Retirement Plan Eligibility for Teachers, Special Payroll Lecturers and Professional Staff Members
STATE EMPLOYEES
RETIREMENT COMMISSION
COMPTROLLER'S SEAL STATE OF CONNECTICUT 55 ELM STREET
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT
06106-1775
TELEPHONE: (860) 702-3480
TELEFAX:(860) 702-3489
MEDICAL EXAMINING BOARD
for DISABILITY RETIREMENT
HEALTH CARE COST
CONTAINMENT COMMITTEE
STATE OF CONNECTICUT
RETIREMENT AND BENEFIT SERVICES DIVISION
OFFICE OF THE STATE COMPTROLLER

RETIREMENT & BENEFIT SERVICES DIVISION MEMORANDUM

To:    Human Resources and Payroll Officers, University of Connecticut
Re:    Retirement Plan Eligibility for Teachers, Special Payroll Lecturers and Professional Staff Members
Date:    May 12, 2008

This memorandum is a supplement to the Retirement & Benefit Services Division memorandum dated March 5, 2008 which provided interim guidance on retirement plan enrollment for part-time faculty members pending the resolution of ongoing efforts to coordinate collective bargaining provisions pursuant to such members at all state colleges and universities; this memorandum specifically addresses the reemployment of retired members of the State Employees Retirement System ("SERS"),  the Alternate Retirement Program (ARP) or the Teachers Retirement System (TRS).

Connecticut General Statutes (CGS) Section 5-164a, CGS Section 5-192v and the collective bargaining agreement between the State and the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition effective July 1, 1997 (SEBAC V) address both the temporary and permanent reemployment of retired SERS and ARP members.

Pursuant to these statutory provisions, temporarily reemployed SERS Tier I, Tier II and Tier IIA and ARP retirees may work a maximum of 120 days in a calendar year without engaging the pension suspension provisions of SERS; a SERS or ARP retiree reemployed in a state teaching position may work up to 45.97% of a full-time teaching schedule without engaging the pension suspension provisions of SERS.

SERS or ARP retirees reemployed in part-time faculty positions are not eligible to rejoin SERS or ARP nor are they eligible to waive retirement system membership pursuant to the special agreement between the University of Connecticut (UConn) and the American Association of University Professors that permits part-time lecturers, referred to as Special Payroll Lecturers, to either join the ARP or to decline participation in any retirement plan.  Such employees must complete a Form CO-931, "Designation of Retirement System-Tier-Plan-Beneficiary", on which their status is indicated in Block (18)(h), OTHER, as a "Temporarily Re-employed Retiree" and must be appropriately coded as temporarily reemployed retirees on state payroll records.  

A retired TRS member's continued employment in a teaching position is subject to the statutory provisions of the TRS, specifically, CGS, Section 10-183v.  Such members are not eligible for membership in SERS or ARP nor are they eligible to waive retirement system membership pursuant to the special agreement between UConn and the American Association of University Professors, Inc..  Such employees must also complete a Form CO-931, "Designation of

Retirement System-Tier-Plan-Beneficiary", on which their status is indicated in Block (18)(h), OTHER, as a "Temporarily Re-employed TRS Retiree" and must be appropriately coded as ineligible for retirement system membership on state payroll records.  

The Waiver of Retirement Plan Participation form has been revised to include a note advising retired members that they should not complete the waiver form.  A copy of the revised form is enclosed.  You may also wish to reference this situation in the contract letter sent to adjunct faculty at the time of their appointment.  If you have questions about completion of the CO-931 form or the appropriate payroll retirement coding for reemployed retirees, contact the Division's Data Base Unit at 860-702-3515 or by email at osc.databaseunit@po.state.ct.us.

Any questions regarding the information provided herein may also be addressed to the Data Base Unit or to Jeanne Kopek, Assistant Division Director, at 860-702-3487.  Specific questions regarding TRS membership should be referred to the Teachers' Retirement Board at 860-241-8402.

 

Very truly yours,

STATE EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT COMMISSION
NANCY WYMAN, SECRETARY EX OFFICIO

BY:

Thomas C. Woodruff, Ph.D., Director
Retirement & Benefit Services Division

TCW/JK
Attachments:
Waiver Form

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