(a) The sponsoring employer is responsible for the correction of an error arising from an act or omission of the employer that results in a person contributing more or less than the correct amount to the system or receiving more or less credited service, service credit or benefits than the person is rightfully entitled to receive under the system.     
      (b) If the error involves member contributions, the employer may initiate the correction process directly via the employer portal on the retirement system website as follows:      
        (1) The employer must provide identifying information for the affected member or members, the time period during which the error occurred, and the amount of the correction to member contributions submitted by the employer. The member contributions are determined according to the employee deposit rate in effect at the time that the error occurred.       
        (2) The employer will also submit an employer contribution based on the sum total of the member contributions made in connection with the correction and the employer contribution rate in effect at the time that the correction is made by the employer.       
      (c) Depending on the nature of adjustment requested pursuant to this section, the director may require that the application must be approved by the governing board of the employer or by the county judge or chief operating officer of the employer before it may be accepted by the system.     
      (d) Adjustments to service credits or benefits shall be considered as part of, and funded in the same manner as, any other pension liabilities of the employer.     
      (e) A person seeking an adjustment to a record based on an act or omission of the subdivision must apply to the sponsoring employer for a correction of the error. The system will not receive applications for record adjustments from any person other than an employer. If the system receives information relating to a possible error from a person other than an employer, the system shall forward the information to the appropriate employer.     
      (f) The following words and terms, when used in this section, shall have the following meanings:      
        (1) "Accepted" means approved by the system for making adjustments to a person's record in accordance with the terms of the application.       
        (2) "Credited service" means months of service recognized for purposes of retirement eligibility.       
        (3) "Employer" means a subdivision participating in the retirement system.       
        (4) "Employer portal" means the online application maintained by the retirement system in which employers administer their plan, report payroll information, and make contributions.       
        (5) "Individual account" means the separate account maintained for a member consisting of the member's contributions, deposits and accumulated interest credited to the account for the benefit of the member.       
        (6) "Record" means all information and amounts relating to the person and the person's beneficiary and includes information and amounts relating to the person's individual account, contributions, deposits, credited service, service credit and benefits.       
        (7) "Service credit" means the monetary credits granted to a member who performs service for a participating employer.       
     Source Note:        The provisions of this §105.5 adopted to be effective July 20, 2004, 29 TexReg 6968; amended to be effective January 1, 2006, 30 TexReg 7887; amended to be effective December 30, 2012, 37 TexReg 10249; amended to be effective January 31, 2017, 41 TexReg 8205; amended to be effective January 3, 2019, 43 TexReg 8630