N.J. Admin. Code § 17:6-2.1
Whenever used in the Program or with respect to an applicable Plan, each of the following terms has the meaning stated below. To the extent that any term is not defined in this subchapter or otherwise by this chapter, such term has the meaning given by N.J.S.A. 43:15C-1 et seq., or by the Internal Revenue Code.
"Account" means the total of the individual sub-account(s) maintained on behalf of each participant, beneficiary, or alternate payee under the investment option(s) held pursuant to the Retirement Plan.
"Alternate payee" means a person who is an alternate payee (within the meaning of IRC § 414(p)(8)) under an order directed to the Retirement Plan that the Plan Administrator has determined to be a Qualified Domestic Relations Order.
"Annuity payment option" means a payment option under the Retirement Plan, if permitted by the Plan Administrator, which includes a provision for payments based, in whole or in part, upon the life of a natural person.
"Applicable form" means the appropriate form as designated and furnished by the Plan Administrator or DSP to make an election or provide a notice as required by the Program, including a form in electronic medium with an electronic signature in compliance with E-SIGN and applicable law. As used in this definition, the following terms have the following meanings:
1. "E-SIGN" means 15 U.S.C. §§ 7001 to 7006, 7021 and 7031; and 47 U.S.C. § 231 note - the Federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act.
2. "Electronic" means, consistent with E-SIGN, 15 U.S.C. § 7006(2), of or relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities regardless of medium.
3. "Electronic signature" means, consistent with E-SIGN, 15 U.S.C. § 7006(5), information or data in electronic form, attached to or logically associated with an electronic record, and executed or adopted by a person or an electronic agent of a person, with the intent to sign a contract, agreement, or record.
"Applicable law" means the law of the United States of America or the law of the State of New Jersey that is applicable to the governance or administration of the Program or an applicable Plan under the Program.
"Base salary" means a participant's regular base salary; except that for a participant described in 17:6-4.1(e), it shall mean the excess over the maximum compensation as specified in that paragraph. Base salary includes employee contributions as well as salary reduction contributions and other amounts excluded from gross income with respect to such base salary under, without limitation, IRC §§ 125, 132(f)(4), 402(e)(3), 402(h)(1)(B), 403(b), 414(h)(2) or 457(b). Base salary excludes overtime or other forms of extra compensation, including but not limited to longevity lump sum payments, lump sum terminal sick leave or vacation pay, the value of maintenance, individual pay adjustments made within or at the conclusion of the participant's final year of service, retroactive salary adjustments or other pay adjustments made in the participant's final year of service unless the adjustment was made as a result of a general pay adjustment for all personnel of the public office or agency in which the participant is employed, or any unscheduled individual adjustment made in the final year to place the participant at the maximum salary level within salary range.
"Beneficiary" means each person a participant designates by a valid beneficiary designation to receive any undistributed benefit payable on or after the participant's death.
"Beneficiary designation" means a valid and effective beneficiary designation made according to N.J.A.C. 17:6-8.
"Benefit" refers to the right under the Retirement Plan of the participant (or beneficiary or other payee) to receive a distribution of all or any portion of the participant's account.
"Board" means the Defined Contribution Retirement Program Board established under 43:15C-4.
"Civil union partner" means the individual that is the participant's civil union partner under the laws of the State of New Jersey.
"Contributions" means contributions under the provisions of the Retirement Plan, including employee contributions and employer contributions.
"Designated service provider" or "DSP" is a company designated as a provider by the Defined Contribution Retirement Program Board under 43:15C-4.
"Direct rollover" means a payment under the Retirement Plan to an eligible retirement plan specified by the distributee.
"Distributee" means any person who receives, or but for his or her instruction to the Plan Administrator is entitled to receive, a distribution. A distributee includes an alternate payee to whom the Plan Administrator is directed to make a payment under a Qualified Domestic Relations Order.
"Distribution" means, as appropriate in the context, any kind of payment (withdrawal or retirement) including a rollover provided by the Retirement Plan.
"Distribution commencement date" means the first date on which a distribution (or any payment under a distribution) is paid or becomes payable.
"Effective date" means July 1, 2007 for eligible employees as of the Retirement Plan implementation date and as effective with respect to payroll periods starting on and after that date.
"Eligible employee" means an individual described in 17:6-4.1 and not excluded under 17:6-4.2, consistent with the requirements of 43:15C-2, and who is an eligible employee on or after the Retirement Plan implementation date. Subject to the approval of the Plan Administrator, the employer's classification of a person as an employee or other individual with the status of an eligible employee for purposes hereof shall be final and conclusive.
