(a) Expenses of administration. Any expenses incurred in the administration of the flexible benefits plan will be paid from the State Employees Cafeteria Trust Fund. An administrative fee to defray costs of administering the plan may be imposed on any, or each, reimbursement account as the board of trustees determines to be necessary.     
      (b) Employee Contributions.      
        (1) Contributions to the flexible benefits plan by active duty employees may be made only through payroll salary reduction. An employee who elects to participate in the health care and dependent care reimbursement plans must authorize, on an election form, the exact amount of salary reduction, in addition to any monthly administrative fee.       
        (2) Eligible health care reimbursement account participants on inactive employment status must continue to contribute to their health care reimbursement account with after-tax dollars paid directly to the Employees Retirement System of Texas in the exact amount of the election, plus any administrative fees.       
        (3) The minimum amount a participant may elect to reduce his salary on a monthly basis for each reimbursement account is $15. The maximum amount an employee may elect to reduce his salary on a monthly basis for each reimbursement account is limited to the amount stipulated in §85.5(b) and (c) of this title (relating to Benefits). Any administrative fee for a reimbursement account is in addition to these minimum and maximum amounts.       
        (4) When a participant receives no salary in a pay period, no salary reduction will be made for that pay period and no catch-up salary reduction will subsequently be permitted, except as described in §85.9(d)(2) of this title (relating to Payment of Claims from Reimbursements Accounts) for health care reimbursement account participants.       
        (5) In situations where there are insufficient salary dollars to fund the amount of the salary reduction and fees, no salary reduction will be made, except as indicated in paragraph (6) of this subsection, for that pay period and no catch-up reduction will subsequently be permitted, except as described in §85.9(d)(2) of this title for health care reimbursement account participants.       
        (6) In the event an employee has elected to participate in more than one flexible benefits plan optional benefit and the employee's pay is sufficient to pay for one or more, but not all of the flexible benefits plan contributions, then payment of the flexible benefits plan contributions shall be made in the following order: health care reimbursement and dependent care reimbursement.       
        (7) If a participant elects to change contributions due to a qualifying life event (QLE), the plan administrator shall reimburse eligible claims based on the contribution in place when they occurred. Claims incurred during the initial enrollment period shall be reimbursed up to the amount of the participant's original contribution election. The plan administrator shall treat the remainder of the plan year following the QLE as a new coverage period, and claims incurred in this time period shall be reimbursed up to the amount of the new contribution election.       
      (c) Employer Contributions. The employer contributions referenced in §85.8(b) of this title made to active duty employees' health care reimbursement accounts or limited purpose health care reimbursement accounts in connection with the HealthSelectShoppERS program are the only Employer Contributions available under the TexFlex Program.     
     Source Note:        The provisions of this §85.13 adopted to be effective August 12, 1988, 13 TexReg 3754; amended to be effective September 1, 1990, 15 TexReg 4646; amended to be effective September 1, 1992, 17 TexReg 2874; amended to be effective February 12, 1998, 23 TexReg 1313; amended to be effective September 16, 1999, 24 TexReg 7276; amended to be effective July 17, 2003, 28 TexReg 5539; amended to be effective May 29, 2005, 30 TexReg 3022; amended to be effective March 14, 2016, 41 TexReg 1860; amended to be effective September 8, 2020, 45 TexReg 6240