My daughter wants to maximize her retirement contributions. She funds a Vanguard Roth IRA, and recently became a Federal employee (SCOTUS). She states that they don’t have a Payroll dept per se, so when she was asked to fill out employment forms (online) and there was a retirement plan (with a match!) available to her, she requested a $22,500 contribution for the year 2023. She just got her first paycheck and saw $1,250 “Roth contribution” taken from her, so she looked in that retirement account and it said “$1,250 balance of contributions towards your $6,500 max in 2023.”

We are confused. Did the Federal government make her contribute to an INDIVIDUAL, not and EMPLOYER plan as a payroll deduction? With an employer match?

Does anyone understand what just happened or can point me to what I could read on the topic? I never worked with Federal employees.

Thank you for any guidance!