"Employee contributions" means the sum of employee mandatory contributions and employee voluntary contributions.
"Employee mandatory contributions" means those contributions in the percentage amount of base salary required from a participant under the first sentence of 43:15C-3(a).
"Employee voluntary contributions" means those contributions in addition to the employee mandatory contribution that the Plan Administrator, pursuant to authority under the second sentence of 43:15C-3(a), may permit the participant to irrevocably elect upon initial enrollment in the Retirement Plan (or, if later, following the voluntary contribution implementation date).
"Employer" means the State or a political subdivision thereof, or an agency, board, commission, authority or instrumentality of the State or a subdivision, that pays the base salary of a participant for services rendered by the participant. Except as described in the following sentence, each employer with eligible employees shall be a participating employer with respect to the Plan for the benefit of its eligible employees as described in 17:6-4.1 and not excluded under N.J.A.C. 17:6-4.2, and shall not be required to take affirmative action to adopt this Plan for its eligible employees or to enter into any contractual arrangement regarding its obligations to contribute to the Plan except as may be required by the Plan Administrator. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Plan Administrator may determine that an employer is not eligible to maintain this Plan for its employees if the Plan Administrator reasonably concludes that the employer is not an employer that can maintain a "governmental plan" within the meaning of section 414(d) of the Internal Revenue Code or Section 3(32) of the Employees Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. § 1002(32), as amended. The Plan Administrator's determination in this regard shall be final and conclusive.
"Employer contributions" means those contributions made by the employer under 43:15C-3(b).
"Enabling statute" means 43:15C-1 et seq.
"Fees" means any fees required or permitted to be charged against the participant's (or beneficiary's or alternate payee's) Retirement Plan account according to any one or more of the following: the Retirement Plan, the Trust Agreement, the participation agreement, an investment option including redemption fees, an investment advisory agreement, any other writing signed by the participant (or, after the participant's death, the beneficiary), any written notice given by or on behalf of the Plan Administrator or the Trustee that is accepted or deemed accepted by the participant (or beneficiary), or any court order. Additionally, the Plan Administrator may impose fees to pay for expenses it deems proper to administer the Retirement Plan. The fees may be charged to the participants' accounts according to an equitable method determined by the Plan Administrator.
"Fiduciary" means a person that is a fiduciary within the meaning of applicable law regarding the Program or an applicable Plan under the Program.
"Group Disability Plan" means the Defined Contribution Retirement Program Group Disability Benefit Plan as described in this chapter and as it may hereinafter be amended.
"Group Life Insurance Plan" means the Defined Contribution Retirement Program Group Life Insurance Plan as described in this chapter and as it may hereinafter be amended.
"Internal Revenue Code" or "IRC" means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and including any regulations and rulings (or other guidance of general applicability) under the IRC, as applicable to a governmental plan as defined by IRC § 414(d).
"Investment law" means, as applicable or relevant in the context, any Federal or State banking law, insurance law, securities law, and other rules of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD), NYSE and any stock exchange or commodities exchange, to the extent approved or not disapproved by the SEC.
"Investment option" means any investment option selected by the Board (see 17:6-3.2 ) in accordance with the Retirement Plan's investment policy and approved by the Plan Administrator, for investment by participants (or beneficiaries) of their Retirement Plan accounts. Default investment funds (in which a Retirement Plan account shall be invested in the event the participant or beneficiary has not filed a valid investment direction (see N.J.A.C. 17:6-6.8), shall be selected by the Plan Administrator, with the approval of the Division of Investment.
"Limitation year" means each 12-month period ended December 31.
"N.J.S.A." means the New Jersey Statutes Annotated.
"NYSE" means the New York Stock Exchange.
"Participant" means the eligible employee (or former eligible employee) who is enrolled in the Program or an applicable Plan under the Program and, with respect to the Retirement Plan, for whom contributions under the Retirement Plan have been made or accrued and whose account has not been fully distributed under the Retirement Plan.
"Participation agreement" means the applicable form that designates the participant's investment options and such other information as the Plan Administrator may prescribe for the efficient or convenient administration of the Program or an applicable Plan under the Program.
"Payment option" means any of the options for payment of a participant's Retirement Plan account that is permitted by the Plan Administrator consistent with the terms of the Retirement Plan and an applicable Retirement Plan investment option. A payment option shall not be based on gender-distinct actuarial tables. A payment option must satisfy all applicable provisions of the Retirement Plan, including, but not limited to, 17:6-11.2.
