ST. THOMAS - In response to widespread public outcry from soon-to-be retired government workers, senators Wednesday passed an amendment pushing back the implementation date of the Government Employees Retirement System Reform Act of 2005 for another year.

The law - which was passed by the 26th Legislature in September 2005 and signed into law by Gov. Charles Turnbull that November - has never been implemented. The act was to be implemented on Jan. 1, 2010.

The legislation was meant to provide sweeping changes to shore up the failing retirement system in the Virgin Islands, which currently has a $1.6 billion unfunded liability and is facing complete collapse in less than 20 years.

If signed by the governor, the measure passed Wednesday would push the implementation date of the GERS Reform Act to Jan. 1, 2011. It also mandates the GERS board submit a plan for the full implementation of the reform law to the Legislature by Jan. 31, 2010.

The 2005 legislation creates two classes of government employees - those hired before the law was enacted as Tier I employees and those hired afterward as Tier II employees. Employees in each tier receive different retirement benefits.

The law sets Tier II employees as anyone hired after Oct. 1, 2005, but now that Tier II would start when the agency implements the law in 2011.

At a series of town hall-style Senate Labor and Agriculture Committee hearings this month, government workers and retirees voiced their concerns over the looming changes to GERS and what it will do to their retirement benefits.

Delaying the implementation of the new GERS law will give the Senate some time to address the serious issues contained in the law, Sen. Carlton Dowe said when he offered the measure Wednesday. It was passed unanimously as an amendment to a bill granting an amnesty from penalties and interest on delinquent gross receipts taxes.

The amendment also addressed the GERS's new leave policy. GERS officials have said the new policy would make employees who use accrued leave as credit toward their years of service pay the employee contribution on that time before they can retire.

Both the employer - the government - and the employee must pay the contribution on the accrued leave time before it can be credited as service toward retirement. If the government fails to pay its portion, the employee must pay both contributions before they can tap into that benefit.

Many workers are frustrated by the new policy, because it was not what they were promised when they were hired.

"The rules of the game are now being changed in the middle of the game," Dowe said.

To serve as a stopgap measure, the amendment passed Wednesday will appropriate $3 million from the General Fund - to be paid out to GERS in installments - to pay both the employer and employee contribution on the outstanding accrued leave.

The measure will allow government workers who are retiring between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2010, to take their retirement as planned and get the credited service without adding to the unfunded liability of GERS.