40.21 Participating employers.

(1) Any employer shall be included within and thereafter subject to the provisions of the Wisconsin retirement system by so electing, through adoption of a resolution by the governing body of the employer.

(2) Any employer who elected or was required to participate in the Wisconsin retirement fund under s. 41.05, 1979 stats., shall be included in the Wisconsin retirement system on the same basis as the employer was included in the Wisconsin retirement fund.

(3) Every employer authorized by law to employ or pay the salaries of teachers, who is not otherwise a participating employer, is a participating employer with respect to teacher employees only.

(3m) A city-county health department that is established under s. 251.02 (1m), that is subject to s. 251.02 (1r), and that is not otherwise a participating employer, is a participating employer with respect to its employees who are included in a collective bargaining unit for which a representative is recognized or certified under subch. IV of ch. 111 and is not required to adopt a resolution electing to participate in the Wisconsin retirement system or provide notice of such election to the department under sub. (1).

(4) Every city or village which was subject to s. 61.65, 1975 stats., and s. 62.13, 1975 stats., on or before March 30, 1978, except a city of the 1st class, which is not otherwise a participating employer, is a participating employer but only with respect to present and future employees of its police and fire departments specified by s. 61.65 (6) and (7), 1975 stats., and s. 62.13 (9) (e), (9a) and (10) (f) and (g), 1975 stats.

(5) Whenever any employer is created, the territory of which includes more than one-half of the last assessed valuation of an employer which at the time of creation was a participating employer on a basis other than that specified in sub. (3) or (4) and the employer so created assumes the functions and responsibilities of the previous employer with respect to the territory, then the employer so created shall automatically be a participating employer from its inception, but no prior service credits shall be provided for any personnel of the employer unless the new participating employer adopts a resolution as provided in sub. (1). If a resolution is adopted, no employee shall receive prior service credit for any period of service which was previously covered by a retirement system.

(6)

(a) Any employer electing to be included within the provisions of the Wisconsin retirement system in accordance with this section may in the resolution and in the certified notice of election recognize 100 percent, 75 percent, 50 percent, 25 percent or none of the prior creditable service of its employees earned by the employees while employed by the employer, if the same percentage of each employee's prior creditable service is recognized.

(b) Any employer which recognizes less than all of the prior creditable service of its employees under par. (a) may adopt another resolution as provided in this section, increasing, for each person who is still a participating employee on the effective date of the increase determined under this section, the percentage of the employee's prior creditable service which is recognized to one of the higher levels provided by par. (a) provided the accumulated percentage does not exceed 100 percent.

(c) Whenever the percentage of recognized prior creditable service is increased as provided in par. (b), the employer contributions computed under s. 40.05 (2) shall be increased to reflect the value of the increased prior creditable service being granted, amortized over the remainder of the funding period provided for prior creditable service costs of that employer.

(7)

(a) Subject to pars. (b) and (c), any employer that elects to be included within the provisions of the Wisconsin Retirement System under sub. (1) on or after March 2, 2016, may elect to be a participating employer only with respect to employees hired on or after the date on which the employer elects to participate in the Wisconsin Retirement System. Any employer that makes such an election shall do so in writing on a form provided by the department.

(b) Any municipal employer that elects to be included within the provisions of the Wisconsin Retirement System under sub. (1) on or after March 2, 2016, may choose not to include any of its public utility employees.

(c) Any municipal employer that elects to be included within the provisions of the Wisconsin Retirement System under sub. (1) on or after March 2, 2016, and that elects to be a participating employer under par. (a), may offer its current employees the option of becoming participating employees in the Wisconsin Retirement System. If an employee elects to become a participating employee, the employee shall make the election in writing on a form provided by the department before the effective date that the employer becomes a participating employer.

History: 1981 c. 96; 1987 a. 309; 1987 a. 403 s. 256; 1989 a. 56 s. 259; 1993 a. 383; 2001 a. 16; 2015 a. 174, 187.

Sub. (4) limits prospective mandatory Wisconsin Retirement System coverage to present and future police and firefighter employees of cities and villages that had police and firefighter employees included in the Wisconsin Retirement Fund prior to March 31, 1978. 75 Atty. Gen. 34.