Benefits Administration
How the Plan works
Whether you’re an executive director, a benefits administrator, or both, you play an important role in building a strong future for your organization, its employees, and the Reform Movement as a whole. This section provides the details you need to understand and administer our retirement and insurance plans. It’s a great place to start, whether you're new to RPB or just need a refresher.
Employer eligibility
Your organization is eligible to provide RPB’s retirement and Long Term Disability insurance plans to your eligible employees if it falls into one of the following categories:
URJ-affiliated congregations located in the United States (Reform congregations in Canada can only offer LTD)
World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ)-affiliated congregations, for CCAR rabbis who are U.S. taxpayers only
Reform Movement organizations
501(c)(3) U.S. non-profit organizations such as federations and Jewish community centers, for CCAR rabbis who work in a parsonage-eligible role only
Your employees will also need to meet RPB’s eligibility requirements before enrolling in the Plan. Learn more about employee eligibility, including membership requirements for professional organizations, on the eligibility page.
Using the employer web portal
RPB’s retirement plan and long term disability insurance (LTD) is easy to administer through the MyRPB for Employers portal.
Within this secure portal, you can:
Update or adjust retirement plan and LTD information
Make electronic payments for retirement plan contributions and LTD premiums
Review Rabbi Trust overflow contributions
And much more
To log in to the employer portal:
Click the LOG IN button in the upper right hand corner of this website.
Select LOG IN under the Employers heading. This will take you to the MyRPB for Employers log in screen.
Enter your user name and password to access your account.
Read the MyRPB for Employers User Guide for comprehensive instructions on how to use the employer portal.
Retirement Plan
By following a few retirement plan best practices, you can:
Help employees get the most out of their retirement plan
Encourage adequate planning and saving for retirement
Increase participation and contribution levels
Reduce stress and raise financial awareness
Read more about how setting up auto enrollments, default contributions, automatic increases, employer contributions, and post-tax savings options can help your employees meet their long-term retirement goals.
Employees and their employers are able to contribute to an employee’s retirement plan. All employees can make contributions to the Plan directly from their paycheck. Employee contributions can be pre-tax, post-tax Roth, or both.
There are no minimum contribution requirements for employees or employers, but there is a maximum amount that employees and employers can contribute per year which is determined by the IRS. If employer contributions exceed the annual IRS contribution limit, RPB will automatically place the excess contributions into a Rabbi Trust account in the participant’s name.
As part of the enrollment process, employees will fill out the Elective Deferral Agreement Form provided by RPB, indicating how much they would like to contribute to their account and whether they’d like those contributions to be pre-tax, post-tax Roth, or both.
Visit our enrollment page for employers for step-by-step instructions on enrolling your employees in RPB.
Employer contributions are at your discretion. Your organization will decide:
Whether or not to contribute to an employee's retirement plan.
Which employees will receive employer contributions. You can choose to make contributions for some employees, all employees, or no employees.
The contribution percentage for each employee. Note that staff in the same employee class should receive the same percentage, whether the class is based on longevity, job responsibility, or both.
If there will be a waiting period before an employee will begin receiving employer contributions.
Employer contributions are only made on a pre-tax basis and will be 100% vested. (RPB’s plan does not provide a vesting option.)
Why give?
Offering employer retirement plan contributions to your employees will help you attract and retain top-quality talent in today’s competitive market. It’s also a way to ensure that your congregation’s business practices align with Jewish values by providing support for your employees, at all compensation levels, to have a secure and dignified retirement.
Read page 10 of the Plan Narrative to learn more about employer contributions.
Use the MyRPB for Employers portal to make electronic contribution payments through the Automated Clearing House (ACH). Follow the detailed instructions beginning on page 14 of the MyRPB for Employers User Guide.
Employee contributions must be submitted no later than 15 days following the month they were deducted from the employee’s paycheck. Once the contribution has been processed, you’ll receive a confirmation.
Understanding your legal obligations and fiduciary responsibility with the RPB Plan
As the plan sponsor, RPB maintains the Plan Document, manages the fund line up, and assumes fiduciary responsibility for all RPB plan participants.
As the plan sponsor, RPB maintains the Plan Document, manages the fund line up, and assumes fiduciary responsibility for all RPB plan participants.
Long-term disability insurance
Discuss LTD options with your employees. They are eligible for coverage if they work at a URJ-affiliated congregation or a Reform Movement employer at least 18 hours a week. Your employees don’t need to participate in our retirement plan to enroll in LTD.
Sign up participants in the MyRPB for Employers portal. Click below to learn how:
To enroll existing employees, log in to your MyRPB for Employers portal during open enrollment periods and click on Manage Plan Participants to add LTD. If you see their name in the list of employees, click +ADD LTD. Otherwise, click “Add New Participant” to get started.
New employees can enroll in LTD within 60 days of their hire date. Otherwise, open enrollment occurs twice each year: in December for the upcoming year, and in July for 6 months of coverage lasting through the end of the year.
During open enrollment periods, log in to your MyRPB for Employers portal and click on Manage Plan Participants to review and update an employee's compensation and LTD benefits waiting period. You can adjust the compensation by clicking “ADJ COMP” and the waiting period by clicking “WAIT PERIOD”
LTD premiums and benefits are based on this amount.
Open enrollment occurs twice each year: in December for the upcoming year, and in July for 6 months of coverage lasting through the end of the year.
If an employee is leaving before the end of the year, (for example if your rabbi is leaving on June 30) make sure you enter the future termination date to get a prorated premium amount. That way you won’t need to request a premium refund later.
To remove employees who are not renewing coverage, click “End LTD” on the “Manage Plan Participants” screen.
If the employee no longer works for your organization, then click “Terminate” and enter the termination date.
LTD payments aren’t automatic—you must manually schedule the payments in MyRPB for Employers before the end of the open enrollment period or within 60 days of a new employee’s hire date.
Only employers can pay LTD premiums to RPB; we don’t accept payments from participants. If your organization doesn't offer LTD as a benefit, your employees can still enroll and pay for it through you.
Make premium payments with post-tax dollars. Otherwise, an employee’s disability benefits may be subject to payroll tax and your organization will be responsible for paying the employer portion of FICA taxes as long as the employee is on leave.
To ensure premiums are paid with post-tax dollars you must do one of the following:
- If LTD is an employer-provided benefit: Increase your employee’s gross salary by the same dollar amount as the premium and then deduct the premium from their paycheck on a post-tax basis.
- If LTD is not an employer-provided benefit: Deduct the premium amount from employee’s paycheck on a post-tax basis or have employee write a personal check to you for the premium amount.
We calculate rates based on the employees’ compensation and the waiting period between the onset of a disability and the commencement of benefits.
Requests for a refund of pre-paid premiums after employees have terminated coverage can be made through MyRPB for Employers within 60 days of the employee’s termination date.
You can export LTD records to Excel. Download the LTD Summary to help you calculate calendar year payroll deductions.
Ready to enroll your employees in the RPB Plan?
We’ll walk you through enrolling them in RPB, whether they’re currently enrolled in a different retirement plan or none at all.