"Person" means a natural person, a corporation, a limited liability company, an unincorporated association, a partnership, a joint venture, a business trust, or anything that is a person within the meaning of applicable law.
"Personal representative" means the person duly appointed by an order of the court (or of a registrar or administrator under the court's supervision) having jurisdiction over the estate of the participant that grants the person the authority to receive the property of the deceased participant and to act as the personal representative of the participant's probate estate.
"Plan" means the Retirement Plan, the Group Disability Plan and/or the Group Life Insurance Plan, as the context requires.
"Plan Administrator" means the Director of the New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits.
"Plan Sponsor" means the State of New Jersey.
"Plan Year" means each 12-month period ended June 30.
"Program" means the New Jersey Defined Contribution Retirement Program provided by the enabling statute, as described by this chapter. The Program consists of the Retirement Plan, the Group Life Insurance Plan and the Group Disability Plan.
"Qualified Domestic Relations Order" or "QDRO" means a domestic relations order directed to the Retirement Plan that creates or recognizes the existence of the right of an alternate payee to receive all or a portion of any benefit payable to a participant under the Retirement Plan and that further meets all requirements for a qualified domestic relations order stated by IRC § 414(p) as applied to a governmental plan and N.J.A.C. 17:6-8.
"Retired" means when a vested Defined Contribution Retirement Program member separates from covered employment and elects to receive a distribution of funds (of any amount) containing both employer and employee contributions plus interest. This action renders the former participant "retired" and, therefore, as a retiree, ineligible to reenroll in the DCRP or enroll in any other New Jersey State-administered retirement system, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 43:15C-2.b(3).
"Retirement Plan" means the Defined Contribution Retirement Program Retirement Plan as described in this chapter, and as it may hereafter be amended.
"Retirement Plan implementation date" means April 1, 2008, the date following which eligible employees are first enrolled as participants following the Plan's effective date.
"SEC" means and refers to the Securities and Exchange Commission, an agency of the government of the United States of America, established by § 4(a) of the Federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78d.
"Severance from employment" means the date the participant terminates employment with an employer with no obligation or expectation for future services to be performed for an employer by the participant. The Plan Administrator is entitled to rely upon the date of severance from employment certified by the employer.
"Spouse" means, except for the purposes of IRC § 401(a)(9), the individual that is the participant's spouse under applicable law.
"State" means the State of New Jersey unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
"Treasurer" means the Treasurer of the State of New Jersey. In the event there is no Treasurer then serving, the Acting Treasurer shall perform the functions described in this chapter.
"Trust" means and refers to the legal entity and the legal relationship created to hold and invest the assets of the Retirement Plan. Consistent with IRC § 401(a)(2), the Trust must be solely for the purposes of the Retirement Plan Program.
"Trust Agreement" means any agreement or declaration of trust executed under the Plan to hold and invest the assets of the Retirement Plan.
"Trustee" means the corporate trustee appointed and acting under the Trust Agreement.
"Valuation date" means any day on which both the NYSE is open for regular trading and the applicable DSP is open for regular business at its principal office. A valuation date ends at the earliest of:
1. 4:00 P.M. New York time;
2. The time that the NYSE closes trading; or
3. The time that any investment option must value its assets and price its shares.
In addition, the Plan Administrator may make reasonable rules governing the time of day after which an instruction will be treated as received on the next valuation date.
"Vested" means eligible to receive employer and employee contributions. All members of the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), Teachers' Pension and Annuity Fund (TPAF), Police and Firemen's Retirement System (PFRS), Alternate Benefits Program (ABP), or State Police Retirement System (SPRS), and all DCRP members hired at the age 65 or older, are immediately vested; members of DCRP hired before their 65th birthday vest after one year of contributions.
"Voluntary contribution implementation date" means the date, if any, designated by the Plan Administrator for the initial implementation of employee voluntary contributions described at 17:6-5.2 and authorized by the second sentence of 43:15C-3(a).
"Withdrawal" occurs when a non-vested DCRP member separates from covered employment and submits a request to the vendor for a withdrawal of contributions. Only the member's contributions are available for withdrawal; employer contributions are forfeited, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 43:15C-3.c. A withdrawal differs from a distribution in that after a withdrawal, the individual remains eligible for reenrollment in the DCRP or enrollment in another State-administered retirement system upon a return to covered employment.
N.J. Admin. Code § 17:6-2.1