to offsets by the Social Security Administration in retirement if eligible for Social Security through other employment. See Social Security for more information about possible offsets. Regular Plan members who were employed after April 1, 1986, contribute to Medicare and are eligible for Medicare.

Regular plan members contribute 8% of their salaries.

Plan A (school food service)

Plan A members include those who were members of the School Lunch Employees' Retirement System on July 1, 1983, when that system merged with TRSL. Plan A members continue with the same eligibility requirements as before the merger and are members of Plan A as long as they are employed as a school food service worker in one of the 46 parishes that contribute to TRSL's Plan A (all parishes except those in Plan B, below). Plan A members who change employment, are no longer paid by school food service funds, and are still eligible for TRSL membership must become members of the Regular Plan. For more information on Plan A, members may contact their personnel offices or TRSL for a copy of the TRSL Member Handbook. Plan A members do not contribute to the old-age portion of Social Security and may be subject to offsets by the Social Security Administration in retirement if eligible for Social Security through other employment. See Social Security for more information about possible offsets. Plan A members who were employed after April 1, 1986, contribute to and are eligible for Medicare.

Plan A members contribute 9.1% of their salaries.

Plan B (school food service)

Plan B members include school food service employees in the parishes of Allen, Assumption, Avoyelles, Cameron, Catahoula, Concordia, DeSoto, East Feliciana, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, LaSalle, Morehouse, Orleans, Red River, St. Helena, St. John the Baptist, St. Mary, Washington, and West Feliciana.

For more information on Plan B, members may contact their personnel offices or TRSL for a copy of the TRSL Member Handbook. Plan B members also contribute to the old-age portion of Social Security and become eligible for unreduced Social Security benefits when reaching the required age for Social Security retirement.

Plan B members contribute 5.0% of their salaries.