FAQ: Enrollment Process Change
Created: October 2024
NHRS will no longer accept paper member enrollment forms from participating employers effective with the October 2024 reporting due in November.
Going forward, employers should submit enrollments through their monthly reporting in the Data Reporting System (DRS).
Instructions for enrolling members are available here.
Below are answers to frequently asked questions the retirement system has received from employers regarding this change.
The retirement system recognizes that there may be questions not addressed in this FAQ. Employers with additional questions should email them to their NHRS Employer Reporting Relationship Manager. Additional general interest questions and answers may be added to the FAQ as needed.
Why is NHRS making this change?
This transition from paper enrollment forms, which is part of the retirement system’s transition to a new DRS, was announced last year. It is intended to improve efficiency, reduce paper, and provide a more secure method of submitting personal information to NHRS.
How is the new process different from the old process?
The steps for enrolling a new member have changed.
Previously, NHRS staff would set up a new member in our pension administration system after receiving an enrollment form and supplemental documents from the employer. This setup had to be completed before monthly reporting was submitted or the employer would receive an exception.
Under the revised process, the new hire is included in the monthly reporting file and a member record is created once the batch has posted. Supplemental documents associated with a new enrollment can then be uploaded directly to the member’s file using the Upload Documents feature in the DRS.
Instructions for submitting member documentation are available here.
Which documents should be uploaded for a new hire?
- Completed NHRS beneficiary form
- Copy of member’s Social Security card
- Copy of member’s birth certificate
Does this change mean that employers who report by file upload must manually enter new hires every month?
No. The XML file layout contains fields for employers to add newly hired members through the regular monthly file upload and indicate the person is a new hire or a rehire.
When would an employer need to do a manual entry?
If you report by web entry or if your payroll software vendor was unable to program adding a new hire into the file generated from your payroll system, enrollments can be done manually.
- Web entry employers can add members as soon as they copy the batch or build the batch manually.
- If not added in the file, employers who report by file upload must wait to add new members until after all exceptions have cleared and the batch is in submitted status. When members are added this way, a manual process done by NHRS is needed. New exceptions (if any) on new members will generate.
Will I see exceptions related to enrollment? If so, what are they?
You may. There are several different reasons you may get an exception, including:
- Using new hire designation but person is already a member of NHRS.
- Using rehire designation but demographic information we have is different.
- If hire/participation date and reported pay period dates have a conflict.
- If rehire has not yet been reported as terminated by former NHRS employer.
The paper enrollment form has a section for the member to sign – is that no longer necessary with electronic enrollment?
Correct. The new hire does not need to sign an enrollment form. However, please continue to include the new hire with the NHRS Designation Of Death Beneficiary(ies) (Pre-Retirement) form as part of your onboarding materials and have the new hire fill it out.
At my employer, the HR/Personnel staff handles enrollment, and the payroll/finance staff handles reporting. Does payroll/finance have to do everything now?
No. Other than including new hires in the monthly batch, NHRS is not asking finance/payroll to take on additional HR/Personnel-related tasks. HR/Personnel staff at an employer can be granted DRS access to upload enrollment-related documents.
To request a new user account for the NHRS DRS, participating employers must fill out and submit a DRS User Access Form.
How are confidential HR documents, such as beneficiary forms, protected from being viewed by unauthorized users?
Documents uploaded through the DRS are associated with the member’s record in the internal NHRS pension administration system and are not accessible in the DRS; there is no chance for unauthorized users to see these documents after they are uploaded.
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